Qantas 707 incident

[Rod Ruts]

Heard a story the other day about a QF 707 which became stuck in soft ground in Rabaul, and apparently was out of the system for some time. Being ex-QF myself and with a reasonable knowledge of company history, this is a completely new one to me. QF hasn't been to Rabaul since the 40's to my knowledge. Can anyone throw any more light on this?

[air med]

I was in rabual about 3 yrs ago and never saw a 707 there, just alot of dirt on the old runway,

[Animalclub]

From memory there's water at both ends of the runway and I don't believe a B707 would get in there - or out.

[Chimbu chuckles]

It simply never happened...the largest jet ever operated into Rabaul was the F28...and then under a dispo.

[Woomera]

B707 in Rabaul. Either you jest or someone's pullin' ya leg! :}

The B707 never went beyond Port Morbid. Only the DC3, DC4 and Electra ever went on and that only to Lae.

I thought the F-28 dispo was due width, not length?

[tipsy]

Rabaul and a 707:p

Let me think,

length:eek:
width:eek:
pavement strength:eek:
pedestrian traffic:eek: :eek:
Matupit:eek: :eek: :eek:

Looks OK lets go!:ok:

And then I woke up:\

tipsy
prrrrrrrrrrrrr

[Sheep Guts]

When I worked in a Jamaica, an Air Jamaica Cargo employee I knew who was a aircraft buff and was a Aviation Historian gave me a Menu from a QANTAS 707 circa late or early sixties. The flights they made were from Bermuda of all places to Kingston and back to London. Does anyone know about these flights. Ididnt realise QANTAS went that far around from the UK back then, or were they doing ops for BOAC (BA now) at the time.

Freaky indeed also seen a alot of QANTAS Cargo boxes in Jamaica aswell.


Sheep

[tipsy]

Sheep Guts..........

My mate Disco Stu worked for QF in the early 70's and tells me the then Fiesta Route went something like.........

Melbourne-Sydney-Papeete-Acapulco-Mexico City-Bermuda-London and return. Operated by B707-338 and DS thinks the flight numbers were 520/521.

tipsy
prrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

[mustafagander]

Qantas used to fly round the world 2 ways in the G.O.D.s. Via the pacific, SYD-NAN-HNL-SFO-JFK-LHR and return daily, SYD-PPT-ACA-MEX-NAS-BDA-LHR and return 3 times a week (I think). Via Asia much more complex. The basis was SYD-SIN-LHR and return or SYD-HKG-LHR and return both daily. These were the crew slip ports. The intermediate ports depended on the day of the week.

[Rod Ruts]

Tipsy is quite right about the Fiesta Route operated by QF. I was LHR based at the time and operated LHR/BDA/LHR every five weeks in between LHR/JFK/LHR weekly. A one or two day slip in JFK, but heaven forbid, seven days in BDA at the Castle Harbour hotel. It was always only a once per week service. Dark and lonely work, but someone had to do it.......
Thanks all for the info re the Rabaul thing, it all sounded fairly "iffy" to me.