Ewen Cameron

Inducted 2023

Ewen Cameron was born in Sydney where he commenced flying training in 1972 at the age of 16. He relocated to Cessnock where he completed his training and was subsequently accepted as a flying instructor. Few people realise that, at the time, the flying school at Cessnock Aerodrome was the largest such organisation in the Southern Hemisphere. 

He was to later accept a position as Chief Flying Instructor at Illawarra Flying School in Sydney and then as Chief Pilot of Chieftan Aviation, also in Sydney. Ewen then returned to Cessnock to operate a commuter service between Cessnock and Mascot, in a 3 engined Britten-Norman Trislander – an unusual aircraft indeed. 

At the beginning of 1980 he joined Qantas Airways as a second officer, flying Boeing 747-200 aircraft. He was promoted to First Officer in 1985 and Captain in 1990, becoming a Check and Training Captain on 747’s up until the very last Qantas 747 was shut down and sold for scrap. 

During a 40 year career with Qantas Ewen flew in command of every 747 ever owned by Qantas and accumulated some 31,000 hours of flight time, seeing him acknowledged as having flown more 747 hours than anyone else in aviation history. 

The last Qantas 747, VH-OEJ, farewelled Sydney to some fanfare in July 2020, painting a digital ‘flying kangaroo’ in the sky on its way to the Mojave desert, where Captain Cameron performed the final landing of an era in aviation. 

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Plaque location
Garden adjacent to 1F Cooper Street, Cessnock