These sheets were sometimes completed and passed round passengers. The planes were so noisy that this was often a more efficient way for the flight crew to keep passengers up to date on progress. With about 2 hours to go and at a speed of 188mph the plane would still have about 370 miles to fly before it touched down on the original mainland runway at Kai Tak.. R.A.F. Transport Command had a fleet of Valettas based in Singapore. (Andrew S)
Date picture taken
1957
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Comments
Re: Flight Information
Looking at the flight information presented, particularly the lat and long and the flight time, it would appear that the flight had made a stopover in Manila or Clark Air Base before arrival at Kai Tak.
Hi Moddsey,
Hi Moddsey,
I was a passenger on the much faster Hermes and Argonaut planes, so we flew direct to either Rangoon or Bangkok. The slower Valettas were essentially short haul planes so it could have been either Manila or Clark’s Air Base as both were used. I’ve sometimes wondered whether any unlucky service passengers had to endure endless short legs all the way back to England. Surely not! Best wishes, Andrew.
Thanks.
No worries. Just noted that it was a Valetta and the coordinates given were NE of the Philippines. So thus the comment. Cheers!