"Syd's Last Pirate"
The Story of an Airline

by Captain Charles 'Chic' Eather

'Syd's Last Pirate' is the astonishing tale of one aviator's experiences as a central player in the dramatic development of Civil Aviation in the Far East.

'Chic' Eather is a pilot, distinguished historian and natural storyteller whose gift to the 21st century has been to expand and digitise his highly successful 1983 publication 'Syd's Pirates'. This CD book format offers readers a totally new way to access a fascinating and vanished aviation era.

At last, the whole story can be told, and the book is a visual feast! The new medium has allowed the inclusion of a huge quantity of photographic and documentary material that has never been published before, while the story has been totally rewritten to include a wealth of previously untold and hilarious anecdotes - the extraordinary experiences of men who flew in extraordinary times.

Like many of his era, Chic Eather learned to fly in a Gypsy Moth and remarkably, went solo in less than five hours! After flying Lockheed Electra 10Bs for Ansett during the war, he briefly established his own aviation organisation before joining Cathay Pacific soon after it was established in 1946.

Here he flew DC3s, Catalinas, Doves, Ansons, Convair 880s, 707s, and many other types, crossing oceans and over mountainous tiger country, carrying passengers and freight through fierce tropical storms and hostile gunfire, all without the navigation aids we take for granted today. Under these extreme conditions Chic managed to amass the awesome total of 25,000 flying hours!

This sprawling tale is a must for anyone with a love of the history and romance of aviation - of a time when flying was still a great adventure for both passengers and crew alike - and when starting an airline was largely a matter of having a reasonably operational aircraft and an excellent sense of humour!

"More than just a story of the growth of Cathay Pacific...it is also an account of the growth of civil aviation in much of Southeast Asia and the development of modern Hong Kong."
South China Morning Post

'Syd's Last Pirate' is available as a CD-ROM Book for $A29.95 from ChingChic Publishing,
77 Boomerang Crescent, Sorrento, QLD 4217 Australia.
E-Mail: chingchic@winshop.com.au
WebSite: www.chingchic.com