Beyond Lion Rock

by Gavin Young

  Singapore Intl. Airlines, 1

  Skyways Ltd., 1, 2, 3, 4

  Smith, Bob, 1, 2, 3, 4

  Smith, Capt. Dave, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

  Smith, Capt. E.B. (Bernie), 1, 2, 3, 4 resigned, 1

  Smith, Peter, 1

  Smith, R.J., 1

  Snidvongse, Col. Term, 1, 2

  South China Morning Post, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

  Standard Oil Co., 1

  Steele, Capt. Kenneth, 1, 2, 3

  Steven, Capt. Ian, 1, 2

  Stilwell, Lt. Gen. Joseph (‘Vinegar Joe’), 1, 2, 3, 4

  Stirland, Richard, 1, 2

  Stone, Capt. Wilson, 1

  Stump, Adml. Felix B., 1

  Sukarno, Dr. Ahmad, 1

  Sullivan, Ed, 1

  Sullivan, Wing Cmdr. (‘Ginger’), 1

  Sunday Telegraph, 1

  Sutch, Peter, 1

  Swire, (now Sir) Adrian, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

  Swire, John Anthony, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

  Swire Group, HK, 1, 2, 3, 4

  Swire, John & Sons (JS&S)—basis of agreement with ANA, Skyways, FEAC to form CPA (1948) Ltd., 1 in Air, 1

  pressured by HMG to buy Tristars, 1

  Swire, John Kidston (‘Jock’), 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21 Juliet Richenda (wife), 1

  education, 1, 2

  joins family firm, 1

  wartime service, 1

  dir. B&S, HK, 1

  chrmn. London Port Employers, rep. Min. of Shipping, Min. of Econ. Warfare, 1

  views on Co. future, 1, 2, anxieties 1, 2

  thinks pure jet, 1

  retires from Board, 1

  Hon. Pres. CPA, 1

  hands over to sons, 1

  death, 1, 2

  Bridget (daughter), 1

  Glen (brother), 1

  Swire, John Samuel, (‘The Senior’), 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 establishes CNCo, 1

  builds Taikoo Sugar Refinery & Dockyard, 1

  teams up with R. Butterfield, 1

  sets up B&S, 1

  death, 1

  John (son), 1

  Warren (son),1, 2, 3

  Swire, William Hudson, 1

  Swissair, 1

  Sydney Morning Herald, 1, 2

  Sydney Sun, 1

  Taikoo, 1, 2, 3, 4, logo, 1, 2

  the Taipans of, 1, 2

  Sugar Refinery, 1, 2

  Dockyard, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

  Tanaka, Kakuei, PM of Japan, 1

  Tattam, Ross, 1

  Taylor, Bill, 1

  Templo, Purser Albert, 1, 2

  Thatcher, Peter, 1

  Thompson, Chief Engineer Brian, 1

  Thornton, Sir Peter, 1

  Tippin, R.J., 1, 2

  Trans-Australia Airlines, 1

  Trans World Airlines (TWA), 1, 2

  Trueman, E.N., 1

  Tsai, Patrick, 1, 2

  Tsu Yee Pei, 1

  Turner, Cedric O., 1

  United Kingdom – Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), 1, 2, 3, 4

  Dept. of Trade & Industry, 1 Accident Investigation Branch, 1

  Foreign Office, 1

  Government, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

  Ministry of Civil Aviation, 1 Chief Inspector, Accidents, 1

  Sec. of State for Trade & Industry, 1

  Naval Intelligence, 1

  Sino-British Jt Decl. 1984, 1

  United Airlines, 1

  United States – Army Air Force, 1, 2, 3

  Cal. Inst. of Technology, 1

  Fedl. Aviation Agency (FAA), 1

  Fedl. Govt. Civil Aviation Board (CAB), 1, 2

  Natl. Aeronautics & Space Admin. (NASA), 1

  Senate Sub-Cttee, 1

  Venezolana Internacionale de Aviacion SA (VIASA), 1

  Vietnam, Dir. of Civil Aviation, 1

  Wah Kiu Yat Po, 1

  Wakeford, Tony, 1

  Wales, Capt. Alec, 1

  Walsh, Herbert, 1

  Warne, Capt. John, 1

  Wawn, Capt. John (‘Pinky’), 1, 2, 3, 4

  Wheeldon Pugh, Margaret, 1

  White, Miss G.M.E., 1

  Wightman, Capt. Brian J., 1, 2

  Williams, Engineer Jack, 1, 2, 3

  Williams, First Officer John, 1

  Willing, Capt. Martin, 1, 2, 3

  Wingate, Maj-Gen. Orde, 1

  Wong Yu, 1

  Wong, Radio Officer Stephen, 1

  Woodyard, Capt. Jack, 1, 2, 3

  Wray, Cyril, 1, 2, 3

  Wunder, George, 1

  Yen, Chester, 1, 2, 3, 4

  Yip, Stewardess Alice, 1

  Yuen, Purser William, 1

  Yung, Larry, 1

  Roy Farrell waves from his US Army C-47, alias Betsy.

  Sydney de Kantzow in 1946

  Betsy’s first flight from Shanghai to Hong Kong and Sydney, 1946. Roy Farrell (left) with Bob Russell.

  Kai Tak Airport, 1947.

  Vera Rosario became Cathay Pacific’s first air hostess in 1948.

  John Kidston Swire (1893–1983).

  Swires’ Hong Kong headquarters from about 1897 until 1960. Butterfield was dropped from the title in 1974, although Butterfield ceased to be connected with the company in the 1870s. An example of the Swires’ innate conservatism!

  Jock Swire as Deep Water Bay Hussar. Hong Kong, 1914.

  All that was left after the Braemer Reservoir crash in 1949.

  A Cathay Pacific DC-4. Range: 2,100 miles. Cruising speed: 200 mph.

  Jock Swire with his daughter Gillian and John Browne (above) and with members of a Cathay Pacific crew.

  Left: Adrian Swire with Michael Miles. Right: Lord Maclehose of Beoch, Sir John Bremridge and Mr Duncan Bluck at a reception held at HAECO Hangar No. 2 to commemorate the arrival of the first Cathay Pacific B747-200 on 31 July 1979.

  Patrick Tsai and Chester Yen, two of Cathay’s Chinese senior executives

  A Cathay Pacific Lockheed Electra, one of two in the fleet from 1959 to 1967. Range: 2,700 miles. Cruising speed: 400 mph. Seventy-five passengers. In the foreground, the southernmost tip of Kowloon, the Star Ferry Terminal. Top left: Kai Tak Airport in the haze and hills of the New Territories.

  A Cathay Convair jet. Range: 2,800 miles. Cruising speed: 590 mph.

  John Nott, British Minister of Trade (standing), at the Dorchester Hotel in London, announcing his dramatic decision to allow Cathay Pacific to fly the Hong Kong to London route and giving John Swire (left) a night to remember.

  At Sydney Airport little Betsy, newly repainted in the Cathay uniform, gets ready to ‘race’ one of the company’s giant 747s home to Hong Kong – and retirement.

  About the Author

  Gavin Young (1929–2001) was a journalist, writer, and briefly a member of MI6. As a journalist, he was most associated with the Observer, being in the words of Mark Frankland’s obituary ‘a star foreign correspondent’. When disenchantment with journalism set in he turned to the writing of books. The two most famous ones are Slow Boats to China and its sequel Slow Boats Home. He himself had a particular affection for two later books In Search of Conrad (winner of the Thomas Cook Book Award) and A Wavering Grace. These and Beyond Lion Rock, From Sea to Shining Sea, Return to the Marshes and Worlds Apart are all being reissued in Faber Finds.

  Copyright

  This ebook edition first published in 2012

  by Faber and Faber Ltd

  Bloomsbury House

  74–77 Great Russell Street

  London WC1B 3DA

  All rights reserved

  © Gavin Young, 1988

  The right of Gavin Young to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with Section 77 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

  This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchas
ed or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly

  ISBN 978–0–571–28726–0