Nationality Australian Relatives son Peter | Spouse Angela Mary First flight 1934 | |
 | ||
Born 9 November 1914Austinmer, New South Wales, Australia ( 1914-11-09 ) Cause of death Injuries sustained in car accident Known for Co-founder Cathay Pacific Died 1957, Darlinghurst, Australia | ||
Sydney Hugh de Kantzow BS (Austinmer, New South Wales 9 November 1914 – Darlinghurst, New South Wales 1957) ("Syd") was the Australian co-founder of Cathay Pacific Airways with American Roy Farrell.
De Kantzow was born to a family of Polish/Swedish origin and grew up in the Sydney suburb of Roseville, New South Wales. He served during World War II as a pilot for the Royal Australian Air Force. Both de Kantzow and Farrell were ex-air force pilots who had flown The Hump, a route over the Himalayan Mountains. It was said that Madame Chiang Kai-shek always asked for him personally as her pilot. He was awarded the Order of the Flying Cloud personally by her for his services with CNAC and the Burma Star for his services in respect to the relief aid program.
Although initially based in Shanghai, the two men moved to Hong Kong to found Cathay Pacific Airways. Each man put up HK$1 to register the airline. They named it "Cathay" because that 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".
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."
De Kantzow resigned from Cathay Pacific in 1951 and died in a high-speed car accident in 1957. He was survived by his wife Angela Mary (1924 – 2005) and son Peter, a director and co-founder of Waterfront Air of Hong Kong.