VH-EBE	17700 59 59 505	City of Perth
VH-EBE	02JUL59	Rolled out as 707-138
VH-EBE	13AUG59	First flown
VH-EBE	24AUG59	Boeing delivery date to Qantas (Ref: HAI D20)
VH-EBE	04SEP59	Registered to Qantas Empire Airways Ltd
VH-EBE	08SEP59	Accepted by Qantas
VH-EBE	17SEP59	Arrived Sydney at 0719. (TT: 99:40)
VH-EBE	SEP59	The aircraft was photographed at Avalon without a name or coat of arms but with the markings E 5 under the nose (last letter of registration and 5th delivery to Qantas). Evidently it was painted as "City of Perth" sometime after delivery but before entering service.
VH-EBE	09OCT59	Departed Sydney at 0900 on proving flight to London via the Middle East
VH-EBE	24OCT59	Returned to Sydney at 0800
VH-EBE	27OCT59	Departed Sydney at 1310 on the inaugural service to London via the Kangaroo Route under the command of Captain Ralph Bruce. Routing: Sydney, Darwin, Singapore, Bangkok, Calcutta, Karachi, Bahrain, Cairo, Rome London
VH-EBE	01JUN60	Record flight from San Francisco to New York in 4 hrs 33 mins. Captain Bert Yates
VH-EBE	18AUG60	Departed Sydney for Rome with the Australian Olympic team. (Source: Photo in State Library of NSW)
VH-EBE	18OCT61	Departed Sydney at 0900 on the regular service to San Francisco from where the aircraft positioned to Seattle for 138B conversion
VH-EBE	20OCT61	Arrived Seattle at 0959. (TT: 6312:40)
VH-EBE	28NOV61	Test flight
VH-EBE	30NOV61	Returned to Qantas at Seattle
VH-EBE	04DEC61	Arrived Sydney at 2105. (TT: 6330:32)
VH-EBE	05DEC61	Entered paint shop for V-Jet fin and rudder repaint
VH-EBE	07DEC61	Repaint completed
VH-EBE	08DEC61	Departed Sydney at 1207 for London via the Kangaroo Route
VH-EBE	01FEB62	Inaugurated the Sydney-Perth-London service
VH-EBE	06APR62	Operated the first direct service from Brisbane to Singapore (Ref: PAT 108)
VH-EBE	17FEB63	Departed Sydney at 0856 for Christchurch. Flying time 2 hrs 19 mins. First 707 to visit New Zealand
VH-EBE	18FEB63	Royal Flight from Christchurch to Sydney with HRH Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Phillip. Arrived Sydney at 1641
VH-EBE	19JUL63	Record flight from Sydney to Brisbane in 46 minutes.
VH-EBE	07FEB64	Royal Flight: London to Nadi, Queen Mother. (Note: 1)
VH-EBE	28FEB64	Royal Flight: Christchurch to Canberra. (Note: 1)
VH-EBE	25MAR64	Royal Flight: Perth to London. (Note: 1)
VH-EBE	25APR65
VH-EBE	16FEB68	Departed Sydney at 1500 on last Qantas service (to San Francisco)
VH-EBE	01MAY68	Struck off Australian Register
N793SA	15MAY68	Sold to International Aerodyne, Miami and leased to Standard Airways, Seattle. Departed Sydney at 1115 on delivery. (TT: 26203:00)
CF-PWW	20JUL69	Leased to Pacific Western Airlines, Vancouver (Fleet No 774).
CF-PWW	27MAR71
N793SA	01MAY71	Returned to International Aerodyne and leased to Alaska Airlines
N793SA	30SEP71	Returned to International Aerodyne
N793SA	02OCT71	Noted at Dallas in Alaska Airlines livery
VP-BDE	18NOV71	Leased to Bahamas World Airlines and named "Spirit of 73"
N793NA	08AUG74	Returned to International Aerodyne and sold to National Aircraft Leasing
N793NA	OCT75	Leased to Aeroamerica
N793NA	FEB76	Sub-leased to Egyptair
N793NA	APR76	Returned to Aeroamerica
N793NA	JUN77	Sub-leased to Egyptair
N793NA	06OCT77	Nose damaged at Tripoli when struck by wing tip of Tarom Il-62 YA-ARM
N793NA	OCT77	Returned to Aeroamerica
N793NA	FEB78	Stored at Boeing Field, Seattle
N793NA	12DEC78	Rolled out after 10 months in hangar. All white with no titles
N793NA	20JAN79	Sold to TAG Air
N793NA	08OCT79	Photographed at San Antonio
N793NA	02FEB80	Noted at San Antonio
N793NA	24APR83	Sold to Boeing for KC-135 parts (AL200/12)
N793NA	JUN83	Registered to Aviation Technical Support Inc., Waco TX (AL202/14)
N793NA	JUL83	Registration cancelled (AL203/15)
N793NA	96	Dismantled by National Aircraft at Tucson AZ.
N793NA	c. 03	A company doing structural testing and fuel probe/wiring mods cut some parts off the airframe.
N793NA	31MAR06	The remains of the airframe were cut up by National Aircraft at Tucson.

 

NOTES

1

Apparently VH-EBE was allocated to these Royal flights but the Queen Mother was struck down by appendicitis and never made this tour. It is known that the Royal Yacht Britannia did visit Fiji and New Zealand in connection with this tour, evidently having sailed before the Queen Mother's illness. It is not known if anyone took the place of the Queen Mother or if VH-EBE actually did any flying in connection with this tour.

 

 

This summary was developed for the Qantas Foundation Memorial by Ron Cuskelly

 

EBA	EBB	EBC	EBD	EBE	EBF	EBG
EBH	EBI	EBJ	EBK	EBL	EBM	EVA

 

 

Issue	Date	Remarks
5	02MAY11	Highlighted an anomaly with the 1964 tour by the Queen Mother. See Note 1 above. Thanks to Tom Harwood for pointing out the discrepancy.
4	25MAR07	Added reference to the Australian Olympic team on 18AUG60.
3	05JAN07	Photographic evidence indicates that the aeroplane was delivered without a name or coat of arms. Thanks to Bill Fishwick.
2	14DEC06	Added details of the scrapping thanks to Bob Maddern.
1	27JUL06	Created individual page for this aircraft. Archived Updates for combined B707-138B list.

 

NOTES
1	There are four numbers in the second column of each header. These are: 1. The Constructor's Number (c/n or Manufacturer's Serial Number) 2. The Line Number (The order in which final assembly began) 3. Cumulative Line Number (The order in which the aircraft were rolled out) 4. Engineering Block Number (Customer Number) Note: During early production, the Line Number was often the same as the Cumulative Line Number. Source: "The Boeing 707 & 720" Air-Britain 1972.
2	Please forward any errors or updates to the Webmaster.

These sources are gratefully acknowledged.