SAA first B747SP to Australia

[John Austin-Williams]

Greetings all from Johannesburg,

Can anyone advise the registration of South African Airways first B747SP aircraft to Australia, including the date on which the aircraft arrived please?

For those interested our museum history is at the link below

http://www.saamuseum.co.za/images/stories/History_of_The_South_African_Airways_Museum_Societ y_webpage.htm

Best regards,
Jaws

John Austin-Williams
Chairman: South African Airways Museum Society

[Bob C]

Hi John

According to an entry in the Perth Airport Special Visitors DVD I have, ZS-SPE made the first visit of an S A A B747SP to Perth on 1 August 1977. I presume that Perth was the only Australian destination for S A A and am awaiting confirmation from others.

Cheers

Bob

[MarkR]

Hi John

According to an entry in the Perth Airport Special Visitors DVD I have, ZS-SPE made the first visit of an S A A B747SP to Perth on 1 August 1977. I presume that Perth was the only Australian destination for S A A and am awaiting confirmation from others.

Cheers

Bob

SAA flew the 747SP into Sydney on the 7th January 1977

[Bob C]

Thanks Mark ; I didn't know that and since my original post have been told that the service was JNB-PER-SYD.

[Bob C]

Oh dear - some of the entries on the Perth Airport DVD show dates in both American and Imperial (?) formats - ie MONTH/DAY/YEAR and DAY/YEAR/MONTH respectively. ZS-SPE's first visit to Australia was shown as 01/08/77 which I took to be 1 August but it was recorded in the American format so it was really was January 8, 1977. That date has also been confirmed as I've just seen a scanned page of a Spotter's Logbook for 8 January 1977. Phew !

[MarkR]

Thanks Mark ; I didn't know that and since my original post have been told that the service was JNB-PER-SYD.

Could well have been, late 1977 the service went via Mauritius according to the timetable

[John Austin-Williams]

Greetings folks,

Happy New Year, wishing you all a safe and enjoyable 2021.

Thanks so much for the replies/information. For some reason I was not notified about the replies and just decided to check today.

Hopefully I've now ticked the right box in order to receive replies.

Please then confirm the below is correct.

SAA 747SP ZS-SPE arrived Perth 7th January 1977
SAA 747SP ZS-SPE arrived Sydney 8th January 1977

Best regards from Johannesburg,
Jaws