N707jt
 

I saw John Travolta's B707 regn N707JT on the apron at NZAA today. It's painted up in its original QANTAS scheme, and I curious to know if anyone can tell me the meaning or significance of the "V Jet" logo applied to the fin.
:confused:

As far as I know it means "Vanus". It's either ancient greek or roman for "fan". I believe the 707 was the first turbojet that QF operated. No props.

Yep your correct RedSnail...

Qantas painted their 707s with the V-Jet logo, V standing for "vannus", meaning 'Fan' in Latin...

The "V Jet" name was coined by Charlie Q after the old stove pipe JT3C turbojets were modified to JT3D turbofan standard by, inter alia, fitting a fan on the front of the engine. This gave a by pass ratio of (I think) 0.8/1. Thrust went from 12,000lb to 18,000lb per engine. As you can imagine, this made the B707-138 a rocket ship. Unfortunately it also caused the rudder system to be modified into a maintenance and rigging nightmare and required the little ventral fin.
QF was, as I recall it, the only operator to gain approval to modify the engines in-house.
JT's a/c (ex VH-EBM) was built with the fan engines and didn't require the wing glove panels needed to recamber the old wings to suit the new speed regime. Great job, measuring and fitting all those bloody different length screws!!!!

Thanks all - I'm enlightened

I hear the 707 is bound for Australia today (Friday).

Does anybody know the ports it will be visiting whilst in Oz.

Just as I submitted my previous reply , an ad for A Current Affair was on the tele.
They have a story on JT tonight and his role in the current promo tour for QF for those who might be interested.
:)

N707JT landed into YSSY last night at 1955 local time. It will be departing again this morning (Friday 12th) and flying around Sydney before making a landing right on 11:30am. Media show has been organised to coincide with this second landing including a bus to take cameramen and photographers out to the runway to photograph/film the arrival. The press conference will be an hour later at 12:30.

Departure details will be available later today however we are expecting it to be in Melbourne on Tuesday (16th July)

Skip Fulton
OzFlight