RAF Kai Tak was a

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

(RAF) station in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a List of cities in China, city and Special administrative regions of China, special ...

, based at

Kai Tak Airport Kai Tak Airport was the international airport of Hong Kong from 1925 until 1998. Officially known as Hong Kong International Airport from 1954 to 6 July 1998, it is often referred to as Hong Kong International Airport, Kai Tak, or simply Ka ...

. It was opened in 1927 and used for

seaplane A seaplane is a powered fixed-wing aircraft capable of taking off and landing (alighting) on water.Gunston, "The Cambridge Aerospace Dictionary", 2009. Seaplanes are usually divided into two categories based on their technological characteri ...

s. The RAF flight operated a few land based aircraft as well as having spare aircraft for naval units.

History

From 1968 to 1978 it was used by various RAF

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attribu ...

units, as well as the

Royal Hong Kong Auxiliary Air Force The Royal Hong Kong Auxiliary Air Force (RHKAAF) was a Hong Kong Government department based in Hong Kong. It was formed as an air force in 1949 as part of the Hong Kong Defence Force. In preparation for the transfer of sovereignty from the Uni ...

and Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps Air Unit. The RAF left Kai Tak and moved most other operations to Sek Kong Airfield. From 1993 onwards the civilian

Government Flying Service The Government Flying Service (GFS) is a disciplined unit and paramilitary flying organisation of the Government of Hong Kong. The service has its head office in, and operates from, the southwestern end of Hong Kong International Airport at ...

replaced the Royal Hong Kong Auxiliary Air Force at Kai Tak, thus ending the RAF presence at the airport. The apron and the old NCO Mess areas were used by the

Royal Hong Kong Police Force The Hong Kong Police Force (HKPF) is the primary law enforcement, investigative agency, and largest disciplined service under the Security Bureau of Hong Kong. The Royal Hong Kong Police Force (RHKPF) reverted to its former name after the ...

as the Police Driving School premises for a number of years until re-sited.

Non-military users

It was the main airfield in Hong Kong housing other non-military users: * Far East Flying Training School founded in the 1920s - later changed its name to Far East Flying and Technical School. * The Hong Kong Flying Club 1927 * Aero Club of Hong Kong 1962. * offices of various airlines including: **

Cathay Pacific Airways Cathay Pacific Airways Limited (CPA), more widely known as Cathay Pacific (), is the flag carrier of Hong Kong, with its head office and main hub located at Hong Kong International Airport. The airline's operations and subsidiaries have ...

** Hong Kong Aircraft Engineering Company (HAECO) ** Hong Kong Polytechnic **

Hong Kong Aviation Club The Hong Kong Aviation Club is an aviation club which offers training on both fixed-wing aircraft and helicopter to Private Pilot Licence Level. It was established in 1982 upon the amalgamation of the Hong Kong Flying Club, the Aero Club of Ho ...

** Heliservices (Hong Kong) Limited ** Macau Aerial Transport Company **

British Overseas Airways Corporation British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) was the British state-owned airline created in 1939 by the merger of Imperial Airways and British Airways Ltd. It continued operating overseas services throughout World War II. After the pass ...

Aircraft

During the Japanese occupation from 1941 to 1945,

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

A6M Zero The Mitsubishi A6M "Zero" is a long-range carrier-based fighter aircraft formerly manufactured by Mitsubishi Aircraft Company, a part of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, and was operated by the Imperial Japanese Navy from 1940 to 1945. The A6M was ...

fighters were based at Kai Tak. A list of British aircraft stationed there:

Squadrons

The Japanese were stationed at Kai Tak during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

and extended the runway at the base. A list of RAF units at Kai Tak: * Air Headquarters Hong Kong Communication Squadron RAF (12 September 1945 – 15 January 1947) *

No. 132 Squadron RAF No. 132 (City of Bombay) Squadron RAF was a Royal Air Force Squadron formed to be a bomber unit in World War I and reformed as a fighter unit in World War II. History Formation and World War I No. 132 Squadron Royal Flying Corps was formed on 1 ...

(15 September 1945 – 15 April 1946) * No. 209 Squadron RAF (17 September 1945 – 28 April 1946) * No. 681 Squadron RAF (27 September – 23 December 1945) *No. 200 Staging Post RAF (October 1945 – June 1946) * No. 1331 Wing RAF Regiment (xxx xxxx – May 1946) * No. 96 Squadron RAF (16 April – 1 June 1946) * No. 110 Squadron RAF (1 June 1946 – 15 September 1947) *

Japan Force Communications Flight RAF Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

(28 April 1946 – xxx xxxx)? *

No. 1430 (Flying Boat Transport) Flight RAF Number 88 Squadron was an aircraft squadron of the Royal Air Force. It was formed at Gosport, Hampshire in July 1917 as a Royal Flying Corps (RFC) squadron. First World War After forming at Gosport in July 1917, the squadron was moved to France ...

(5 August – 1 September 1946) * No. 88 Squadron RAF (1 September 1946 – 24 June 1951) *

No. 1903 Air Observation Post Flight RAF No. 652 Squadron RAF was a unit of the Royal Air Force during the Second World War and afterwards in Germany. Numbers 651 to 663 Squadrons of the RAF were Air Observation Post units working closely with Army units in artillery spotting and liaiso ...

, No. 656 Squadron RAF (15 July 1948 – 17 August 1949) *

(1 May 1949 – 1 April 1993) * No. 28 Squadron RAF (11 May 1949 – 1 May 1950; 7 October 1950 – 28 March 1951; 15 August – 5 December 1955; 14 June 1957 – 2 January 1967; 1 March 1968 – 17 May 1978; 1 November 1996 – 4 June 1997) * No. 80 Squadron RAF (20 August 1949 – 3 January 1950; 1 February – 7 March 1950; 28 April 1950 – 1 May 1955) * Hong Kong Auxiliary Flight RAF (October 1949 – 1 October 1950) * Hong Kong Auxiliary Squadron RAF (1 October 1950 – 24 November 1953) * Hong Kong Auxiliary Air Force Wing RAF (24 November 1953 – xxx 1954) * Hong Kong Fighter Squadron RAF (24 November 1953 – xxx 1954

RAF detachments

* No. 215 Squadron RAF (October 1945 – February 1946) * No. 209 Squadron RAF April 1946 – January 1955) *

No. 81 Squadron RAF No 81 Squadron was a squadron of the Royal Air Force. It flew Fighter aircraft during the Second World War, and reconnaissance aircraft in the Far East after the war and was disbanded in 1970. History First World War No. 81 Squadron Royal Flyin ...

(October 1947 – April 1958) *

No. 205 Squadron RAF No. 205 Squadron was a Royal Air Force unit formed on 1 April 1918. Prior to this it had existed as No. 5 Squadron of the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS). In 1929, it became the first RAF squadron to be permanently based in Singapore, taking as it ...

(September 1949 – March 1958) * No. 88 Squadron RAF (June 1951 – October 1954) * No. 60 Squadron RAF (July 1961 – May 1968) * No. 103 Squadron RAF (August 1963 – March 1969) * No. 110 Squadron RAF (January 1964 – March 1969) * No. 45 Squadron RAF (June 1965 – February 1970)

Kai Tak runway

Kai Tak's first runway was a grass strip and the first tarmac, an east–west runway, was 457 metres long in 1939. A series of extensions were added over the years: *1940s - 1,371 metres runway added by the

*1956 - 2,194 metres north–south runway added *1970 - 2,541 metres *1975 - 3,358 metres *post 1975 - single asphalt

runway According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt, concrete ...

13/31 - 3,390 metres (or 11,122 feet)

Facilities

*Hangar for aircraft at Choi Hung Road used to store

Supermarine Spitfire The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. Many variants of the Spitfire were built, from the Mk 1 to the Rolls-Royce Gri ...

Historic buildings

Several buildings of the former station remain. Three of them, built in 1934,Brief Information on Proposed Grade II Items. Items #365, 367, 369
are Grade I historic buildings: the Headquarters Building, the Officers Mess and an Annex Block. * The former Headquarters Building is located at No. 50

Kwun Tong Road Kwun Tong Road () is a major thoroughfare in Kwun Tong District, New Kowloon, Hong Kong. Location Kwun Tong Road starts at the junction with Prince Edward Road East, Clear Water Bay Road and Lung Cheung Road in Ngau Chi Wan. It runs along the c ...

. It housed the Kai Tak Vietnamese Refugee Camp (啟德越南難民營) from 1979 to 1981, and was used for detaining

Vietnamese refugees Vietnamese boat people ( vi, Thuyền nhân Việt Nam), also known simply as boat people, refers to the refugees who fled Vietnam by boat and ship following the end of the Vietnam War in 1975. This migration and humanitarian crisis was at its h ...

until 1997. It has been housing the Caritas Family Crisis Support Centre (明愛向晴軒) since 2002. * The former Officers' Quarters Compound, which includes the RAF Officers' Mess and an Annex Block, is located at No. 51 Kwun Tong Road. It was handed over to the Government in 1978 and converted into a Detective Training School of the

Hong Kong Police Force The Hong Kong Police Force (HKPF) is the primary law enforcement, investigative agency, and largest disciplined service under the Security Bureau of Hong Kong. The Royal Hong Kong Police Force (RHKPF) reverted to its former name after the t ...

, and remained in use until 2001. It has later been refurbished as the new Kai Tak campus of

Hong Kong Baptist University Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU) is a publicly funded tertiary liberal arts institution with a Christian education heritage. It was established as Hong Kong Baptist College with the support of American Baptists, who provided both operati ...

, housing its Academy of Visual Arts (視覺藝術院). Other remaining structures in the compound include a former barrack office, a squash court, an

air-raid shelter Air raid shelters are structures for the protection of non-combatants as well as combatants against enemy attacks from the air. They are similar to bunkers in many regards, although they are not designed to defend against ground attack (but many ...

, a dust bin store, a

Nissen hut A Nissen hut is a prefabricated steel structure for military use, especially as barracks, made from a half-cylindrical skin of Corrugated galvanised iron, corrugated iron. Designed during the First World War by the American-born, Canadian-British ...

, a mini-range, a latrine block, basketball court and an incinerator. The restoration and

adaptive reuse Adaptive reuse refers to the process of reusing an existing building for a purpose other than which it was originally built or designed for. It is also known as recycling and conversion. Adaptive reuse is an effective strategy for optimizing the o ...

of the Officers' Mess received an Honourable Mention at the 2009

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international coope ...

Asia-Pacific Heritage Awards.2009 UNESCO Asia-Pacific Heritage Awards Winners
/ref> * The Gray Block (克拉克樓), located at No. 2 Kwun Tong Road, was built in 1973. It has been converted into the New Horizons Building (新秀大廈), used by Christian Action.

References

Citations

Bibliography

External links

Crest Badge and Information of RAF Kai Tak1979 picture of the buildings
{{authority control Military installations established in 1927 Military of Hong Kong under British rule

Kai Tak Kai Tak Airport was the international airport of Hong Kong from 1925 until 1998. Officially known as Hong Kong International Airport from 1954 to 6 July 1998, it is often referred to as Hong Kong International Airport, Kai Tak, or simply Ka ...

Airports in Hong Kong Military installations closed in 1993 World War II sites in Hong Kong 1927 establishments in Hong Kong 1993 disestablishments in Hong Kong