12 months today Australia said goodbye to the Queen of the Skies

12 months ago today Australia said goodbye to the Queen of the Skies for good and she is deeply missed.

QANTAS B747-438 VH-OEJ (CN 32914)

This date last year was a very sad day for avgeeks like myself as Qantas (and Australia) said goodbye to the very last jumbo. Unfortunately I couldn't make it to Sydney to see this aircraft off, but I did watch it live on Flightradar24 and was listening to it on LiveATC. QF 7474 was due to push back and depart at 2pm Sydney time. It's actual pushback time was 2.55pm and started taxiing at 3.00pm. There it was given a water arch send off

It taxied up and down the airport showing off before lining up on 16R at 3.27pm. VH-OEJ got airborne at 3.28pm and circled the city and harbour a few times before heading south to Albert Park Airport (Shellharbour Airport) the home of the very first Qantas 747-400.

There it did a single low level fly by before heading out to sea.

BUT she wasn't done just yet..  further out to sea QF7474 had one more surprise up her sleeve.
She performed a run in the shape of a Kangaroo.