RAF Bomber RE358 at Kai Tak Display -1953

Tue, 09/23/2014 - 01:00

This is Lancaster (?)  RE358 taking part in a display at Kai Tak in either 1953 or '54.

Part of the display was a bomb run on runway targets using flour bags - hence the open bomb doors.  Huge white powder clouds as they 'exploded' on or near the target - or sometimes just a big splash.

Perhaps a more knowledgeable 'gwulo' can confirm or otherwise that it is a Lancaster and from its ID determine its fate and what she was doing in HK at that time.

Have tried Google - but got lost.

H.

Date picture taken
1953

Comments

The aircraft was an Avro Lincoln. The photo below was taken in 1953.

China Mail 28 November 1953

An air display in aid of the RAF Association and Benevolent Fund took place on this day. A Lincoln bomber together with Vampires and a Meteor were part of the programme.

1953 Avro Lincoln at Kai Tak

This paragraph is in my Uncle's memoir.

Apparently there was an airshow planned for a couple of weeks in the future in Hong Kong at an airfield called Kai Tak. None of us had ever been there so we were highly pleased at our luck. It seemed that, since things were a little frosty between the British Government and the Mainland Chinese, the foreign office had decided to show the flag a little and wanted to include a heavy bomber in the show in addition to the fighters which were stationed at Hong Kong at the time.

As usual when something like that came up, Joe’s reputation as a former Spitfire pilot put him immediately in the lead to be chosen, and as usual I was deputised to put it to him that we would all love to see Hong Kong but not to die there.