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The Hongkong Report

2. Remembering Kai Tak airport

History

When the first aircraft came to Hongkong in March 1911, the Kai Tak area was nothing but a sea harbour. And as the first aircraft were seaplanes, they didn't need a runway built from concrete.

In 1924 two businessmen, Dr Kai Ho-Kai and Au Tak reclaimed a portion of the Kowloon bay to build up residential buildings. But their plane failed. The area was already reclaimed, but the houses were never built. It was then the Government who decided to make an airfield at this area, named after the two businessmen, Kai and Tak.

Then, in 1927 the airfield became the RAF base Kai Tak. It was now used for both, civil and military aircraft, but it took several more years, until the first regular flights took place. On March 23, 1936 the first scheduled commercial flight, a four-engine De Havilland biplane operated by Imperial, arrived from Penang with one passenger and 16 bags of mail.

Six months later the first Pan Am Clipper touched down in the Victoria Harbour after a short flight from Macau. This was the first regular flight linking Hongkong aeronautically with North America.

The Second World War was also a very incisive event for Kai Tak airport. It was the 8th December 1941, when Japanese bombers attacked the airfield and took it over. To enable operations of larger aircraft, the Japanese built two crossing runways during their 44 months occupancy.

After the war, Kai Tak was growing very fast. In 1946, Hongkong received a new home-carrier, when Cathay Pacific was founded.

While the small runway had been closed after some time, the main runway 13/31 has been expanded. For the last time in 1975, it has received its total length of 3390 m to allow landings of new types such as the Boeing 747.

Modern Time

But what made this airport so special? Whenever you flew into Hongkong during Kai Tak-times, you know what it made so unique. Because of its position, surrounded by hills, the arriving aircraft had to fly a very special approach.

First of all, the plane soared over the harbour inside the city, in direction to the so-called Checkerboard, which was marked with an immense red-white painting. Just in front of the hill, and only 300 feet over the ground, the plane had to turn into a 60°-curve to the right until the runway was finally visible and the aircraft could touch down.

It is the spectacular approach, what made Hongkong Kai Tak so special. Where else could you fly so close to the ground, surrounded by buildings and hills, and all that in a strong curve!