Boeing 747 G-BDXJ

G-BDXJ is the registration of a Boeing 747-236B[1] aircraft purchased by British Airways in 1980. After retirement it found a new life as a film prop, and has been preserved at Dunsfold Aerodrome since 2005.

G-BDXJ
G-BDXJ at Dunsfold in 2009, wearing the B-52-style engine pods and drop tanks it wore during its appearance in Casino Royale
Role Scheduled jetliner (1980–2002)
Chartered airliner (2002–2005)
Film & TV prop (2005–)
National origin USA
Manufacturer Boeing
Developed from Boeing 747-200
Career
Other name(s) City of Birmingham (1980–2002)
Registration G-BDXJ
First flight 26 March 1980
Owners and operators BA (1980–2002)
EAF (2002–2004)
EUK (2004–2005)
Aces High (2005–)
Preserved at Dunsfold Aerodrome

Aircraft history

G-BDXJ is the 440th Boeing 747 and first flew on 19 March 1979. Named City of Birmingham, it was delivered to British Airways, which operated it for 22 years. In March 2002, it was sold to operator European Aviation Air Charter which used it for holiday charters and ad-hoc flights as well as leasing it out for Hajj flights in 2003 and 2004. The company ceased 747 operations at the end of 2004 and the aircraft was sold to Air Atlanta Europe, which used it for charter flights until it was retired in 2005. Its last flight was on 25 May 2005, from London Gatwick Airport to nearby Dunsfold Aerodrome in Surrey, England. The aircraft was bought by Aces High Limited, a company specialising in supplying aircraft for television and film work.

Notable film and TV appearances
Dunsfold Aerodrome from the air, with G-BDXJ visible on the disused Runway 15/33

After retirement, it was modified to be used as a prop in the James Bond movie Casino Royale[2] and was painted with a fictional Hollywood registration, N88892, used also on a Boeing 727 in the movie Hero.[3] In the movie, it appears as the "Skyfleet S570" a fictional prototype aeroplane which terrorists attempt to destroy. Among the modifications were the fitting of twin mock-up "B-52 style" engines on each of the inner engine pylons, with the outer ones instead holding mock-up external fuel tanks.

The plane featured in the background for British motoring show Top Gear which is filmed in a hangar-turned-studio at Dunsfold. The plane also featured in some of the show's challenges as background. It did feature most notably in one where the show's hosts were testing farm tractors and then-host Jeremy Clarkson pulled the modified 747 with his JCB farm tractor along the runway as part of a challenge.

It was featured as part of a challenge in the Series 10 final of Scrapheap Challenge, where teams had to construct vehicles capable of towing the aircraft.

References
  1. "G-BDXJ Air Atlanta Europe Boeing 747-236B - cn 21831 / ln 440 - Planespotters.net". planespotters.net. Retrieved 6 September 2008.
  2. , http://www.aerospaceweb.org/
  3. Boeing 727 with fictional registration N88892, Airliners.net
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