VH-OJB Boeing 747-438

This aircraft was the second of four Boeing 747-438s ordered new by Qantas Airways - March 02, 1987

It was allocated the Boeing Block Numner 'RT552'

Rolled off the Boeing production line at Seattle (Everett) - June 06, 1989

First flown as VH-OJB - August 18, 1989

Entered onto the Australian Aircraft Register as VH-OJB - September 15, 1989

Registered to Qantas Airways Ltd, Sydney

Joint owners shown as A. G. Hawk Co. Ltd (Tokyo) & J. Y. Wing Co. Ltd (Tokyo)

Ferried Everett (Paine Field) - Las Vegas as BOE552 - September 15, 1989

Accepted by T. Ford for Qantas Airways at Las Vegas - September 15, 1989

This was the 78th Boeing airliner delivered new to Qantas Airways

It was the 32nd Boeing 747 delivered to Qantas

Ferried Las Vegas - London (Heathrow) as QF7442 - September 16, 1989

Flight crew: Captains D. Massy-Green, R. Heiniger

Operated its first revenue service London - Singapore - Sydney (Kingsford Smith) as QF704 - September 19, 1989

It arrived at ydney (Kingsford Smith) on completion of the delivery flight - September 21, 1989

Delivery route: Seattle - Las Vegas - London - Singapore - Sydney

Aircraft named 'City of Sydney' at Sydney - October 17, 1989

Aircraft was involved in a near head-on collision with an U.S.A.F. Lockheed C-5 Galaxy - September 11, 1990

It was operating the London (Heathrow) - Singapore sector of QF10 (Captain G. Westwood)

Both aircraft passed within approximately 15 metres of each other in cloud over Thailand at 37,000 feet

VH-OJB had passed over the Phuket VOR at 09:32Z in cloud when a single sudden buffet was felt

The C-5 Galaxy passed over the flight deck on a north heading flight track

The U.S.A.F. pilot did not report his position as he was unable to establish or maintain communication with A.T.C.

ATSB Ref: 199002360

A detailed account of this incident can be found in Jim Eames' book 'The Flying Kangaroo'

The aircraft's name was removed during maintenance and repaint at Sydney - August 22, 1994

Rolled out in special 'Wunala Dreaming' aboriginal livery at Sydney (Kingsford Smith) - September 04, 1994

Returned to service Sydney (Kingsford Smith) - Osaka (Kansai) - September 04, 1994

Operated final service in 'Wunala Dreaming' livery Sydney (Kingsford Smith) - Los Angeles as QF107 - March 11, 2003

Ferried Los - Angeles - New Iberia (Louisiana) for repainting into the standard livery as QF6109 - March 11, 2003

Ferried New Iberia - Los Angeles after repainting as QF6024 - March 27, 2003

Returned to service Los Angeles - Sydney (Kingsford Smith) as QF108 - March 27, 2003

The aircraft was renamed 'Mt Isa'

Registered to Qantas Airways Ltd - August 30, 2005

Ferried Sydney (Kingsford Smith) - Melbourne (Avalon) for maintenance as QF6195 - July 14, 2010

Ferried Melbourne (Avalon) - Sydney (Kingsford Smith) - August 18, 2011

Returned to service Sydney (Kingsford Smith) - Singapore - Frankfurt as QF5 - August 18, 2010

Advertised for sale in Speednews.com with 94,509 hours - January 16, 2012

Operated its final revenue service Sydney (Kingsford Smith) - Los Angeles as QF107 - April 25, 2012

Ferried Los Angeles - Victorville in the standard 'Qantas' livery for storage as QF6021 - April 26, 2012

It was observed stored at Victorville in the standard 'Qantas' livery missing one engine - April 28, 2013

Accepted by Midwest Sales and Leasing - September 05, 2014

Cancelled from the Australian Aircraft Register - September 08, 2014

The aircraft had flown 94,509 hours with 12,749 cycles

Entered onto the United States Aircraft Register as N954JM - September 19, 2014

Registered to Q747LLC, Wilmington, Delaware

It was observed stored intact at Victorville as 'N954JM' - November 14, 2014

Ferried Victorville - Mojave - late 2014

It was observed intact at Mojave as 'N954JM' in the scrapping area - January 2015

It was observed in the scrapping area at Mojave minus engines and other minor parts - February 02, 2016

Cancelled from the United States Aircraft Register - April 18, 2018

Scrapped at Mojave by Q747LLC - 2018