WW2 exhibition at Kwun Tong Promenade | Gwulo: Old Hong Kong

WW2 exhibition at Kwun Tong Promenade

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Submitted by David on Wed, 2015-11-18 13:54

The Hong Kong War History Research Association have an exhibition at the Kwun Tong Promenade, on from now until the end of November. They have a replica P-40 plane, several videos playing, and displays with photos and text.

These panels had an interesting set of photos taken from American planes bombing ships in the harbour:

Panels at the HKRWHA exhibition

And another with cartoons drawn by Donald Kerr, describing his crash in Hong Kong and escape through the New Territories:

Panels at the HKRWHA exhibition

Note that the videos are in Chinese without subtitles, and the bulk of the display panels are only in Chinese.

Thanks to Thomas for letting me know about this, and for giving me the directions to get there:

The Exhibition is located at the Promenade, right opposite Kowloon Flour Mill (https://goo.gl/maps/cuJgMWp1YPS2),  The suction loading rig is impossible to miss.

It's a bit closer if you get off at Ngau Tau Kok MTR Station.   Get off there and head east, go cross the foot bridge the Millennium City Phase II and find your way seaward.  You may follow Westbound side of Kwun Tong Road until you reach Millenium City Phase I/Meyer and turn right, then straight forward until you reach the Promenade.

The association does have a website (http://www.hkwhra.org/).  It's a Chinese only site though.  They have a page for the exhibition (http://www.hkwhra.org/?p=4515) with some photographs.

The P40 on display is a replica.  I was standing before it just a few feet away and it looked real enough exhibit.  Probably not flight worthy though.

Regards, David

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Submitted by Admin on Fri, 2015-11-20 13:53.
Curtis P40 fighter replica under flyover at Kwun Tong
Curtis P40 fighter replica under flyover at Kwun Tong, by IDJ

 

Submitted by ssuni86 on Mon, 2015-11-23 01:05.

To my eye, the replica looks like a P-40B in the paint scheme of the American Volunteer Group (AVG), better known as the Flying Tigers.  The twin nose guns visible forward of the cockpit were standard in the B model, but later models only had wing guns.

R.T. Smith was an AVG pilot credit with destroying 9 enemy aircraft.  For more on Smith, check out Daniel Ford's excellent Flying Tigers: Claire Chennault and his American Volunteers, 1941-1942.

Kerr flew with the Chinese American Composite Wing (CACW), a unit of the Chinese Air Force that came under the operational command of the U.S. 14th Air Force commanded by General Claire Chennault.  The CACW had both American and Chinese personnel.

Kerr's P-40 would likely have been flying a later-model P-40, as by 1944 the "B" model P-40s had long since been shot down or retired from service. 

--Steve Bailey

 

Submitted by tngan on Mon, 2015-11-23 10:18.

Hi there,

The title of the Exhibition in Chinese is 飛虎歸來 維港記憶 抗戰歷史文化展.  Loosely translated asTthe Victoria Harbour memories: The return of the Flying Tigers - The History & Cultural Exhibition of the Resistance.

Thanks & Best Regards,

T

Submitted by tngan on Thu, 2015-12-03 21:36.

Hi there,

For those interested, I found out today that the exhibition had been extended to 14th December 2015.

Thanks & Best Regards,

T