The Jumbo Jet we used was not built especially for the film but was a display model some 9 feet in length!. This was made of Perspex (Plexiglass) by Space Models of Feltham, and was a "standard" shop window display model -until we got our hands on it! Our main task was to paint it in the livery of an imaginary airline and dirty the model down ready for filming. The Jumbo Jet is seen here in its cradle being weathered with airbrush and soot. prior to filming

The building hit by the Jumbo Jet in the film was a re-creation of "Centre Point" the well-known London tower block which at the time of filming, had stood empty since being built some years earlier; a tribute to a vast waste of money! That's why it was chosen for "demolition" in the film! The Jet is seen here supported on a cradle while it is wired to a flying rig that ran on tracks about 20 feet up off the studio floor at Shepperton!

A closer view of the rigging up of the wires that the plane "flew" on. The whole model jet was packed with explosive, as was the building. Six "mortar pots" (These are pieces of thick steel pipe welded to a 3/8th inch thick steel plate and) were also put in the building and packed with explosive. These were detonated by remote control from a floor switch box at the back of the studio. The plane however, had a type of trembler switch in it that meant the as the model hit the building, a detonator pin was thrown forwards setting off the explosives in the model.

A long shot of the building just prior to filming the crash. Unfortunately, the method of detonation meant that once the model started off down its wire track it could not be stopped as the detonator would immediately trigger the explosives! In hindsight this proved not such a good idea, since once the model started its 50 yard run down into the model building, it slowed to the side and hit the building a sideways glance, rather than the straight-on hit that was intended. However, in fact it all looked fine in the film, since Brian Johnson and Nick Allder (SFX directors) had 4 cameras filming the crash from different angles. By cutting from one shot to another as the plane hit, the angle of the crash is not noticeable. There was no chance for a second "take" with this shot. The box-like structures on the far right and left of this photo are 2 of the 4 protective shield boxes built to protect the camera (and the cameraman!) from flying debris as the model exploded!

The moment of impact. All went according to plane except for one thing. Nick Allder had set explosives into the wings to cut the support wires as the plane blew up. Unfortunately, the electric wires that carried the current to detonate these explosives broke as the aircraft hit, and so failed to explode. In the final out-takes a wing can be seen swinging backwards and forwards on its wire for several minutes after the impact. In the final film this was, of course, cut out, and another angle was used for shots of the building on fire. And boy, did it burn! The polyurethane foam went like a bomb and the so did the pieces of Perspex which flew across the entire studio floor as the model was torn to bits. Luckily we all had hard hats, but there were still some near misses, even though we were standing right back at the edge of the studio! The final irony was though that obviously, with a complex, dangerous shot like this, a fire crew was on standby with hoses ready to put out the fire the moment the cameras stopped rolling. In all the excitement however, they had forgotten to turn on the water at the mains. By the time they finally got the hoses on it, half the studio gantry walkways were on fire and so were the studio lights!