Roy Clinton Farrell (June 19, 1912 – January 3, 1996) was the American co-founder of

Cathay Pacific Airways Cathay Pacific Airways Limited (CPA), more widely known as Cathay Pacific (), is the flag carrier of Hong Kong, with its head office and main hub located at Hong Kong International Airport. The airline's operations and subsidiaries have ...

along with the Australian Sydney de Kantzow.

Early years

Farrell was born in

Vernon, Texas Vernon is a city and the county seat of Wilbarger County, Texas, United States. and as of the 2010 Census had a population of 11,002. History The original town was called Eagle Springs by the indigenous community as early as 1858. After th ...

. He went to China during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, and eventually started an export business (

Roy Farrell Import-Export Company Cathay Pacific Airways Limited (CPA), more widely known as Cathay Pacific (), is the flag carrier of Hong Kong, with its head office and main hub located at Hong Kong International Airport. The airline's operations and subsidiaries have ...

) in 1945 in Shanghai.

Aviation career

Farrell joined the China National Aviation Company (CNAC) in 1943 and flew in

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

to supply the war effort. He left CNAC to establish Cathay Pacific with Sydney de Kantzow in 1946. Both Farrell and de Kantzow were ex-CNAC pilots who had flown "

The Hump The Hump was the name given by Allied pilots in the Second World War to the eastern end of the Himalayan Mountains over which they flew military transport aircraft from India to China to resupply the Chinese war effort of Chiang Kai-shek an ...

", a route over the Himalayan Mountains. Before forming Cathay Pacific, Farrell attempted to purchase a ship to take advantage of what he rightly perceived to be an opening market in China to goods previously unavailable to it before the war. He was unable to locate any ship for purchase and instead bought a C-47 airplane (the military version of the similar

DC-3 The Douglas DC-3 is a propeller-driven airliner manufactured by Douglas Aircraft Company, which had a lasting effect on the airline industry in the 1930s to 1940s and World War II. It was developed as a larger, improved 14-bed sleeper version ...

airplane). This airplane was named "Betsy". He, along with the crew he assembled, flew the plane from

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

through South America, Africa, India and China, eventually ending the trip in

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...

, and established the Roy Farrell Import Export Company. His company subsequently purchased another C-47 and this plane was named "Niki". Betsy is permanently on display at the

Hong Kong Science Museum The Hong Kong Science Museum is a science museum in Tsim Sha Tsui East, Kowloon, Hong Kong, located next to the Hong Kong Museum of History. History The Hong Kong Science Museum was first conceived by the Urban Council in 1976. The council hi ...

; the fate of the original Niki is unknown. A plane painted to resemble Niki is on display at Cathay Pacific's offices at

Chek Lap Kok Chek Lap Kok is an island in the western waters of Hong Kong's New Territories. Unlike the smaller Lam Chau, it was only partially leveled when it was assimilated via land reclamation into the island for the current Hong Kong International ...

in Hong Kong. As the business developed, Farrell focused more on the shipping aspects of the company and de Kantzow focused more on flying the aircraft. The early Cathay Pacific pilots were referred to as "Syd's Pirates".

Establishment of Cathay Pacific

Although initially based in Shanghai, the two men moved to Hong Kong and incorporated Cathay Pacific Airways on September 24, 1946. They named it "Cathay" because it was the medieval name given to China, derived from "Khitan", and "Pacific" because Farrell speculated that they would one day fly across the Pacific. The Chinese name for the company comes from a Chinese idiom meaning "Grand and Peaceful State".

Later aviation ventures

He then established Amphibian Airways in the Philippines and operated it until 1949 when he returned to Texas to raise his family. He sold his remaining interest in Cathay Pacific in 1953.

Later years and death

Farrell was active in oil and gas exploration and production in

, until his death in 1996 at the age of 83. He was married twice and had two sons (Roy Farrell Jr. continues to run the oil business as Farrell Oil Company) and one daughter and nine grandchildren.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Farrell, Roy 1912 births 1996 deaths Aviators from Texas Businesspeople in aviation Cathay Pacific People from Vernon, Texas 20th-century American businesspeople Airline founders Businesspeople from Texas American expatriates in China