G-AVZZ (formerly VH-EBD) at Avalon during crew training in January
1968. The photo was taken by Michael Philpott who was an engineer
with British Eagle at the time. He recalls: "I have very fond
memories of my time at Qantas. We were there for approximately two
months, Sydney at the beginning of the 'D' check on the aircraft and
then down to Avalon for crew training before returning to Sydney prior
to flying home on it. I am UK retired now, I was 22 at the time and
very impressed with the Qantas operation (and total respect ever since)
after the limited facilities of Eagle. The experience set me up for
my working life for I went on to gain licences on every variant of
B707/720 and the 3 types of engines on the British register. I also
gained a Flight Engineers Licence on B707/720. I worked on Qantas
aircraft with BOAC at London and at HAECO in Hong Kong. The last B707-338C
I touched was G-BDEA of Anglo Cargo at Caledonian in 1987. I owe a
lot to Qantas B707s." |