Bus Exhibition Centre of Hong Kong
Dennis Falcon
Kowloon Motor Bus (KMB) introduced 20 Dennis Falcon 'HC' single-deck coaches to replace their Albion coaches on the airport routes. The Falcons were air-conditioned with fully fixed windows. They were powered by Gardner 6HLXB engines with Voith DIWA D851 transmission. Bodies were supplied by Duple Metsec, and these Falcons became unique in specifications among other Falcons in United Kingdom.
These Falcons started their services during 1985-86 on the airport routes, and became the very first franchised bus services with air-conditioning. Starting from 1993, KMB had purchased 40 Duple Metsec bodied Dennis Darts and 24 Dennis Lances, and put some of these buses into the airport routes. Therefore some of the Falcons were withdrawn from the airport routes and were put into urban bus services after a series of modifications of the seating arrangements. All the remaining Falcons went to urban bus services also after the closure of the Kai Tak Airport.
One of the Falcons, DH 1700, was seriously damaged in an accident and were withdrawn and scrapped in 1989. The other 19 Falcons, subsequently received AF1-19 as their fleet numbers in 1991.
KMB started to withdraw their Falcons in 1999, and the last Falcon, AF12, finally retired in 2001.
These pages contain 19 photographs for each of the surviving Falcons after 1989. One photograph of the interior view of a Falcon is also available on the last page.
[ AF1-4
| AF5-8
| AF9-12
| AF13-17
| AF18-19 & Interior ]
| Above: | AF1 (DH 743) is the first Dennis Falcon, and is also the first one that was "naturally" withdrawn. (1998/02/12) |
Below: |
AF2 (DH 1523) on Route A5. The route was normally served with Dennis Darts. (1994/12/17) |
| Above: | After the Falcons were transferred out of the airport routes, the first urban route they served was Route 203E. AF3 (DH 972) is seen on the route in this photograph. (1999/12/02) |
Below: |
AF4 (DH 1577) is seen just crossed the harbour tunnel, while serving on 'Airbus' Route A3. Please note the word 'Airbus' on the side panel is smaller than the normal one. (1997/07/13) |
[ AF1-4
| AF5-8
| AF9-12
| AF13-17
| AF18-19 & Interior ]
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