Introduction
The Founders Museum in Longreach is dedicated to the history of QANTAS Airways. However, while the museum has a good working relationship with the airline, it is not in any way associated with it.
Longreach was chosen for the venue of the museum for two reasons. First, because it is the place where QANTAS originally started operating from. And second, because the dry climate helps minimize corrosive damage to the ageing aircraft.
Longreach is, admittedly, a bit out of the way and off the beaten track. Even so, now that I’ve been here, I think even if I weren’t an airplane geek I would still consider a visit. The weather in the southern hemisphere winter is very mild, the landscapes are beautiful and the town is quite charming.
The Museum & Tour
The museum is located at Longreach Airport, although the term airport is used liberally to refer to a structure of two rooms, roughly the size of an apartment, which functions as the passenger terminal.
Access to the main exhibits is only possible by booking a guided tour in advance. There are several tours available that give you more or less privileges. Of course, I had to book the super fancy tour which takes four hours and includes a supervised wing walk on both the B 707 and the B 747.
The tour starts in the reception building, which also has some interesting exhibits, including a mock up of the old QANTAS First Class lounge that used to be situated in the hump of their 747s. The tour then takes us past a Catalina into the original hangar where QANTAS assembled its first DeHavilland aircraft under license.
From the hangar our group then moves on to the main exhibit area. The four aircraft are toured in chronological order, starting with the DC-3, then the Super Constellation, the B 707, and eventually the B 747.
The Douglas DC-3
The DC-3 looks quite well preserved from the outside. It’s possible to take photos of the inside of the aircraft, but the interior has been gutted, so there isn’t really anything much to see.
The Lockheed Super Constellation
The Super Constellation on the other hand, looks very well maintained – both from the inside and outside. As this particular aircraft ended its operational life as a freighter in the Philippines, it had no windows in the cabin when it was acquired by the museum. They have been painted on with the contemporary QANTAS livery. Inside, the aircraft has an interesting exhibition about how QANTAS developed its network.
The Boeing B 707-138
The B 707 at Longreach ended its operational life as a corporate jet, hence the cabin is not in its original configuration from when it still flew with QANTAS. For me, being able to walk around this aircraft and stepping aboard is a little bit like a beautiful trip down memory lane. The -138 is very similar to the B 720 that Air Malta operated, and which I spent hours and hours on when I was a kid and a teenager.
The Boeing B 747-200
So, Ma Belle, we meet again. Or should I say, „Bula“? This is just the coolest coincidence ever! You see, my first trip to Australia was back in 1998, when I visited with my sister. As part of the trip, we spent a whole week at the Sheraton Denarau Resort in Nadi, Fiji. My memories of the trip to Fiji are heavily affected by the fact that the Fijian islands were badly hit by hurricane Gavin, which left us stuck in Fiji. In any case, when eventually flights resumed, we were on the first flight to Sydney, which was operated by the exact same aircraft that is currently on exhibit in Longreach and that was, at the time, leased to Air Pacific, the predecessor of today‘s Fiji Airways. How cool is that?
The B 747 is also still in fairly good condition and with most of the cabin still intact. The mighty 747 is obviously a huge aircraft, I think we’re all aware of that. But it’s only when you’re standing next to it and looking up at the horizontal stabilizer that you become aware of just how big exactly it is.
Inside the cabin, I am hit with another blast from the past, as I recognize the pattern and the fabric of the Economy Class seat covers from that first trip to Australia. We flew with a QANTAS B 747-400 from Heathrow to Singapore and then with a B 767-300 from Singapore to Adelaide.
This particular aircraft did not have a First Class cabin anymore by the time it retired from commercial service. Instead, it had 46 Business Class seats installed in the nose. The upper deck lounge was replaced with 27 Economy Class seats.
Conclusion
I totally enjoyed my visit to the Founders Museum. I wouldn’t mind coming back for another visit one of these days. The tour was great. We were six persons in total and our guide was exceptionally knowledgeable and very friendly. At the end of the visit, we were all handed a certificate and a boarding pass of our visit, which I thought was a really nice touch. If you happen to be visiting Australia, I can highly recommend a visit to Longreach and the Founders Museum!
Is that really economy class on the upper deck of the B742? If so, those are some incredibly spacious seats, both in terms of seat width and pitch.
Ah, no. The photos are all of the lower deck. But I’ll change the position of the photo around so it’s less confusing.
I think they did refer to the Wider upper deck seats as Business class—— and made quite a noise about it advertising it as the first airline to do this. This was late 7o’s——- i remember it !
Further——I think they had 12[or possibly 16] seats in a 2×2 layout in the ‘bubble’——-possibly the old F class seats. They then introduced some new ‘sleeper’ First class seats in the nose of the plane.
It’s actually quite interesting how the configuration of the aircraft and the use of the space in the hump changed over the decades with market demand.
Best Photo of your Australia Trip William?——— i think the one with the ‘Longreach’ sign by the railway track—— it captures the ‘ruralness'[? is there such a word] and remoteness of the area.
Hi Peter, thanks. That is a good one. Although I only realised after that the sign was in the picture. What I was after was a shot of the twisted rails.