Dudman W.F.-1945

Mon, 11/12/2018 - 18:16

The above clipping from The Aeroplane magazine published in the UK on 30 November 1945, mentions a number of prominent business people of the time who I do not recall being listed on Gwulo as members of the HK Volunteers, POWs interred during the war, or had died during the conflict.

Gwulo readers who compile such data-bases may be able to fill-in the backgrounds of these names i.e.

Mr W.McCombe, Mr G.G.N. Tinson, Mr K.S. Morrison, John Robinson, Mr C.E. White & Mr H.R. Pinna

The writer of the letter, W.F. Dudman, resumed his position in 1946 in post-war Hong Kong until his retirement to Australia in 1962. Similarly, A.J.R. Moss continued his work at Kai Tak long after the colony’s liberation. Both are fairly well-known.

Date picture taken

30 Nov 1945

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Text & links

News From the Far East

IT WILL PROBABLY be of interest to many readers of The Aeroplane to hear of the Far East Aviation Co., Ltd., Far East Flying Training School, and Far East Motors, of Hongkong, again.

Japan declared war on December 8, 1941, Hongkong time, at 8.30 a.m. The F.T.S. students were settling down to their day’s work in the school building on Kai Tak Airport when the Japanese Air Force made their first atttack on Hongkong and the airport was the target. Mr. W. McCombe, Chief Engineering Instructor, immediately gave the students indefinite leave, and they are still on leave.

I was mobilized with the Hongkong Volunteer Defence Corps the evening before and had a bird’s-eye view of the airfield attack from my A.A. battery position on Lyemun Hill.

Friends will be sorry to hear that Mr. G. G. N. Tinson, Chairman of the companies, who was a member of the Hughes Group, a voluntary defence, unit of men over military age, on the lines of the Home Guard, was killed after being wounded in action, and Mr. K. S. Morrison, Director, died during internment in Hongkong.

Mr. John Robinson, Director, is at present in London, having served with an A.A. unit in England. Mr. C. E. White, Manager of Far East Motors, was repatriated to U.S.A. as an exchange internee in February, 1942. Mr. H. R. Pinna, Secretary, was a P.o.W. in Hongkong for the duration and is still gathering the threads of the companies together. Mr. McCombe and myself were taken to Japan together and spent our time as P.o.W.s at Nagoya and Toyama, where our friends of the U.S. Air Force gave us many uncomfortable periods.

We were both flown from Tokyo to Manila in U.S. Air Force aeroplanes, and not being permitted to return to Hongkong for the time being, I left by ship, arriving home on October 29. Mr. McCombe was following by a later ship, but will probably go via Australia.

Mr. A. Moss, Superintendent of Civil Airport, Hongkong, was interned and I believe is at present acting as Controller of Transport, Kowloon Area.

Those who knew Kai Tak Airport will be pleased to hear the aerodrome is now considerably larger than it was in 1941. With the help of U.S. P.o.W.s the field now extends to the Kowloon Golf Club, the wooded sacred hill nearby has been removed and Kowloon City, old and new, was completely demolished up to the fork of Hung Hom and Prince Edward Roads, increasing the landing area by about five times its pre-War size.

I will be glad to hear from friends if they care to write to me at Baginton Fields Hostel, Coventry.

W. F. Dudman, Coventry.
Far East Aviation Co., Ltd., Hongkong.

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