747 earns a special place

Prolific aviation writer Jim Eames claims he’s written his last book – and it looks like he might have saved his best for last.

The Mighty 747: Australia’s Queen of the Skies captures an era of travel that will be nostalgic for many.

Jim, a former newspaper journalist, Department of Civil Aviation and Qantas public relations executive who now lives in Gerringong, has captured the history of this iconic commercial aircraft and what makes this book so special is his insider's knowledge.

“The main thing the 747 did was open the world to a lot more Australians,” he says. At a seating capacity of 300 plus, the plane was big enough to provide affordable fares – $420 advanced purchase fare to London or $700 return.

“People who had come out from Europe as migrants could go back home and visit the rels, because it was so bloody big, we needed to fill the seats!”

In August 1989, in his role at Qantas, Jim took a small press group to Seattle to collect the brand-new Boeing 747-438 VH OJA City of Canberra and fly it to London. A different crew then flew it non-stop London to Sydney to set a world air record.

In 2014, the City of Canberra was simply the next of the 747s to reach the end of its useful life, to be replaced by Airbus versions, Jim writes.

On the point of decommissioning the aircraft, Qantas CEO Gareth Evans said, “When the document arrived, I actually sat there with it in front of me, my pen poised over it and I just couldn’t bring myself to sign it. After all this was an aircraft which had created a distance record on its delivery flight and was part of Australian’s aviation history.”

In 2015, Qantas donated the plane to HARS at Shellharbour Airport and now there are only two such aircraft left in the world, with the other in the Qantas collection in Longreach, Queensland.

“This 747 summed up the devotion Qantas people had for this particular airplane and creating a world record was something again. In those days, it was typical of Qantas because they would always think outside the square.

"It wasn’t just a case of delivering this plane to Australia – we already had 20 or 30 747s here – but Qantas said, no let’s make this special by flying non-stop and creating a world record.”

Just like Kingsford Smith.

Jim says, “We are Australians. This pioneering aviation bit is hereditary.”

On 22 July 2020 the Boeing VH-OEJ Wunala was the last 747 to fly over eastern Australia, just weeks short of celebrating 50 years since the first Qantas 747 touched down at Kingsford Smith Airport, Mascot.

by Perrie Croshaw