Tartan Giant:
I'm sorry to say I can't tell you the date of the first DC3 passenger flight online as I joined in 1955 (as a very very junior inexperienced first officer) and the DC3 operation was well established by then. Also I can't identify the crew in the photograph as it is pre 1955. The uniform style is the give away. I am sending a copy of the photograph to an old timer who was there before me and he remembers that uniform so it will be interesting to see what he says.
Captain Arthur Larkman left Malayan Airways at the same time as I joined so I can't claim to have known him. However I remember many of the captains speaking very highly of him and I wish I had known him. I particularly would like to get his book "Chance Encounters" (which I did not know about) and have checked through both Amazon Books and Abe Books and they don't have it. Could you tell me of any other second hand booksellers in the UK especially who might have a copy. Did you know there is one other book in circulation that speaks of Malayan Airways. It is "Luck is No Accident" by Captain Colin King who also flew DC3s there in 1960s. There is a chapter in the book devoted to Malayan Airways operations and it makes for very interesting reading.
Regards
828a