photo sharing and upload picture albums photo forums search pictures popular photos photography help login
Tom Jackson | all galleries >> Galleries >> Hong Kong 70s & 80s > Kai Tak Hong Kong
previous | next

Kai Tak Hong Kong

Hong Kong

Hong Kong


other sizes: small medium original auto
share
Guest 03-May-2017 19:45
I left Hong Kong before the "new" airport was built. - Just wondering how nice/big airport - I haven't been back to Hong Kong for almost 30 years.
Guest 04-Feb-2015 13:07
Spent many an hour at Kai Tak seeing off forces friends at the end of two year postings. Also, shopping in the street markets just outside the airports. Suddenly the sky would go dark with the undercarriage of a 747, wheels down, ready to land just yards ahead. Always exciting!
Hilary Johnson 26-Sep-2012 12:42
Hi, I rememember Kai Tak, my dad (jimmy James ) was stationed there in 1963. We lived at Ho man tin road and then we moved to Sunderland Road. I went to school at Gun Club Hill junior school. I have many memories of our 3 year tour. I especially remember the RAF base at Kai Tak, Stinkies Corner, Nathan road and the YMCA. I have been back several times and still remember so much.
MdB 25-Jul-2010 13:14
I remember flying into Kai Tak and thinking we were going into the sea! I can also remember floating in the swimming pool and wondering where the sun had gone, only to realise it was an aircraft coming into land. As Debbie said, you felt you could reach out and touch them. At first they seemed so noisy, after a while you didn't even realise you would stop talking on the phone while they went in overhead. These photos are so amazing. Thank you Tom, I am very lucky and feel I had the last of the best of a fabulous Hong Kong which seems to have largely disappeared.
Jeff 10-Feb-2010 16:53
That sucker is a DC-8-11 made in 1962 ish.
Couldn't help it.
Tom Jackson03-Jan-2010 05:12
Another tourist slide from a street vendor in 1980. I would guess this was taken in the mid to late 70s definitely after 1972 as the plane is an Airbus A300 which came into service soon after that date.
Ted 03-Jan-2010 01:16
Tom,
When was this taken?
Brian 09-Aug-2009 15:57
Thanks for posting your 70/80s HK photos, the decades in which I grew up as a child and a teenager. All those memories (neither good nor bad) of HK return to me. Left HK in the late 80s and returned two decades later.

The Kai Tak Airport is probably one of the things that I missed most about the HK I grew up in. I used to live right below the flight paths of planes. Although I didn't live in Kowloon City, every five minutes or so, a plane would fly over my head as it made its approach to the airstrip. At a point of time, I was even good enough to tell which plane was over my home by taking a glance at the clock.
Vile 17-May-2009 13:49
Hong Kong really lost somehing special with the closure of Kai Tak - no other airport in the world immersed you in the city even before you landed. I remember my first impression of Hong Kong was people playing basketball on rooftops, and Kowloon Walled City. Absolutely amazing experience.
Debbie 07-Jul-2008 10:27
I spent about 3 yrs in Kowloon as a child in the late 60's & we spent many happy hours at Kai Tak watching the planes. They used to fly in over our flats & they were so low we used to feel we could reach out & touch them. Such happy, happy memories. Hong Kong will always hold a special place in my heart, thank you for bringing back such wonderful feelings.
brendan yan 30-Jun-2007 03:00
i spent half of my life in hk. Surprisingly, seeing these pictures didnt make me feel old, rather, it was like getting reacquainted with a long lost good friend. Every little detail in these pictures reminded me of things that were somehow buried in the back of my mind. It's a wonderful feeling. Though i must admit that i was a bit choked up seeing the photo of the old airport. i grew up in kowloon city and i remember every single building in that photo.
thank you tom. thanks for sharing these photos.
Type your message and click Add Comment
It is best to login or register first but you may post as a guest.
Enter an optional name and contact email address. Name
Name Email
help private comment