Airliner Classics - July 2018

the cargo fleet) and five DHC Otter aircraft were required for

the airline’s operations in New Guinea. Replacements for the

fleet of Douglas DC-4s could also not be put off any longer and

both Lockheed Electras and Vickers Vanguards were also being

examined as suitable alternatives.

Qantas was especially keen on the intercontinental version

of Boeing’s 707 and in May 1956 Boeing cabled a formal

offer to the airline, offering to sell it seven Boeing 707-320s

at US$5,150,000 each. The manufacturer could provide the

aircraft with either the Pratt & Whitney J75 or Rolls-Royce

Conway engine at the same price.

However, neither engine would give the new jet the capabilities

Qantas required to operate its non-stop Fiji (Nadi) to Honolulu

sector. This long over water flight was compounded by the fact

that the runway at Nadi was only 2,134m (7,000ft) long.

Boeing therefore suggested that the airline should consider

the domestic version of the airliner (the 707-100) – which had

a 10ft (3m) shorter fuselage and the military version of Pratt &

Whitney powerplant delivering an extra 500lb/thrust.

Australian Government approval to purchase seven airframes

was received by Qantas on September 6, 1956 with the airliners'

delivery slots from May 1959 onwards. It was noted at the time

that using the 707 on the Kangaroo route to London would

almost halve the flight time from 48 hours to just 27. The order

was to make Qantas the first airline outside America to operate

US-built jet airliners.

The first of Qantas’s Boeing 707-138s made its maiden flight

on March 20, 1959 but the special nature of the airframe meant

it had to undergo Federal Aviation Administraion tests to ensure

that its handling characteristics had not been affected by the

shortening of the fuselage.

The aircraft was flown with the US civil registration

of N31239 for testing but was later given the Australian

registration of VH-EBA and named City of Canberra before

arriving in Australia on July 2. The aircraft flew its first

commercial service (to San Francisco) on July 29.

The engines on the new 707s were pure jets, which were

both noisy and inefficient by today’s standards. However,

within months of their entry into service new technolog y

became available and the airline retrofitted its fleet with new

turbofan engines. These modified aiframes were designated

series 138Bs.

Douglas DC-3

VH-EBU visits Bulolo

in New Guinea in

Noember 1959. This

aircraft was delivered

to the R AF as

FZ631 and served in

Singapore with 24 Sqn

until it transferred to

Qantas in April 1949.

KEY C

T  • Boeing 707-138B
VH-EBL was one
of the f irst batch of
‘short’ 707s ordered
by Qantas. It joined
the airline in 1964
and was operated
until 1968 and a year
later it was sold to
Braniff as N107BN.
It subsequently passed
through various
operators before being
retired in 1987.
KEY C

96 AIRLINER Classics 2018

“THE order [for the 707] was

to make Qantas the first airline

outside America to operate

US-built jet airliners”