His contention that such “a museum would be very popular”, echoes the suggestion put forward by the Hong Kong Historical Aircraft Association more than 20 years ago.
In fact, there was a 11/2-hectare site for an aviation museum shown on the first planning layout for the Kai Tak redevelopment. Over the years, this proposal was quietly removedfrom all planning layouts for Kai Tak, and the cruise terminal is now located on the site of the planned museum.
Queries to the Leisure and Cultural Services Department as to the fate of the museum have gone unanswered.
We agree with Mr Chow that the museum “could house planes that were an integral part of our aviation history”. This was one of the objectives of the group of volunteers who collected donations to build the replica of the first plane to fly in Asia, the Farman biplane. That project was a success, and it took to the air at Hong Kong International Airport before it opened, in November 1997.
The airport has shown its dedication to Hong Kong aviation by putting the replica on permanent display in terminal one. If there was an aviation museum, the Farman could be displayed with other treasures, such as the original Cathay Pacific C-47 “Betsy”,the Auxiliary Air Force’s Mk 24Spitfire (on loan to the Duxford Museum in the UK), and replicas of many other commercial aircraft.