Tag: passenger jet cufflinks

 – why her story isn’t quite over –

Final Departure from Heathrow

BA 747-436 G-CIVY became the last BA 747 to depart Heathrow (with sister aircraft G-CIVB) on the morning of 8th October 2020. In overcast and drizzly conditions, she carried out a flypast of the airfield before setting course for St. Athan, near Cardiff, where she was scrapped in December 2020.

Twenty-two years of service

G-CIVY first flew on 25th September 1998 and was delivered to her British Airways London Heathrow base four days later. Her Manufacturer Serial Number was 28853. Her final revenue (cargo) flight, as BAW192, landed at Heathrow from Dallas Fort Worth on 5th April 2020, when she was withdrawn from service and entered storage having accumulated over 90,000 flight hours.

Origins of the 747

The 747 was the result of the work of some 50,000 Boeing people. Called ‘the Incredibles’, these were the construction workers, mechanics, engineers, secretaries and administrators who made aviation history by building the 747 — the largest civilian aeroplane in the world — in roughly 16 months during the late 1960s. The incentive for creating the 747 jumbo jet came from reductions in airfares, a surge in air-passenger traffic and increasingly crowded skies. As the world’s first wide-body jetliner, the 747 revolutionized air travel becoming known as the ‘Queen of the Skies’, cementing Boeing’s dominance in the passenger aircraft market.

747-400 facts

The 747-400 rolled out in 1988. It was truly monumental in size and required construction of the 200 million-cubic-foot (5.6 million-cubic-meter) 747 assembly plant in Everett, Washington, the world’s largest building (by volume). The fuselage of the original 747 was 225 feet (68.5 meters) long; the tail as tall as a six-storey building. Its wingspan is 212 feet (64 meters), and it has 6-foot-high (1.8-meter-high) ‘winglets’ on the wingtips. Pressurized, it carried a ton of air. The cargo hold had room for 3,400 pieces of baggage and could be unloaded in seven minutes. The total wing area was larger than a basketball court. Yet, the entire global navigation system weighed less than a modern laptop computer.

BA and the 747-400 series

British Airways was one of the Boeing 747’s earliest customers and the world’s largest operator of the jumbo jets. Having operated 15 BOAC 747s following BOAC’s merger with BEA, the British Airways that we know today took delivery of its first 747 in 1974.

The airline’s first 747-400 was delivered in June 1989. Over the years, British Airways operated a total of 57 Boeing 747-400 aircraft. Deliveries of British Airways 747-400s took place for ten years until April 1999.

On 16 July 2020, British Airways announced it was immediately retiring the remaining Boeing 747-400 aircraft. BA had originally intended to phase out the last 747s by 2024 but brought the plans forward in part due to the downturn in air-travel following the COVID-19 pandemic and to focus on replacing the 747 with the more fuel-efficient Airbus A350, Airbus A380, and Boeing 787.

Continuing the Journey – Icarus Originals and Aerotiques

Prior to her final demolition, sections from the port and starboard rear fuselage were removed. These were acquired by Aerotiques Ltd to produce unique items. Icarus Originals has been entrusted with some of this reclaimed material to manufacture this special range of BA 747-436 G-CIVY cufflinks and desktop models in association with Aerotiques.  These have been produced by melting down the original airframe aluminium and recasting (using the lost wax method) ensuring this iconic aeroplane will live on beyond her retirement.

To find out more about 747-436, G-CIVY and the production process please visit our Original Icons section or click here.