Hi everyone,

Is that photo real, or is it a fake ?

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Photo © Ben Kings

It's a billboard for the "wings and wheels" event at the Dunsfold Park Aerodrome
http://www.dunsfoldpark.com/index2.html

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Photo © Andrew Simpson

Those nacels look too big for B52 pods. Looks more like duel high-bypass engine pods.

Mike

The "N88892" registration is a "fake" registration; while it's the right format, it is one of a few N-numbers the FAA held back for use in disaster movies and such where realism is needed but you wouldn't want to use the N-number of an actual registered aircraft. It's sort of like the "555" phone prefix.

No comment whether the photo itself is real or not, but given that the registration is fake I'd assume the added parts are fake and it's not going to fly in that configuration.

[Edited 2006-07-05 21:10:40]

There is a pic of her at Dunsford on 8/05 showing her without engines. And the entry for her on 6/05 says she will do some movie/tv work before being scrapped.

It's being used for the new Bond film, Casino Royal. I believe the engines and pods are all fibreglass. I have seen bits of them around here at Pinewood Studios, where I work. I know a detached engine from this 747 was delivered to Pinewood a few months back for use in filming, I saw it being delivered and moved into one of the stages. I have also seen models of this 747 in another of the stages and a model set of an airport, no doubt to be blown up or something similar.

There has also been a lot of activity at Dunsfold in the last month with a Virgin A340 and a DC6 being involved, so I think it is safe to assume that a lot of aircraft are going to be involved in Casino Royal. A Virgin A340 was parked in PRG for a while for filming purposes.

Cheers

a novel idea thats for sure. seems to be a helluva lot of aviation in this new bond film. i wonder if the casino in casino royal will be one of SRB's onboard his planes 

interesting to hear pinewood is still at work, i thought it was closed years ago in favour of 'out sourcing' our movies...

Quoting Gary2880 (Reply 6): interesting to hear pinewood is still at work, i thought it was closed years ago

Oh, it's still very much in use



Recent productions include:
Flight 93 (The recent 9/11 release)
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Basic Instinct 2
The Descent
The Da Vinci Code (the interior of the Louvre was in 007 stage)

In production now:
Casino Royal
Eragon

TV Work including:
The weakest link
Last of the Summer Wine
Test the Nation
Extras (series 2 currently being filmed)

Flight 93 had an amazing set, with the entire fuselage based on a 757 built in one of the stages.

Cheers

A

Pinewood is one of the hotspots in SE england, shepperton handles mostly TV stuff with pinewood doing lots and lots of films

Interesting idea. Are there any real-life downsides to this configuration?

Quoting We're Nuts (Reply 9): Interesting idea. Are there any real-life downsides to this configuration?

These are purely guestimates but-

- The wing loading is horribly off... The wing's structure is designed to support the mass of engines equally spaced along its span...
- IIRC, the wing of the 747 depends on the outer engine mass too help damp Wing ossilations... unless those pods on the 1 and 4 engine mounts were massive dead weights, you'd probably find yourself with some pretty nasty harmonic motion in turbulance.

My guess is that if the outer engine pods were indeed deadweights, then this bird _might_ be able to fly (the extra weight inboard wouldn't seem to be too much more than a ferry engine... granted they generally don't fly with two)... you'd probably need to substantially reinforce the engine spar that holds the 2 and 3 engine's in place, and I'm not sure there is enough structure in that part of the wing to do so... but it might _theoretically_ work... but you'd be left with a plane that required massive deadweights to fly safely (not to mention the weight of the extra structure), with absolutely no benefits.

(of course, you could always re-design the wing entirely to handle the configuration... but by the time your'e doing that, you basically have a new plane).

I'll let someone who actually knows what they're talking about tell me how wrong I am 

-Scott

Isn't dunsfold where they film BBC's Top Gear?

I'm sure I remember seeing that 747 when the "stig" test drives the cars, and if memory serves me right it had no engines.

So these engines which are added can't be real can they, and if they are it can't possibly actually fly in that configuration...can it?! (Because of lack of maintanence etc.)

Quoting SpenceSaab (Reply 11): Isn't dunsfold where they film BBC's Top Gear?

It certainly is! You can see the 747 with the web adress of Dunsfold Park when The Stig does his laps and also when they do the "Star in a Resonably Priced Car" segment.

I wonder if a 747 could take off with just two engine say the extra are dummies maybe if it lost some weight but I'm not one to speack on the 742 not expirence with that plane....Looks cool though

.......Maybe somebody with knowledge of this aircraft might know who the stig is!! Some say his breath smells of burnt rubber....... and he drinks kerosene..... all we need to know is he is THE STIG!!!

I herd that "stig" was Damon Hill, from an unofficial official sorce.

UKkiwibird

Some say his heart ticks like a watch AND that he's confused by stairs....

and others say that if he could be bothered he could figure out the Da Vinci code in 43 seconds...

All we know is he's called the STIG.

Whens that show coming back on?? I presume its off whilst the Tennis and World Cup is on?

Nice looking 747. Don't suppose a 747 would ever fly with 2 engines? Such as 2 Trent 900s.

I think that landing a Dunsfold was quite tight.

I do not expect it to fly out.

Quoting Bennett123 (Reply 17): I do not expect it to fly out.

It won't fly out, it's there to be scrapped after the filming boys have done whatever it is that they have planned. The landing wouldn't have been all that tight, what with having zero pax, zero freight and an almost completely stripped interior (and probably low fuel levels).

Fake or novelty, a really cool configuration. I like it.

“Some say he urinates 98 RON petrol, and that he can smell corners.….all we know is he’s called the Stig.”

There's some good information about The Stig ono Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Stig

Quoting Legoguy (Reply 16): Nice looking 747. Don't suppose a 747 would ever fly with 2 engines? Such as 2 Trent 900s.

Structural considerations (forces exerted on the spars from the increased thrust, wing bending relief, etc.) would require extensive modifications. Additionally, the 747 would require engines in the 140,000 pound plus category to meet engine out requirements. This is not impossible, but beyond the growth ability of any current engine.

Is it just me or do the engines look toed in, as well as the tanks?

Quoting Hemispheres (Reply 22): Is it just me or do the engines look toed in, as well as the tanks?

Yes, they are.

As per the first post G-BDXJ, just seen this aircraft on an advert for first magazine in the UK as I read this thread, and yesterday I was looking at pics of it in EAL colours.................Scary !!!!!!

To answer the question, The Stig is actually Julian Bailey. Now back to avaiation.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The newly redesigned Boeing 747-8!  

Quoting EndAir2000 (Reply 25): To answer the question, The Stig is actually Julian Bailey.

Really? How did you find out?  

Quoting Dw747400 (Reply 21): Structural considerations (forces exerted on the spars from the increased thrust, wing bending relief, etc.) would require extensive modifications. Additionally, the 747 would require engines in the 140,000 pound plus category to meet engine out requirements. This is not impossible, but beyond the growth ability of any current engine.

If a rich guy had millions of bucks to mess around with (we are talking billions) a 747, could he put 777 wings on it with the biggest engine possible and make it fly?

Something alittle like this....

http://www.cardatabase.net/modifieda...earch/photo_search.php?id=00002885

Quoting EndAir2000 (Reply 25): To answer the question, The Stig is actually Julian Bailey. Now back to avaiation.

On a Q & A section of the BBC website I was reading some time ago said that there were several 'Stigs' - hence why you never see Stig without his crash helmet on.

Ex Formula One and Le Mans driver Perry McCarthy did the first 22 programmes as the Stig between 2002 and 2003. It was then rumoured to be Damon Hill, however, some of the more exotic cars such as the Maserati MC12 were driven by their owners, in this case property developer Frank Mountain. Test driver Heikki kovalainen masqueraded as the Stig to drive the Renault R24 F1 car in 2004 as another example.

A bit of searching on t'internet (when you've got nothing better to do) will confirm what I have said here.

Now lets get back to aviation  

A380Heavy

Quoting A380Heavy (Reply 28):

So far tehre have been three Stigs revealed and confirmed by BBC sources:

Perry McCarthy
Ben Collins
Julian Bailey

This Pic has caused a lot of Debate & confusion on All Forums  
regds
MEL