Homecoming of an old lady
In New York in 1945, former Air Force pilot Roy Farrell bought a DC-3, a war-surplus World War II plane. The sturdy little aircraft is said to be the most successful aeroplane design ever, with more than 10,000 planes being produced between 1935 and 1945.
He nicknamed her Betsy, and shortly after opened a trading company in Shanghai, where he was soon joined by another former Air Force pilot, the Australian Syd de Kantzow. Just over six months later, they resettled in Hong Kong, where they officially registered their new airline on September 24, 1946. The registration fees were negligible – both had to pay HK$1 each.
Info
Address 2 Science Museum Road, Tsim Sha Tsui East, Kowloon, Tel +852 2732 3232, hk.science.museum | Public Transport MTR Tsuen Wan Line (red) Tsim Sha Tsui Station, Exit B2 Tsuen Wan Line (red) Jordan Station Exit D. West Rail Line (purple) East Tsim Sha Tsui Station Exit P2. Buses 8, 8A, 5, or 5C from Star Ferry Pier Kowloon to Hong Kong Science Museum | Hours Mon-Wed, Fri 10am-7pm, Sat, Sun, public holidays 10am-9pm| Tip If, as a child, you enjoyed marble runs, the huge Energy Machine is worth the trip alone; a great museum for children as well as adults.
Betsy’s maiden flight from Hong Kong was to Manila, and on board was a somewhat special cargo: 2,000 live chicks, only a day old. During a stop, mechanical problems kept them on the ground for a while, and the aircraft became hot and humid. Worrying that the chicks could suffocate, the crew did something they would later regret - they let the chicks out of their crates, inside the aircraft. After take off it took them quite a while to get them all back in.
Maybe this was the reason they decided to haul people rather than freight. They switched to passenger operations and gave their new airline a name that would become a global brand: Cathay Pacific Airways.
Being in the right place at the right time, the company grew. In those days check-in was a noble affair: all airlines had their counter right in the lobby of the Peninsula Hotel, something that nowadays is hard to imagine.
With Cathay Pacific’s steady growth and the need to invest in a new fleet of aircrafts, Betsy was finally sold in 1955.
More than 25 years later, Cathay rediscovered the aircraft in Australia, where she was still dutifully doing her job, and bought her back. On September 23, 1983, the old lady landed safely in Hong Kong where she can now be admired in the Museum of Science.
Back
To the online map