The City of Canberra is a preserved Boeing 747-438 delivered to Qantas in 1989 and now on display at the Historical Aircraft Restoration Society museum at Shellharbour Airport, Albion Park Rail, Australia.
On 16–17 August 1989, whilst en route from the Boeing Everett Factory in the United States following her registration as a newly completed Qantas aircraft, the City of Canberra made a non-stop delivery flight from London Heathrow to Qantas' headquarters in Sydney.[1] [2]
, the month of the aircraft's final passenger-carrying flight, this was still the longest non-stop un-refuelled delivery flight by an airliner.[3] [4]
The City of Canberra, registered VH-OJA, named after Australia's capital city, was the first Boeing 747-400 delivered to Qantas.[5] She was not modified for the flight in any way - such as by the installation of extra fuel tanks - but some items of equipment were removed from the galleys and cargo compartments to save weight.[3]
The 747-438 took 20 hours and 9 minutes to fly a distance of 9,720 nautical miles (18,001 km) from London Heathrow to Sydney. The elapsed time was six minutes longer than the quickest non-stop England to Australia flight, which was made by an Avro Vulcan of the Royal Air Force in 1961.[3] The City of Canberra set a record for the longest un-refuelled flight by a commercial aircraft, as the Vulcan was a military aircraft and had to be refuelled in flight several times while flying from RAF Scampton to RAAF Base Richmond near Sydney.[3]
City of Canberra also set the record for the shortest ever 747 flight. In March 2015, she flew from Sydney to Shellharbour, with a flight time of 12 minutes.[4] [6] This record was beaten by a British Airways 747-400 that made a nine minute flight from Cardiff to MOD St Athan in November 2019.[7]