Hello HZ123 and welcome to this thread about QANTAS and the 707 introduction into service....
Thank you for the link to G-RAAF, more info about this Spitfire VIII is here:
GINFO Search Results | Aircraft Register | Safety Regulation
Looks like they'll have to do something before 29th April to keep registration and licence active?
Apart from the RAAF registration, any other connection with this thread?
Perhaps you can tell us more about the Spit?
Looking at the acronym for the Owners, wouldn't a COMET thread be more appropriate?
Edit: OK, I cracked your cryptic link:
See:
Qantas Boeing 707 Feature Report By UK Airshow Review
HZ123 is the current registration of
As Boeing 707-138 VH-EBA lifted off from Sydney's runway at 16:00 on 29 August 1959, bound for San Francisco, a new age dawned for the vast continent of Australia. Until that inaugural passenger flight the Antipodes had been days from anywhere, but in an instant that was reduced to hours as the jet age chalked up yet another milestone. Rolling out of Boeing's Renton plant on 11 February of that year and originally named 'City of Canberra' - within a few months changed to 'City of Melbourne' - serial number 17696 became the first jetliner Boeing ever sold to a foreign customer. It was also the first commercial jet to be exported out of the US, the first jet to be operated by QANTAS and registered in Australia, and is the oldest of this version still in existence, and potentially the oldest 707 flying.
Phil Whalley reports on the remarkable restoration of a true classic. Additional photography by Matt Lawrence.
Eight years of proudly sporting the kangaroo on its tail, and a similar period with Pacific Western Airlines was followed by an assortment of operators and uses, until finally being conscripted into the Royal Saudi Air Force for use by Prince Bandar, Saudi Ambassador to the USA. Registered as HZ-123 and with an interior fitted out as a luxury executive business jet, furnished in dark polished wood, with all the trimmings befitting the Prince, the 707 enjoyed a well-deserved rest from plying the passenger airways, taking on a more stately life befitting her age.
Couldn't you just say that? :0)