Wikiposts
Search
Aviation History and Nostalgia Whether working in aviation, retired, wannabee or just plain fascinated this forum welcomes all with a love of flight.

Chunky Lord

Thread Tools
 
Search this Thread
 
Old 19th Jul 2007, 16:23
  #1 (permalink)  
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: UK
Posts: 5,222
Likes: 0
Received 4 Likes on 3 Posts
Chunky Lord

Way back in the fifties Chunky was a Vampire FG9 pilot at Sek Kong, an airfield in the middle of the New Territories in Hong Kong. After a bender in Kowloon he hailed a rickshaw and demanded to be transported to Sek Kong.
The rickshaw puller had never been out of Kowloon in his life so Chunky directed him on which way to go. After they had gone through the Lion Rock tunnel the rickshaw driver was knackered so Chunkey threw him into the rickshaw and motored it himself to Sek Kong, just in time for met briefing. The rickshaw driver was totally lost so they kept him on the squadron making tea and sweeping until a truck was going to Kai Tak. Thay loaded him and his rickshaw on the back and off he went back home. He was a fantastic character and having known him for so long there must be loads of stories about this reprobate. He is dead now, for some years, in tragic circumstances, but all who have known him must have outrageous recollections of his life.
Fareastdriver is offline  
Old 20th Jul 2007, 02:46
  #2 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Hong Kong
Age: 56
Posts: 1,445
Received 3 Likes on 2 Posts
Great story...but..

The Lion Rock Tunnel was opened on November 14, 1967, as a 1.43 km dual-one single bore tunnel.

So?
Load Toad is offline  
Old 20th Jul 2007, 08:35
  #3 (permalink)  
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: UK
Posts: 5,222
Likes: 0
Received 4 Likes on 3 Posts
No wonder the rickshaw puller was knackered if the tunnel wasn't there.
Fareastdriver is offline  
Old 20th Jul 2007, 20:36
  #4 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: May 2000
Location: Darkest Wiltshire
Posts: 124
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
"Chunky is a damn fine chap", he used to tell me. I knew him when he was driving Series 3 Whirlwinds and 212s out of Dubai in the mid-70's. I have a picture of him sitting cross-legged on the floor of the reception area in the old Bustan Hotel, playing a chinese violin, very badly and completely out of his brain. Happy days.

He was right too, he was a damn fine chap.

Taff
Taff Missed is offline  
Old 20th Jul 2007, 22:48
  #5 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Fife
Age: 87
Posts: 519
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Happy days. he was a damn fine chap.


In the mid-60s I had a couple of very memorable Chinese meals in the Kuching Market. They were memorable on three counts:

1. The food was excellent.
2. The food was amazingly inexpensive.
3. Most of us had no idea what we were eating, none of the “caterers” spoke English, so Chunky Lord took care of the ordering in what he alleged to be fluent Cantonese.

His Cantonese certainly seemed to gain more & more fluency as the pile of empty Anchor bottles got ever higher.
NutherA2 is offline  
Old 22nd Jul 2007, 15:40
  #6 (permalink)  
lsh
 
Join Date: May 1999
Location: uk
Age: 66
Posts: 381
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
"Chunky" Lord lived in our village, Kilmington Devon.
He was a regular at the pub, one winter we were snowed-in and he turned up in antartic kit and mukluks!
I had just joined the RAF at the time and was on helicopters so it was all very interesting.
He had a good jungle story about firing his revolver out of the Whirlwind;
"I didnt mind them firing at ME but they were trying to hit one of Her Majestys
aircraft and that got me angry"!!
Some of the senior pilots remembered the smells of curry coming out of his Mess room too!
A truly engaging character, sadly missed.
lsh
lsh is offline  
Old 23rd Jul 2007, 04:40
  #7 (permalink)  
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: UK
Posts: 5,222
Likes: 0
Received 4 Likes on 3 Posts
Chunky's room at Odiiham

Chunky's room was a legend. I went in there once when he had some hare-brained scheme of building his own autogiro. Scattered around the walls were bits scavenged from the dump, strips of alloy, a sycamore TRG, an Auster rudder assembly etc. Todays curry would be simmering away and another of his favourites, eternal Russian borshe soup that had been going for weeks, was beside it.
The Mess Secretary of the day was not impressed and on the day of the AOC's inspection decided to lumber Chunky. As the AOC went around the mess he led him to Chunky's room, opened the door and waved him in.
The place was immaculate! Chunky had somehow got wind of the plot and had dumped everything into somebody's garage. That evening it was back to its normal state.

Last edited by Fareastdriver; 23rd Jul 2007 at 14:36.
Fareastdriver is offline  

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off



Contact Us - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service

Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Use of this site indicates your consent to the Terms of Use.