(Image: Seth Langdon via Facebook)

Looking Back at QF7474.

Today, July 22nd 2026, marks six years since Qantas Flight QF7474 departed Sydney for Los Angeles and ultimately, the Mojave Air and Space Port. While, at the time, I thought that Mojave was to be the final resting place for VH-OEJ, it has proved not to be the case. “Wunala” was subsequently ferried to Oscoda-Wurtsmith Airport in Michigan. Once there, the aircraft was progressively broken up in order to provide spare parts for the Boeing 747 fleet of the freight carrier, Kalitta Air.

For my part, one of the strongest memories is not the fly-by of Sydney Harbour or the kangaroo sky art as one might expect. It was a far simpler and more mundane moment. We were all in the bus that was to take us to our accommodation at Manhattan Beach, leaving OEJ and the other Qantas 747s behind. Looking back, I could see their towering airframes, one behind the other. On board our bus, it was silent – probably a combination of jet lag and personal reflection.

Up to that point when we departed Mojave, we had all been so focused on executing the task safely and professionally that we hadn’t had the time or mental capacity to absorb the global buzz that was surrounding the flight. Yes, when we had landed at Los Angeles the previous day our phones had melted down with messages and news that more than 200,000 people had watched the kangaroo being drawn in the sky had been passed onto us, but we still had one final, short flight to complete.

Even before we left Sydney, we had been asked about the emotion of the flight, yet I could only think about the safe execution of the exercise, not the significance. Those reflective thoughts only entered by head once the job was done. Only then did I appreciate fully what the 747 had meant to so many people. And only then did I decide to sit down and record my own farewell to the “Queen of the Skies”.

Over the interceding years I have read with interest the outpouring of love for the 747 and the grief felt by many at its retirement. Perhaps the most passionate conversations surround the decay of OEJ as it is broken up for spare parts in Michigan. I guess my practical mind accepted early on that the time of the Boeing 747 had come and the era of fuel-efficient twin turbofans with global reach was upon us.

(Image: Seth Langdon via Facebook)

Similarly, I have not despaired at the sight of Wunala’s engineless airframe surrounded by snow. Rather, I have thought that those precious parts that had been so immaculately maintained by Qantas engineers would continue to live on in other airframes. Like some aluminium alloy organ donor, VH-OEJ has extended the life of a number of 747s that would otherwise have met a similar fate. Ultimately, while the Qantas 747 has met its end, the Boeing on a broader scale continues to exist.

All good things must come to an end and perhaps the pandemic hastened the demise of many revered aspects of our society. Undoubtedly, it was disappointing the Qantas 747 fell tantalisingly short of its half century, although they say age is just a number. With this in mind, regardless of whether its service was 49 or 50 years, what is not debated is the indelible mark the aircraft left on global travel. And the lucky few on the bus, that day in Mojave.