An 84-year-old World War II airforce veteran and record-setting Qantas pilot has graduated from CQU Rockhampton's graduation ceremony on the weekend (March 11).

The event attracted plenty of media attention, including coverage by ABC TV News.

Links to the broadcast are at:.

mms://wmstreamer.cqu.edu.au/cqu/other/media/News13_03_06_hi.wmv or .

mms://wmstreamer.cqu.edu.au/cqu/other/media/News13_03_06_lo.wmv .

Sydneysider Val St Leon visited Rockhampton to receive his Master of Letters in History degree. His supervisor was Dr Barbara Webster from the School of Humanities (pictured at the graduation with Val).

Captain St Leon served in the Middle East, Syria and India as an RAAF engineer during the war and joined Qantas the day after discharge.

He was sent to America on the Lockheed Constellation project and then appointed Chief Flight Engineer.

Captain St Leon became one of only a few Qantas engineers to transfer to pilot status and flew many aircraft including Jumbo jets before retiring as a Senior Check Captain in 1978.

He is believed to be the only pilot world-wide to hold all aviation licences.This was recognised by the Royal Aeronautical Society (FRAeS), the Royal Meteorological Society (FRMetS) and the Royal Institute of Navigation (MRIN), and when he was decorated with the RAAF Air Efficiency Award (AE).

He's been married for 56-years to wife Patricia, who was hand-picked by Lady Hudson Fysh (wife of the Qantas founder) in the first group of 9 Qantas hostesses. Patricia was born in Cloncurry, raised in Innisfail, educated in Townsville and trained in Brisbane as a RN.

Captain St Leon was part of the first round-the-world Qantas flight and accomplished other first flight records including the first flight to South Africa (1952), the longest flight ever recorded in a Constellation L749 (Manilla to Sydney direct) and the first flight from Mauritius to Sydney direct.

He was Chairman of the Australian Air Pilots Federation (AFAP) in 1967 and Industrial Chairman from 1968-1971, and is proud of the fact that the only other engineer in Qantas to fly in command was Engineer Manager W. Arthur Baird, who with Hudson Fysh and Paul McGinness were the founders of Qantas.

The proud 5th generation Australian says his great-grandfather Matthew brought the first circus to Australia in 1850.

"His circus tent was commandeered by Peter Lalor for the Eureka Stockade meetings in Ballarat in 1854 when it was known as Jones Circus. My grandfather Walter, brought George and Phillip Wirth from Germany as bandsmen and from this start Wirth's Circus evolved," he said.

Captain St Leon's eldest son is a lecturer at CQU Sydney International campus. His daughter is a senior lecturer at the University of Canterbury, Kent UK.

"After retirement I was a grazier running 1500 head of cattle near Uralla/Armidale NSW," he said.

"My younger son had been born in California (Redwood City) when I was based in USA for 3 years. He finished his secondary education at The Armidale School (TAS) and became my farm manager. He is now the manager of a large property valuation firm in Sydney. He had been partly educated in Virginia Water UK when I was based in London for a year introducing the Boeing 707/338c across the Atlantic to New York."