A BOAC Argonaut Speedbird poster from 1952. A BOAC Argonaut Speedbird poster from 1952.
A BOAC Argonaut Speedbird poster from 1952.
Adam Nebbs
Opinion

Opinion

Travellers' Checks by Adam Nebbs

The first direct London to Hong Kong flight 70 years ago took a total of 37 hours

  • The BOAC Argonaut had pressurised cabins, allowing it to operate at twice the speed and altitude of its compar­atively cumbersome counterparts
  • The first flight, which took off from Heathrow on August 23, 1949, arrived in Hong Kong three days late

Adam Nebbs
Adam Nebbs

Updated: 2:25pm, 1 Nov, 2019

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A BOAC Argonaut Speedbird poster from 1952. A BOAC Argonaut Speedbird poster from 1952.
A BOAC Argonaut Speedbird poster from 1952.
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Adam Nebbs

Adam Nebbs

Adam has lived in Hong Kong since 1988. He briefly managed the demise of the Wanderlust travel bookshop on Hollywood road in the mid 1990s, then worked as Associate Editor on Cathay Pacific’s inflight magazine Discovery for several years. He began writing Travellers’ Checks for Post Magazine in 1998, working for several years under the pseudonym Peter Walbrook. A former contributing editor for the exclusive luxury travel guide NB Review, he has also edited several books, including the first-ever travel guide to Uzbekistan in 1996, and 'The Amazing Adventures of Betsy And Niki' (2008) by Captain Charles “Chic” Eather. His non-fiction book 'The Great Fire of Hong Kong', was published in 2010.