The first Airbus A380 ( VH-OQA ) delivered to Australian airline Qantas was named in her honour . Her name on the A380 was originally written " Nancy Bird Walton " , but Qantas respected her preference for the hyphenation that her late husband used ( " Nancy-Bird " ) , and the hyphen was added before the aircraft 's naming , shortly after she was aboard the ceremonial flight above Sydney . This aircraft was operating flight QF32 when it suffered a serious uncontained engine failure after takeoff from Singapore in 2010 ; coincidentally , Walton wrote the first officer 's reference when he first joined Qantas as a pilot
flight QF32
Qantas Flight 32
Nancy Bird Walton