RAF Tai Mo Shan - Project Cabbage Leaf 1958.

Tue, 09/23/2014 - 00:52

Waiting for the Down traffic.   The old track up to Tai Mo Shan was very narrow and was cut out of the mountainside and in the main, only suitable for one way traffic. In places land slips covered parts of the track narrowing it still further.  The track surface varied and was mostly rock and gravel with many large potholes. There were one or two sections that had been repaired using tarmac which was by then very old and breaking up.  It had several sharp, steep hairpin bends where it was necessary to shunt any vehicle larger than a landrover. The steelwork for the towers had to taken up in two short wheelbase Bedford tipper lorries which were normally used at RAF Kai Tak for collecting rubbish around the airfield.   Traffic using the track was controlled by RAF Regiment (Malaya) personnel who had laid a field telephone line all the way up to the summit from the Twisk Highway.  They manned a telephone at each end of the track and thus timed and controlled the traffic. It was usually possible to go up or down to a passing point and wait if it was known that other vehicles were travelling in the opposite direction. The RAF Regiment had also laid a barbed wire perimeter fence around the site on top of the mountain and they also provided overnight armed guards on the site. 

Date picture taken
1958