Canberra gave a magnificent send off to a magnificent piece of engineering and a magnificent piece of history.
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Who can doubt it?
Out of the bluest of winter skies, Qantas's last Boeing 747 descended to the city's airport - sailing in gracefully - and took on board a bevy of adults brimming with excitement worthy of children on a school trip.
The Jumbo named Wunala then took off and flew out over the Snowy Mountains to return low over Lake Burley Griffin.
On-lookers watched from Majura Park shopping centre. At Canberra Airport, kids stuck their faces to the wire and gawped.
"It's brilliant because it's a massive plane," Miles Sutherland said. "It's so massive," his brother, Harry, said. "This is one of the really cool things to have it, like, 25 minutes from where I live," said third brother Eli.
![A guard of honour for the last Qantas 747. Picture: Jamila Toderas A guard of honour for the last Qantas 747. Picture: Jamila Toderas](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/steve.evans/5dbf755c-70f4-4734-9fb1-795312a8612a.jpg/r0_133_5000_2955_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
The first 747 passenger flight was on January 22, 1970. The plane revolutionised air travel because it could carry more than double the number of passengers of previous passenger aircraft. It brought the cost of travel down to a mass market price. It was the first air-liner with two aisles.
But now the 747 has had its day. Quieter, more fuel-efficient aircraft have taken over and Qantas has phased them out with a grand final flourish of tours, the last one over Canberra.
![Parliament House from the last Jumbo. Picture: Passengers Heath and Diana Williamson Parliament House from the last Jumbo. Picture: Passengers Heath and Diana Williamson](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/steve.evans/60221bc5-3eb2-418c-a550-7dbdebb9200a.jpeg/r0_0_1280_960_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Next week, the plane goes to the great aircraft grave-yard in the Mojave desert in California.
![Katrina and Mark Walters met in 1987 on a Jumbo. Picture: Jamila Toderas Katrina and Mark Walters met in 1987 on a Jumbo. Picture: Jamila Toderas](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/fdcx/doc7bhbmk5806votig9452.jpg/r807_276_3984_3070_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
The final tour was a feast of nostalgia.
Mark Walters and his wife, Katrina, were there. They met on a Jumbo on Flight QF3 to Hawaii.
He was a chef cooking for first class passengers (or, rather, passengers in first class) and she was in the back.
They took each other's fancy and, towards the end of the flight, he asked her out for a date in Honolulu.
He had made sure she got first class food back in cabin class.
"There was lobster and caviar and Sydney rock oysters," he said.
"Katrina managed to get all of those. I thought I would win her by using my culinary skills."
![The first Jumbo to land in Canberra Airport. The aircraft was diverted to Canberra due to an engine fire on 22 November, 1977. The first Jumbo to land in Canberra Airport. The aircraft was diverted to Canberra due to an engine fire on 22 November, 1977.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/fdcx/doc7bhbmspp0hu1gyylb456.jpg/r322_911_4744_3055_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
The first 747 to land in Canberra was an Alitalia plane diverted when an engine failed on November 22, 1977. At the time, the airport didn't even have steps high enough to get the passengers down, so military and fire service people made make-shift steps out of ladders.
President Obama came in Air Force One - a 747 - but the Chinese premier had to decamp from his in Sydney and get a smaller plane because his Jumbo was too heavy for Canberra's runway - different variants of the aircraft have different weights and configurations.
Since then the runway has been strengthened.
As he waited to board the last hurrah on the final Jumbo flight, Captain Daniel Taylor said Canberra Airport wasn't the easiest to land in. It was utterly safe but the mountains were a complication.
![Pilot Daniel Taylor. Picture: Jamila Toderas Pilot Daniel Taylor. Picture: Jamila Toderas](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/fdcx/doc7bhbmg5dttx12md93455.jpg/r0_289_5000_3100_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
"Canberra presents its challenges," he said, "because we don't come here very often and there are a few hills around here which can be a bit off-putting.
"But, all in all, it's a long runway and it's relatively easy to get into.
"Today's weather was beautiful so it was quite a nice, spectacular sight coming in today into Canberra."
He praised the retiring aircraft. "Even though it looks complex, it is a relatively easy aircraft to land compared to some other Boeing models.
"It's got a lot of under-carriage which absorbs most of the shock when it touches down on the runway."
The pilot beside Captain Taylor in the cockpit for the grand aerial tour of Canberra was thrilled.
![The last hurrah at Canberra Airport for Qantas' last jumbo. Picture: Jamila Toderas The last hurrah at Canberra Airport for Qantas' last jumbo. Picture: Jamila Toderas](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/fdcx/doc7bhbnry4pt3bt47y452.jpg/r0_247_4831_2974_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
"That was fantastic," Captain Martin Buttery said.
"We were really trying to link up some icons there, so an iconic aircraft with an iconic Snowy Mountains with the icons of Canberra, right over Parliament House and the War Memorial and up and down Lake Burley Griffin."
"We were on board up in the hump, it was just magic," passengers Heath and Diana Williamson said.
Another passenger, Sarah Collins, said of the aircraft, "It's unlike anything else. It's stood the test of time and it's historic.
"It changed air travel forever and changed aviation forever. It really was well before its time.
"To be still flying after 50 years, it's a remarkable aircraft, probably the best ever made."