HUMBER & AVON - 44½ FT RASC FAST LAUNCH

Thus many such VIPs were carried in HUMBER - these included Royalty, Flag Officers and some famous people. Known to have been passengers are HRH Duchess of Kent, HRH Duke of Kent, Viscount Althorp (the late Earl Spencer), The Governor General of Australia plus numerous Generals. During the Korean War period HUMBER provided much ancillary back up support for the war effort ferrying a broad selection of war participants ranging from the highest ranking officers to civilian entertainers on their way to entertain British troops in Korea. She notched up General Mark Clark, US Army Supreme Commander, Korea, Bill Kerr the Australian actor as well as British actress Hy Hazell and singer Carole Carr.

In the 1950's HUMBER was in use as a VIP launch along with four other river class craft in the Colony. By the early 1960's, as a result of a reorganisation of the Hong Kong Garrison, 79 WT Coy was absorbed into 56 Coy RASC, at which time two of the five craft were sold off locally. In 1961 HUMBER was taken in hand at the local Cheoy Lee shipyard where she was completely stripped to her frames and completely rebuilt with teak planking, decking, wheelhouse and cabins. She was re-engined at this time and emerged in her blue hull and white cabins livery. Thus there is very little of the present craft that is original! In July 1965 HUMBER became RCT manned within the re-structured Royal Corps of Transport and became part of 31 Regt RCT. She was latterly attached to 415 Maritime Troop RCT, part of the Gurkha Training Regt. In 1970 HUMBER was at hand and sped to the scene of a ditched aircraft in Hong Kong harbour and continued to assist the local authorities with rescuing survivors. During 1974 she was taken in hand once again for another rebuild, again in teak, however as newer GRP launches were introduced, in 1976 she was returned to UK as deck cargo.

On arrival in UK she was laid up in reserve throughout the late 1970's and only taken out back into service in the early 1980's for use as a Range Safety Craft at Weymouth, and then only for one season. She was finally ruled unstable by the HM Naval Base Portsmouth and was finally withdrawn from active service; - as such at that time she was the last true WWII-type planing boat to retire from MoD service. She was reportedly laid up on chocks near the factory building in the Naval Base.

By 1985 she was on temporary loan to the Junior Leaders Regt at Colerne, Wiltshire, and having had her engines removed, was utilised for static display and induction training on a permanent cradle within the EL Hangar. The HUMBER departed Colerne in 1989 and returned to Southampton, where she was transferred to 17 Port & Maritime Regt, Marchwood. A decision was then made to retain the craft indefinitely as an historic exhibit as well as a restoration exercise. She was subsequently refurbished by HQ Transport Group RCT, and thereafter became the only WD/RASC/RCT veteran to remain in MoD(A) ownership within the newly formed Royal Logistic Corps (RLC). In February 1992 she arrived at 100 Store, Portsmouth Naval Base after a period of lay up at the Gunwharf. On the 14th June 1993 she was moved out of the protective cover of 100 Store and simply laid up outside on the factory apron with a tarpaulin cover. From then on she was unofficially cared for by Maurice and Dave Fricker who took it upon themselves to lovingly restore her to her present condition. In the meantime she was moved into No 6 boathouse in May 1994 as part of the D-Day 50th anniversary commemorations, but although it was intended to be her permanent display home, she was evicted a year later to make way for the Dockyard 500 exhibition. A month later in June 1995 she was placed next to MTB 331 for a public display for the visitors to the Dockyard 500.

In August 1995, any interest by the Portsmouth Naval Base Preservation Trust evaporated and she was craned from the Heritage area back to a site close to the "Square Tower". However this was not her home for long as in May 1996 HUMBER was again moved to a quiet site by the Round Tower Complex. During that year a great deal of work was put into restoring the HUMBER and she was later put on show at IFOS 98 as a "gate guardian" at Unicorn Gate. Her residence in the Naval Base had to come to an end as the site was effectively required for other work, thus HUMBER was reclaimed by her owners and brought by road to the BMPT site in early 2000. She remains controlled by the RLC and is a static exhibit - she has never had her engines refitted.
Humber goes home On the 31st March 2005, we towed RASC Humber on her trailer, from the shed at Marchwood. On the 1st April, her removal trailer arrived and she was transported to her new home, with Mr George Black in Norfolk.	RASC Humber outside the shed at Marchwood, prior to move to Norfolk. 31st March 2005.
RASC Humber on her trailer, with new owner George Black, ready to start the trip to Norfolk, 1st April 2005.	RASC Humber arrives at her new home, Norfolk, 1st April 2005.