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1960s Amah Rock
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Submitted by Admin
Date picture taken (may be approximate):
Friday, January 1, 1960
Connections:
- 1960s Amah Rock shows Place RAF Sha Tin [1949-1962]
- 1960s Amah Rock shows Place Amah Rock / Mong Fu Shek, Shatin [????- ]
Comments
Re: 1960 Amah Rock
Hi there,
The Island by the right hand side is Yuen Chau Kok (圓洲角). A present day public housing estate nearby had adopted the same name as well.
Best Regards,
T
1960 Amah Rock
Just to the lower left of the image you can see part of the runway of the little known RAF Shatin. This was closed permanently after Typhoon Wanda devasted the whole area and particulary Shatin. The Observatory website has a number of images of the results of the typhoon at Shatin.
IDJ
This is the first image I
This is the first image I have ever seen of the Shatin airstrip. I believe it was actually used by Auster air observation post light aircraft of the Army Air Corps.
Beautiful Amah Rock
Wow I forgot how beautiful she is!
I remember watching a film when I was at KRJS back in the '60s about the story of Amah Rock & her sad story. I wish I could find it somewhere!
Shatin airstrip
You are right. It may have been an RAF strip briefly but, certainly in the '50s, it belonged to the Army Air Corps.
D
Shatin airstrip
The British Army had an aviation presence in Hong Kong from July 1949 when 1903 Air Observation post (AOP) Flight, RAF, of 657 AOP Squadron was hastily despatched to the Far East as a result of the HMS Amethyst incident on the Yangtze. This incident led to a general reinforcement of troops in Hong Kong. 1903 Flight was briefly based at San Wai near Tai Po before moving in August 1949 to RAF Shatin. Its concrete runway was on reclaimed land in Tide Cove with related buildings spaced at three levels up the hillside and linked by a concrete road. Up until 1957 the Army Aviation Unit was purely an RAF unit. Thereafter, pilots were gradually drawn from all arms of the Army, but the RAF’s technical ground-crew remained insitu, and the Adjutant was also an RAF officer. In September 1958 the Army’s Royal Mechanical & Electrical Engineers had trained sufficient personnel to assume responsibility for the aircraft’s day to day servicing. In September 1962 Typhoon Wanda flattened the site wrecking several aircraft. What remained of the AOP Flight then moved to Kai Tak. It appears that the site continued to be designated RAF Shatin until it closed in 1962. If the army had a different title for the site, it would of interest to know what this was.
http://www.weather.gov.hk/informtc/no10/wanda/fa19.htm
http://www.weather.gov.hk/informtc/no10/wanda/fb29.htm
It's always a mystery to me
It's always a mystery to me how this big rock ended up on top of that hill. Putting folklore aside, it looks too much like a man made structure deliberately placed there by human.
1960s Amah Rock
This photo of Amah Rock is one of the best I have seen. sf, I also wonder how the hill could have eroded in such a way given there are no other similar erosions nearby.
Would examining the boulders, and the exposed rocks on the north slope just below the statue help answer this question? Perhaps geologists at HKU's have already found out whether this is a natural process just that I am behind on this.
If arranged by humans, they deserve recognition for their artistic skills in finding the right boulders, transportation, lifting/scaffolding ability on this narrow terrain, and site selection, And what they built lasts a long time.