Tintin Forums

The Latin word "Vannus" and the "City of Melbourne" have something in common. What is the connection, and where can this be found?

"City of Melbourne" is the name of the Boeing 707 seen at the beginning of Flight 714 (displayed below the cockpit windows). It was a real aircraft in the Qantas fleet, I think. The plane also carries a striking red-and-white "V-Jet" logo on its tail fin.

V-Jet was the marketing name introduced by Qantas at the time the Boeing 707-138 aircraft were converted from turbojet engines to more powerful and more efficient turbofans (I discovered on the internet!)

The "V" stood for the Latin word "vannus" which translates literally as "winnowing basket" or more loosely, "a device for blowing the grain" or "a fan". Hence V-Jet denotes Fan Jet. Presumeably it was decided that V-Jet would sound more ultra-modern, hi-tech (and airworthy) than wicker-basket-fan-jet!

Excellent answer Balthazar!

You are right, it was a real aircraft in the fleet. Here is a nice little article about it being saved from the scrap yard along with a photo of the real thing.

http://www.abc.net.au/westqld/stories/s1763548.htm

Interesting side note; the actor John Travolta owns and still regularly flies the 13th and final "V-Jet" from Qantas. There was talk of the two aircraft performing a fly-by at some stage. I'm not sure whether this will occur or not. It would certainly be nice to see the real boeing from Flight 714
Uh-oh, I'm starting to go on about one of my favourite subjects, aviation... I'll stop now!

It's all over to you Balthazar. :-)