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The Dunsfold 747 (trivia)

bnt · 2014-01-20 10:52:32

I recently saw the old Top Gear episode in which Jeremy used a tractor to tow a Boeing 747. This is the same plane you can often see in the background when cars are going round the test track, which had me wondering what it's doing there, since Dunsfold is not a working airstrip any more. The plane has a strange engine…

20-01-2014 11:52am

#1

bnt

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I recently saw the old Top Gear episode in which Jeremy used a tractor to tow a Boeing 747. This is the same plane you can often see in the background when cars are going round the test track, which had me wondering what it's doing there, since Dunsfold is not a working airstrip any more.

The plane has a strange engine layout: instead four engines on their individual mounts, each wing has two engines in a single pod. Is it some kind of test bed plane, running flight experiments for a new future commercial aircraft?

I finally found some details online: it's a 747-236 which has been scrapped, and is never going to fly again, but it's being kept in one piece as a movie prop. The real engines are long gone: when it was used in the film Casino Royale, it got those prop engines, and they've been left on.

So... need a 747 for your movie or music video? It's available for hire: they don't say what they charge per day ...

Death has this much to be said for it:
You don’t have to get out of bed for it.
Wherever you happen to be
They bring it to you—free.
— Kingsley Amis

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