The Qantas Founders Museum’s Super Constellation project is a step closer to being display-ready with the completion of the airliner’s cockpit. Volunteers Ray Boak, John Booth, Bob Sidgwick and Garry Murphy have worked tirelessly to finish this part of the project, which is supported by the Queensland government.
After being abandoned for 26 years in Manila, during which time someone may have lived in it, the Super Constellation cockpit was in poor condition. Parts and instruments had to be sourced from the across the world. The team began by cleaning out the cockpit (the flight crew seats had already been removed), removing the instrument panels and starting to address the many issues in the cockpit such as corrosion, missing flooring, instruments and absent parts. Collectively those involved contributed more than 700 volunteer hours in six weeks.
The next stage of the project is the installation of the aircraft’s new interior fuselage display, which will be completed in November 2019.
