Thank you for the sight of the image which I believe was involved with the 1928 ‘Cruise‘ undertaken by Group Captain Cave-Brown-Cave as an adjunct to the RAF’s ‘Far East Flight’ cruise of four Southamptons to Singapore and Australia. Primarily to test their endurance and hull structures survivability under tropical conditions. These aircraft had no hull numbers visible, unlike subsequent years cruise participants
It was a very big event at the time for the RAF and well publicised by the UK aviation press.
The Hong Kong circuit of the Cruise appears to have been something of an afterthought and is not well covered by historical text except by Hong Kong’s newspapers. Even participant, Group Captain Livock's own book ‘To the Ends of the Air’ gives the Hong Kong portion of the Cruise only a light-touch cursory examination.
See HK’s SCMP newspaper editions from 16 October 1928 onwards for day-to-day events on the flights from Singapore to Hong Kong and return.
As an aside, pilot Group Captain G.E. Livock's daughter resided at Discovery Bay on Lantau Island in the 1990s.
Comments
The RAF's Far East Flight 1928
Thank you for the sight of the image which I believe was involved with the 1928 ‘Cruise‘ undertaken by Group Captain Cave-Brown-Cave as an adjunct to the RAF’s ‘Far East Flight’ cruise of four Southamptons to Singapore and Australia. Primarily to test their endurance and hull structures survivability under tropical conditions. These aircraft had no hull numbers visible, unlike subsequent years cruise participants
It was a very big event at the time for the RAF and well publicised by the UK aviation press.
The Hong Kong circuit of the Cruise appears to have been something of an afterthought and is not well covered by historical text except by Hong Kong’s newspapers. Even participant, Group Captain Livock's own book ‘To the Ends of the Air’ gives the Hong Kong portion of the Cruise only a light-touch cursory examination.
See HK’s SCMP newspaper editions from 16 October 1928 onwards for day-to-day events on the flights from Singapore to Hong Kong and return.
As an aside, pilot Group Captain G.E. Livock's daughter resided at Discovery Bay on Lantau Island in the 1990s.
Thanks
Thanks for the update. Will amend the year.