The story continues............
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au...-23349,00.html
Plane that brought world closer to home flies final kangaroo route
Steve Creedy, Aviation writer
October 10, 2006
THE plane that changed the way Australians view overseas travel is on its way home.
The federal Government is paying $1 million so a group of volunteer Qantas pilots and former engineers can fly the airline's first Boeing 707 back to Australia after six years on the ground in Britain. It is due to arrive next month and join the collection at Queensland's Qantas Founders Outback Museum.
The City of Canberra was the first of a fleet of 13 707 "V-jets" that changed the way the nation connected with the world. It was also the first Boeing 707 ever to be exported from the US and only the 37th ever made.
The planes were specially built for Qantas and had a cruising speed twice that of the Super Constellations they replaced.
This reduced the travel time from Sydney to London from 48 hours to 27 hours, helping open up the so-called kangaroo route and playing a significant role in bringing migrants to Australia.
A cruising height of 10,660m, compared with 6060m for the Super Constellation, also meant passengers could fly over weather for the first time.
The aircraft would also blaze another trail when Qantas retrofitted its first six 707s and became only the second airline in the world to operate a new type of quieter and more powerful engine using a by-pass fan. This came as a relief to Sydneysiders alarmed by the black smoke and noise from the pure jet engines on the City of Canberra when it was delivered in July 1959.
Ten retired Qantas engineers have been working in Britain to get the plane ready to bring it back to Australia, and a Boeing 707 certified flight crew is standing by to fly it back via the US.
Qantas chairman Margaret Jackson said yesterday the aircraft had played an important role in the nation's history.