RAF Kai Tak was a Royal Air Force (RAF) station in Hong Kong, based at Kai Tak Airport. It was opened in 1927 and used for seaplanes. The RAF flight operated a few land based aircraft as well as having spare aircraft for naval units.
From 1993 onwards the civilian Government Flying Service replaced the Royal Hong Kong Auxiliary Air Force at Kai Tak, thus ending the RAF presence at the airport.
The apron and the old NCO Mess areas were used by the Royal Hong Kong Police Force as the Police Driving School premises for a number of years until re-sited.
Non-military users
It was the main airfield in Hong Kong housing other non-military users:
No. 28 Squadron RAF (11 May 1949 – 1 May 1950; 7 October 1950 – 28 March 1951; 15 August – 5 December 1955; 14 June 1957 – 2 January 1967; 1 March 1968 – 17 May 1978; 1 November 1996 – 4 June 1997)
No. 80 Squadron RAF (20 August 1949 – 3 January 1950; 1 February – 7 March 1950; 28 April 1950 – 1 May 1955)
Kai Tak's first runway was a grass strip and the first tarmac, an east–west runway, was 457 metres long in 1939. A series of extensions were added over the years:
Several buildings of the former station remain. Three of them, built in 1934,[4] are Grade I historic buildings: the Headquarters Building, the Officers Mess and an Annex Block.[5]
The former Headquarters Building is located at No. 50 Kwun Tong Road. It housed the Kai Tak Vietnamese Refugee Camp (啟德越南難民營) from 1979 to 1981, and was used for detaining Vietnamese refugees until 1997. It has been housing the Caritas Family Crisis Support Centre (明愛向晴軒) since 2002.[4]
The former Officers' Quarters Compound, which includes the RAF Officers' Mess and an Annex Block, is located at No. 51 Kwun Tong Road. It was handed over to the Government in 1978 and converted into a Detective Training School of the Hong Kong Police Force, and remained in use until 2001. It has later been refurbished as the new Kai Tak campus of Hong Kong Baptist University, housing its Academy of Visual Arts (視覺藝術院).[4][6] Other remaining structures in the compound include a former barrack office, a squash court, an air-raid shelter, a dust bin store, a Nissen hut, a mini-range, a latrine block, basketball court and an incinerator.[4] The restoration and adaptive reuse of the Officers' Mess received an Honourable Mention at the 2009 UNESCO Asia-Pacific Heritage Awards.[7]
The Gray Block (克拉克樓), located at No. 2 Kwun Tong Road, was built in 1973. It has been converted into the New Horizons Building (新秀大廈), used by Christian Action.