The Shek Kong Airfield (ICAO: VHSK), formerly Royal Air Force Station Sek Kong or Sek Kong Airfield, is an airfield (

airbase An air base (sometimes referred to as a military air base, military airfield, military airport, air station, naval air station, air force station, or air force base) is an aerodrome used as a military base by a military force for the operation ...

) located in Shek Kong,

New Territories The New Territories is one of the three main regions of Hong Kong, alongside Hong Kong Island and the Kowloon Peninsula. It makes up 86.2% of Hong Kong's territory, and contains around half of the population of Hong Kong. Historically, it ...

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 ...

. The base currently houses air force units of

People's Liberation Army Hong Kong Garrison The People's Liberation Army Hong Kong Garrison is a garrison of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), responsible for defence duties in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) since the sovereignty of Hong Kong was transferred to ...

(PLAHKG), as well as being open for restricted civilian use during weekends.

Royal Air Force history

Before the British

handover of Hong Kong Sovereignty of Hong Kong was transferred from the United Kingdom to the People's Republic of China (PRC) at midnight on 1 July 1997. This event ended 156 years of British rule in the former colony. Hong Kong was established as a special admin ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

in 1997, the airfield was used by the British Forces Overseas Hong Kong, and was then a

Royal Air Force station The Royal Air Force (RAF) operates several stations throughout the United Kingdom and overseas. This includes front-line and training air bases, support, administrative and training stations with no flying activity, unmanned airfields used fo ...

, officially known as Royal Air Force Station Sek Kong, commonly abbreviated RAF Sek Kong. Construction started in , and was completed only in , due to the intervention of the

Japanese occupation of Hong Kong The Imperial Japanese occupation of Hong Kong began when the Governor of Hong Kong, Sir Mark Young, surrendered the British Crown colony of Hong Kong to the Empire of Japan on 25 December 1941. The surrender occurred after 18 days of fierce ...

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 ...

. From 1989, to 1993, RAF Sek Kong was also a Vietnamese Refugee Detention Centre. It is currently used by the

People's Liberation Army The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the principal military force of the China, People's Republic of China and the armed wing of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The PLA consists of five Military branch, service branches: the People's ...

(PLA) during the week but, during weekends, members of the

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 ...

(HKAC) are allowed to use the airport facilities for operation of private aeroplanes and to conduct private

flight training Flight training is a course of study used when learning to pilot an aircraft. The overall purpose of primary and intermediate flight training is the acquisition and honing of basic airmanship skills. Flight training can be conducted under a st ...

. At RAF Sek Kong, the

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 ...

operated a small force of a single squadron from 1950 to 1996. It was a permanent assignment, with personnel and their families living in Sek Kong for three-year tours of duty. The Royal Hong Kong Auxiliary Air Force (RHK AuxAF) was also a permanent air force unit in

. A partial list of RAF squadrons stationed at RAF Sek Kong before 1997: * No. 80 Squadron RAF: 3 January – 1 February 1950, 7 March – 28 April 1950 * No. 28 Squadron RAF: 1 May – 7 October 1950, 28 March 1951 – 15 August 1955, 5 December 1955 – 14 June 1957, 17 May 1978 – 1 November 1996 * Royal Hong Kong Auxiliary Air Force 1979–1993 A list of RAF aircraft stationed at RAF Sek Kong: With a Vietnamese refugee camp using the runway from 1989 to 1993, the base hosted only helicopters after 1989 until the runway was reinstated in 1995. However, no fixed wing aircraft of the RAF used the runway before the base was closed in 1996. RAF Sek Kong Jul 1983.jpg, RAF Sek Kong 1983 Wessex Sek Kong.jpg,

Westland Wessex The Westland Wessex is a British-built turbine-powered development of the Sikorsky H-34 (in US service known as Choctaw). It was developed and produced under licence by Westland Aircraft (later Westland Helicopters). One of the main chang ...

of No. 28 Squadron RAF 660 Sqn Scout 1983 Ping-Chau.jpg,

Westland Scout The Westland Scout is a light helicopter developed by Westland Helicopters. Developed from the Saro P.531, it served as a land-based general purpose military helicopter, sharing a common ancestor and numerous components with the naval-orientat ...

of No. 660 Squadron AAC RHKAAF Dauphin.jpg, Dauphin of RHKAAF

British Army

The

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurkha ...

also operated a squadron of

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 ...

s at RAF Sek Kong from 1970 until 1993, performing observation /

reconnaissance In military operations, reconnaissance or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enemy forces, terrain, and other activities. Examples of reconnaissance include patrolling by troops ( skirmishe ...

and troop-lifting roles on the Hong Kong to mainland Chinese border, and supporting the army on exercises. The Army Air Corps (AAC) unit was heavily involved in stemming the flood of illegal immigrants from mainland China. No. 660 Squadron AAC operated from 1978 until the end of 1993. The AAC squadron, 50 years old at the time, was the last overseas unit using

helicopters. ;Support equipment

Refugee camp, 1989–1993

From 1989, the base was also a refugee centre for Vietnamese boat people arriving in Hong Kong. At the peak in 1992, the centre hosted 9,000 refugees. During the time as a refugee centre, half the runway was closed and used for temporary housing (mainly tents, and some quonset huts). As a result, only rotary aircraft operated from the base. The refugee centre closed in 1993 and the runway was restored for use by fixed wing aircraft.

PLAAF base, 1997–present

The PLAAF has had a small presence in

since 1997. There is one PLA unit stationed in Shek Kong: * PLAAF Helicopter Regiment 39968 ** Hong Kong Special Aviation Unit — transport The PLA ground and naval forces also use Shek Kong, mainly for training and Open Day use. With the PLAAF operating helicopters, the runway is mostly used for civilian fixed wing aircraft. There are four 'H's marked along the runway for the Harbin Z-9Bs to land, and avoided the need to create helipads at the base.

Private use

Whilst still under Royal Air Force operation, the

(HKAC), Hong Kong's private recreational flying organisation, moved most of its aircraft to Shek Kong in 1994. This was after the hours for general aviation (GA) 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 ...

(then the international airport for Hong Kong) were sharply reduced, to two hours per morning (07:00 to 09:00), as of 1 July that year.

References

External links

Helicopter Database - HK Sek KongHong Kong Aviation Club（HKAC)
{{Authority control Military of Hong Kong Chinese Air Force bases Shek Kong Airports in Hong Kong Military airbases established in 1950 1950 establishments in Hong Kong