In 2006 a team of engineers restored a 50-year-old Qantas Boeing 707 and flew it 14,382 nautical miles back to Australia from Southend-on-Sea, England. En route the crew teamed up with movie star John Travolta who owns an identical Qantas aircraft now configured as an executive jet. The aircraft was then flown to the Qantas Founders Outback Museum in Longreach, Queensland.

The Boeing 707-138 VH-EBA first flew in 1959 and had ended its days in England where it was to be scrapped. A team of retired Qantas engineers led by Peter Elliott decided that the aircraft would fly home again to Australia to be put on display at the Qantas Founders Museum at Longreach in Queensland.

This was the most complex restoration of a classic airliner ever undertaken involving 15,000 man hours. Over a six month period engineers and spare parts were shuttled back and forth between England and Australia. Working in all sorts of weather the engineers finally saw the aircraft fly again for the first time in six years.

In Orlando Florida the team were greeted by Hollywood star John Travolta who owns another of Qantas’s 707-138s. This is a story about a great aeroplane but also about the dedication and resolve of the people who made her fly again.

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Directed/Written/Produced by Jeff Watson

Copyright © 2007

Jeff Watson Productions Pty Ltd

Used here under license.

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Jeff Watson is a broadcaster, author, journalist and documentary producer with 40 years in the business. Best known as a presenter on Beyond 2000 which was seen in most countries including the United States and the USSR, Jeff Watson has also contributed to This Day Tonight, Four Corners, Towards 2000 (a program which he devised in 1979), Holiday, Sixty Minutes, Beyond 2000 and Getaway.

Historical Machines TV is pleased to be able to present a comprehensive collection of Jeff's productions, online, for the first time.