Last Official Flight of the RAAF B707

[Jethro H]

Heads up for spotters from Defence Media:

On Monday 30 June, the aircraft, known as ‘Richmond Town’, is operated by No. 33 Squadron at RAAF Base Richmond and is retiring from duty after 29 years of service. It was one of two ex-Qantas B707s purchased for the RAAF in 1979 and has seen service with operations in the Middle East, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Sumatra.

For the flight over Sydney Harbour, the B707 will be accompanied by a Hawk lead-in fighter, which will be used to collect imagery of the B707 over the Harbour. The B707 will be distinguished by its dark blue tail scheme, appearing above the Harbour between 10am and 10.30am.

The aircraft will fly at a minimum altitude of 500 metres. The two aircraft will enter the Harbour from Sydney heads and orbit Sydney Harbour Bridge before returning out the harbour.

And today was the last flight of the simulator:

The Royal Australian Air Force’s Boeing 707 simulator today ‘took off’ for the last time at RAAF Base Richmond, in preparation for the real aircraft’s retirement from RAAF service.

A small ceremony, involving members of Nos. 33 and 285 Squadrons, along with contracted support company CAE, and contract managers DMO, celebrated the historic final ‘flight’ of the simulator.

Air Commodore Jack Plenty, Commander Air Lift Group, said the simulator had been in RAAF service since September 1999. “It became the first military flight simulator in the world to achieve a level-five simulator accreditation - the highest level of civilian flight simulator fidelity,” Air Commodore Plenty said.

When the first B707s entered RAAF service in 1979, aircrew travelled to the Cathay Pacific Airways training facility in Hong Kong to conduct flight simulator training. In 1985 the Air Force was able to purchase an ex-QANTAS CASA level-two accredited simulator and operate it from the Qantas training facility at Mascot.

In 1990 the Air Force determined a need for high fidelity flight simulation and in 1996 the contract with CAE Montreal to supply both B707 and C-130J full flight simulators was signed. A new flight simulator facility was completed and the new B707 simulator arrived at RAAF Base Richmond to begin integration and testing in 1998.

“This simulator has made a valuable contribution to the training and development of RAAF B707 aircrews, and allowed us to fly the B707 more effectively. In their 29 years of service, the B707 has been an extremely important transport and air-to-air refuelling aircraft, and the full flight simulator has allowed us to free up the aircraft for more of these tasks,” Air Commodore Plenty said.