Royal Hong Kong Auxiliary Air Force - part of RAF?
I was fortunate to be invited by some of my old students from Bristow days to spend a morning at HKGFS this time 2 years ago. Great setup, superb airraft and equipment. Still the odd expat on strength. My very best wishes to them all.
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: 75' from the runway edge and 150' from the threshold
Age: 74
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Honkey Tonks 73-75
I was fortunate enough to have been posted to Kai Tak Ops in '73. One of the pleasures of that posting, other than my son being born in BMH Kowloon, was being able to cadge trips with the RHKAAF (known to us as the Honkey Tonks) like TTN I managed deliver quite a few newspapers around the NT and the islands in the Alouettes. My "bomb aimer" capabilities appear to have been somewhat better than TTN as all mine arrived dry. I wonder though, if TTNs experience led to the papers being sealed in plastic bags just in case of a repeat. My favourite memory though was the 5 1/2 hours in the BN islander doing civil Air Traffic Controller training
This particular Islander, IIRC was fitted with extra fuel tanks in order to have a SAR capability, with, again IIRC 13 hrs.endurance. Sadly I can't remember the name of the pilot. He was a Flt. Lt. RAF and was so laid back he was almost supine. That of course explains as to how i was allowed over 4 hours on the controls and giving the Controllers near heart attacks as I tried my hand at flying PARs. Unfortunately I would have drowned at least three times, trying to land on the centreline approach lighting that sticks out into the harbour. The photo below shows a properly flown approach while I took some photographs. We're about to pass through the Lei Yue Mun gap. Notice the fairly sheer high ground on the right. When doing a PDR it was great fun to pull the left throttle and turn in towards the high ground simulating a left engine failure. The voice of the controller under training usually went up at least three octaves as he desperately instructed us to turn back on track and climb.
Below is a Cathay Pacific 707 on departure, going through the afore mentioned gap with a good view of the high ground. The CV panel was used to eject the pilots apple apple after lunch was had from box provided.
The Austers that TTN mentioned had been replaced by Musketeers when I was there. Their main job, according to the crews was to provide ridge hopping recce information for the current garrison when they came forward to throw the PLA back across the border. Of course the reason they didn't invade, no matter what the historians say, is that the resident battalion was the Black Watch and HK at the time was host to the Brigade of Gurkhas. Just one last photo. Below is a Canadair CL 215 which was being considered by the HK government for forest fire fighting.
As part of my campaign to fly in anything that I could blag my way onto, many years later I managed a trip in one of these whilst on detachment to Goose Bay. Many thanks to the crew of Tanker 252. Apologies for the state of some of the piccies but this entry has convinced me to use the remnants of Covid lockdown to use Affinity Photo to clean everything up. Oh yes...I got my second jab today
This particular Islander, IIRC was fitted with extra fuel tanks in order to have a SAR capability, with, again IIRC 13 hrs.endurance. Sadly I can't remember the name of the pilot. He was a Flt. Lt. RAF and was so laid back he was almost supine. That of course explains as to how i was allowed over 4 hours on the controls and giving the Controllers near heart attacks as I tried my hand at flying PARs. Unfortunately I would have drowned at least three times, trying to land on the centreline approach lighting that sticks out into the harbour. The photo below shows a properly flown approach while I took some photographs. We're about to pass through the Lei Yue Mun gap. Notice the fairly sheer high ground on the right. When doing a PDR it was great fun to pull the left throttle and turn in towards the high ground simulating a left engine failure. The voice of the controller under training usually went up at least three octaves as he desperately instructed us to turn back on track and climb.
Below is a Cathay Pacific 707 on departure, going through the afore mentioned gap with a good view of the high ground. The CV panel was used to eject the pilots apple apple after lunch was had from box provided.
The Austers that TTN mentioned had been replaced by Musketeers when I was there. Their main job, according to the crews was to provide ridge hopping recce information for the current garrison when they came forward to throw the PLA back across the border. Of course the reason they didn't invade, no matter what the historians say, is that the resident battalion was the Black Watch and HK at the time was host to the Brigade of Gurkhas. Just one last photo. Below is a Canadair CL 215 which was being considered by the HK government for forest fire fighting.
As part of my campaign to fly in anything that I could blag my way onto, many years later I managed a trip in one of these whilst on detachment to Goose Bay. Many thanks to the crew of Tanker 252. Apologies for the state of some of the piccies but this entry has convinced me to use the remnants of Covid lockdown to use Affinity Photo to clean everything up. Oh yes...I got my second jab today
Avoid imitations
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Wandering the FIR and cyberspace often at highly unsociable times
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I’ve kept quiet about it so far but I served on GFS for a while, in its early years. I experienced some of the most enjoyable and also some if the most challenging flying I’ve done. Plus a few rather soul destroying flights for reasons beyond my control.
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: 75' from the runway edge and 150' from the threshold
Age: 74
Posts: 247
Received 30 Likes
on
12 Posts
I think you'll find that it's Xiamen.
Last edited by Fareastdriver; 30th Mar 2021 at 07:45. Reason: even more spelling mistakes
Thanks for your post ACW342 - very interesting, and pleased to hear your bombing skills were better than mine! They hadnt improved by the time I was going through the NBS course at Lindholme and I got a record mine mile error on one of my trips. Still, it clinched my posting to Victor tankers instead of Vulcans at the end of the course, so it worked out well.
Re blagging flights, one of my best was in one of 20 Flight Sioux which were based at Kai Tak at the time. One day a mate on 20 Flight asked me if I fancied going for a swim. I said I did so he told me to go and get my bathers. We jumped into a Sioux, headed off into the NT and landed on a beach somewhere. After a few minutes we were hailed by the occupants of a floating gin palace moored just off the beach. We swam out and they invited us on board for a drink (soft of course!). As I sat there in a scene reminiscent of a James Bond film I had to remind myself that I was actually getting paid for this!
Re Kai Tak mess, yes it was on the opposite side off the Kwun Tong Road, as has been said. The steepish hill leading down to the busy dual carriageway could be a bit unnerving. I had a chum who had an old Mk V Jaguar with very dodgy brakes. On a number of occasions I remember him coming down that road, frantically pumping the brake pedal and the rest of us with our fingers crossed hoping that we would be able to stop and not just sail into the always busy traffic.
One of my better postings (and I met Mrs TTN who was a QARANC sister while I was there). Happy days.
Re blagging flights, one of my best was in one of 20 Flight Sioux which were based at Kai Tak at the time. One day a mate on 20 Flight asked me if I fancied going for a swim. I said I did so he told me to go and get my bathers. We jumped into a Sioux, headed off into the NT and landed on a beach somewhere. After a few minutes we were hailed by the occupants of a floating gin palace moored just off the beach. We swam out and they invited us on board for a drink (soft of course!). As I sat there in a scene reminiscent of a James Bond film I had to remind myself that I was actually getting paid for this!
Re Kai Tak mess, yes it was on the opposite side off the Kwun Tong Road, as has been said. The steepish hill leading down to the busy dual carriageway could be a bit unnerving. I had a chum who had an old Mk V Jaguar with very dodgy brakes. On a number of occasions I remember him coming down that road, frantically pumping the brake pedal and the rest of us with our fingers crossed hoping that we would be able to stop and not just sail into the always busy traffic.
One of my better postings (and I met Mrs TTN who was a QARANC sister while I was there). Happy days.
