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Civil Aviation,
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86. The Air Services Section was established on the 15th October. The Colony's airport at Kai Tak was occupied by the Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy. Japanese reconstruc- tion of the field had swept away all civil buildings.
87. The Chiefs of Staff had agreed that Hong Kong re- quired a new airfield and financial approval within the limit of £150,000 was granted. Work began near Ping Shan, in the New Territories, on the construction of a runway 6,000 feet X 150 feet, sited to allow for extension. Inter-departmental discussion in London confirmed that a civil aviation requirement existed for a runway to international standards, i.e. 8,500 feet long X 300 feet wide, plus adjustment for climatic factors. The Ministry of Civil Aviation felt that the Ping Shan site might not be acceptable to civil operators and in February a mission, representing the Air Ministry, the Ministry of Civil Aviation and British Overseas Airways Corporation, arrived to investigate. After examining Ping Shan and alternative sites the mission reported to London, and at the end of March the Administration was informed that it had been decided to abandon the Ping Shan site.
88. When, at the end of 1945, prospects of obtaining a new civil airport within a matter of months appeared to be good, the establishment of civil aviation facilities at Kai Tak on anything but a temporary scale did not appear to be neces- sary. When the Ping Shan scheme was suspended it became evident that Kai Tak would be used for at least two years for landplanes, and probably for many years as a flying boat base. The Air Services Section therefore resumed control of its few remaining assets, consisting of a jetty and slipway and the re- mains of the marine terminal building, together with an area of land reserved for the use of civil aviation. Passengers ar- riving and departing by air passed through the staging post of Transport Command under the supervision of Air Services staff. At Kai Tak there was no space available for the Customs ex- amination of baggage, and this work was carried out in the offices of one of the operating companies at the Peninsula Hotel.
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89. China National Aviation Corporation, a Sino-American company, was given permission to begin operation on a temporary basis from Kai Tak, and the first scheduled passenger service arrived on the 22nd November. Up to the end of February 1,700 passengers had been carried in or out of the Colony, and in the month ending the 22nd February the total was 703. The corporation operated C-47 Dakota aircraft and ran two services a week to Chungking and one to Hainan, all via Canton, one to Shanghai and two to Canton,
90. The Central Air Transport Corporation, the wholly Chinese successor to the former of Sino-German firm, Eurasia Aviation Corporation, was given temporary permission to operate, but was largely engaged in bringing Chinese army medical sup- plies from Kunming for shipment to Shanghai.
91. Motor transport for civil passengers was supplied by Air Services. Kai Tak airport remained under the control of the Officer Commanding, Royal Air Force Station, Kai Tak, and civil aircraft complied with service regulations and pro- cedure.
92. Air Services Section established a W/T station, with equipment lent by C.N.A.C., for point to point traffic with China. Air-ground channels and radio aids to navigation were provided by the Royal Air Force,
93. In anticipation of the lack of organization for Port Port. working after the Japanese surrender, a number of internees in Stanley Camp had prepared a complete scheme for taking over the operation of the Port on the liberation of the Colony. it was due to the foresight, initiative and energy of these men that a skeleton organization was ready to receive and handle the first R.A.F. and Army convoys.
94. During the Japanese attack on Hong Kong, the Port suffered from shelling which caused the destruction by fire of a few godowns. Subsequent American bombing raids damaged some of the wharves. Of the five wharves of the Hong Kong & Kowloon Wharf & Godown Company, only three were fully operational, and of the two wharves at Holt's Wharf, one had
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