ASIAN AIRLINES PTY. LTD.

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP82-00457R002200160003-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: November 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 21, 1998
• Sequence Number: 3
• Publication Date: March 1, 1947
• Content Type: REPORT

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Asian -irl nes Pty. Ltd.
REPORT NO.
2.. In {arch 1947, Asian Airlines Pty, Ltd. was started in Sydney, Australia,,
by E. V. Burgoyne in partnership with a an by the name of Kennedy. Other
men invested in the business and Burgoyne ran the financial side of i
However, it soon came to light that Kennedy had been guilty of nisreepresent--
ation in regard to his owning the Catalina aircraft v4 ich the airline was to
operate.. In actual fact Kennedy merely had an option to buy it from the.
Royal Australian Air Force Although the money which had been subcribed was
being rapidly spent.
2.. In June 1947, Burgoyne came into contact with a tre11-known Sydney; Communise,
Jack hells, through-Rupert Lockwood, editor of ttie Australian Communist Party
(t1CP)' newspaper, Tribune,, Burgoyne, (apparsntiy)not knowing of ttella c Commun-
ist tendencies, accepted riell.s' offer to help the partnership out of its iin-
ancial difficulties, caused by Kennedy's fraudus.ont dealisigs, and was in due
course introduced to another noted Co unist, Clarence 'dart Campbell., On tho
understanding that he would be given control cowaonsurate to his investment,
Campbell agreed to put 42,000 into the venture and ois 29 July 1947 the partner.
ship was registered as.Asian Airlines with eight partners includirng Cmnpbell,'
Burgoyne, and Kennedy.
y- 20 August 1947, Campbell had forced Kennedy to resign with threats of pol-
ice action for having, deceived his original partners." The firm's business
address was subseer?,uent].y changed to Campbell, s private address and on 20 Sept-
ember 1947, Campbell squeezed Burgoyne out of the partnership as well.
In January 194, Sian Airlines was convertod from a private to a public com-
pany with a share capital of 1,25,000, in one pound shares, of which Campbell
owned 62,014. Campbell became Managing Director and the firm's office was
moved to an office building rented by the Chinese Seremaene s Union. The follow:
three Chinese became shareholders, presumably in return for the transfer to
the company of nine ex R,; ' ata xnA aircraft owned by them: Kenneth
Frederic Yon: with 2,620 shares; Louis tid ig witri 700 shares; 4i.iliam Jungsing
Lea with 295 shares. The longs later became directors. However,, Louis thong
was accidentally drowned on 25 July 1948. Another large shareholder-.is Camp-
bell's wife, Ada Priscilla Boys, who acts as her husbands,, secretary and has
lent X1,000., The following is a brief background skctcn of e&tbh of the above
hhareeholders :
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.... '=~~-ball is not known to be a amber of the ACP, but he finances it
and has always taken an active tart in Communist-inspired and Communist-
supported movements. He is especially interested in Indonesia and was at
one time suspected by the Royal Australian Navy of smuggling arms to Indo-
nesia. pie is also a Joint owner of Marx House, Sydney, headquarters of ACP.
b. K.F.tuong, secretary of ACP, was reported in 191+7 to be one of the most
active Chinese Communists in Sydney. de sponsored the Friends of China Ass--
ociation which was set up in 1946 and is said to have taken part in the Comm-
uniat film,, "Indonesia Calling", he was president of the Chinese Youth Club
Sydney, -a social auxiliary of the Communist Chinese .seamen's Unir-n and alleg-
edlj' a Communist recruiting center.
c. i s Yiong was,prior to his death in July 1948,. secretary of the Chinese
Seamen's Union, which during the last war was to a great extent the center
of Communist activity among Chinese in Australia. iie spoke at a "Hands Off
Indonesia" rally organized by ACP on 15 April i.94b.
d. tt.J.Lee, an Australian born Chinese and well-known Sydney barrister, is
legal adviser to the Chinese Seamen's Union.
On 9 June 1948, an advertisement appeared in the Sydriey Morniri Herald call-
ing for pilots and aircrews for Asian Airlines. Intereetod persons were to
address replies to the poet office box held by Stanley blai, an active Chin-
ese Communist, who was at one tine an executive of the Chinese Seamen's Un-
ion and who is now believed to be in India.
Campbell was in Singapore in September 1948 to obtain permission from the
Department of Civil Aviation to operate a freight service out of Singapore.
Permission was refused and Campbell returned to Australia 15 September.
The Australian Civil Aviation authorities likewise r4efueed him a permit to
operate a line from Australia to Malaya. On 23 July 1948, however, one of
the company's Catalinas was to have left for :,ingapore. At that time in-
forv-%tion was passed to the Australian Customs Department that part of the
cargo on this plane was to be small arms. It is not known whether action
was taken on this information and if so,v4hat the result was. A suspicion
has also arisen that the company is in the stolen goods market for high pre-
cision aircraft instruments, such as radio compasses, special beacon-type
wireless transmitters for use with such compasses, and other wireless ecuip-
raent, which would be of considerable value to aircraft operating in remote
areas where ordinary "beam landing" facilities do not exist.
'omment. It is indicated in this report that Campbell and other
Communist sympathizers dk iberately schemed to obtain control of w,lat was
at first an"innocent" trading venture; and while it cannot be said,' at the
present time, that the compuny'a operations are primarily directed toward
assisting Communism, as opposed to making a return to its shareholders, the
background of Campbell and his Chinese colleagues is such that grave suspic-
ion must rest on the Asian Airline F' activities.)
6.
w-- +d!! f CONTROL - U.S. OFFICIALS OELY
Approved For Release 1999/09/08 : CIA-RDP82-00457R002200160003-1