Gavin Young
Introduction - We Flew in Burma
A few years ago, while I was writing the history of Cathay Pacific Airways, the Swires' supremely successful international airline based in Hong Kong, I consulted as a vital part of my research a book called Syd's Pirates, the thrilling record of the early part of the Cathay Pacific story. It was written by former Captain Charles (Chic) Eather, himself one of the original heroes of that airline's early days and the author of the present volume.
Syd's Pirates was full of derring-do in DC-3s in Burma - a country then in the throes of a civil war - and such delectable and swashbuckling characters as Captain John Moxham (Mox the Ox), Bob Smith, Johnnie Paish and Morrie Lothian featured in it, heroically or hilariously, as they do here in much greater detail. Some of those early fliers came to grief in those dangerous times. Others made undying names for themselves - Chic Eather was one of those. He was also one of the company's star pilots who came to love Burma and the Burmese, and that love explains why he decided to write this most intriguing and evocative book. Another reason, I am sure, is the desire to pass on a detailed archive of the exploits of those colleagues he knew so well and whose courage and expertise he continues to admire. How could he not have admired them, having shared so intimately in their extraordinary exploits?
One of Australia's aviation pioneers, C. Kingsford-Smith, once remarked that, An Aviator's life may be full of ups and downs, but the only hard thing about it is the ground.' A non-flier, I hope I may be allowed to beg to differ. As this book shows flying is a very tough and risky business, and early flying was particularly so.
I used Kingsford-Smith's remark as an epigraph in my book about Cathay Pacific. But actually another extract I used - from Andre Gide's preface to Night Flight by Antoine de Saint-Exupery - seems to me much more perceptive. It went:
The author (brings out) a paradoxical truth of considerable psychological importance:
that man's happiness lies not in freedom but acceptance to a duty.
Chic Eather brings out that important truth in this book - a labour of love, if ever there was one - even though he may not spell it out in words of black and white. He doesn't have to.
Syd's Pirates was full of derring-do in DC-3s in Burma - a country then in the throes of a civil war - and such delectable and swashbuckling characters as Captain John Moxham (Mox the Ox), Bob Smith, Johnnie Paish and Morrie Lothian featured in it, heroically or hilariously, as they do here in much greater detail. Some of those early fliers came to grief in those dangerous times. Others made undying names for themselves - Chic Eather was one of those. He was also one of the company's star pilots who came to love Burma and the Burmese, and that love explains why he decided to write this most intriguing and evocative book. Another reason, I am sure, is the desire to pass on a detailed archive of the exploits of those colleagues he knew so well and whose courage and expertise he continues to admire. How could he not have admired them, having shared so intimately in their extraordinary exploits?
One of Australia's aviation pioneers, C. Kingsford-Smith, once remarked that, An Aviator's life may be full of ups and downs, but the only hard thing about it is the ground.' A non-flier, I hope I may be allowed to beg to differ. As this book shows flying is a very tough and risky business, and early flying was particularly so.
I used Kingsford-Smith's remark as an epigraph in my book about Cathay Pacific. But actually another extract I used - from Andre Gide's preface to Night Flight by Antoine de Saint-Exupery - seems to me much more perceptive. It went:
The author (brings out) a paradoxical truth of considerable psychological importance:
that man's happiness lies not in freedom but acceptance to a duty.
Chic Eather brings out that important truth in this book - a labour of love, if ever there was one - even though he may not spell it out in words of black and white. He doesn't have to.