The Amazing day that an Boeing 727 caused chaos on the M5

Around this time that M5 drivers witnessed scenes of “absolute chaos’ when the motorway served as a transport for an unusual vehicle – a massive Boeing 727. The event was arranged by the entrepreneur Johnny Palmer, who wanted to transport the massive plane out of Cotswold Airport to Bristol to utilize it as an office for his business Pytch. BristolLive informs it that Palmer found the private 1970s aircraft within the “aircraft burial ground” located in the Cotswolds and chose to “upcycle” it to become an office. The plane was constructed in 1968 and operated for a time by Japan Airlines before it went to private ownership in the mid-1970s.

After months of preparation and planning, the day of its launch (February 27,) the wingless, tailless fuselage was strapped onto an lorry, and then transported through the M4, M5 and M32 routes from the village of Cotswolds in Kemble. Palmer claimed he ran into a variety of difficulties on his route such as motorway bridges, and disagreements with police.

Johnny was 38 when he told me: “It was absolute chaos it was all chaos! The trailer sank into sinkholes in the asphalt and got stuck at certain points and intersections. “There were some scary moments. Like instances when police would not allow to allow us to take the planned route, and when it slid under an overpass and emergency services had to go through us.”

Many people came out to watch the event in person, and the entire journey was streamed on Youtube. The entire plan was nearly ended up in the wrong direction about 300 yards from the final destination after an unlocked van was blocking the way.

However, that was not a issue for Palmer who managed to get it removed from the way. After seven hours of having had left Kemble it was Boeing 727 was finally installed at its final location at Palmer’s Business Park. The next day it was lifted up by “two huge cranes” waiting for the cone’s nose to be put back on. Palmer stated: “To see it being an actual thing actually happening, after having worked on it in CAD for months caused me to smile from the ear to the ear. “When I finally saw it up in the air I was amazed by its sheer size and especially so because we placed it on a structure that means the aircraft is at least seven metres high.” The aircraft would be later restored to its glory of the 1970s without any trace of the modern day technology.