See photos and video of yesterday’s BA Boeing 747 retirement – and take our BA 747 quiz!

Yesterday marked the final departure of the final two British Airways Boeing 747s from Heathrow Airport as the aircraft enter retirement.

Whilst the two aircraft were due to make a dual synchronised take-off, inclement weather meant that this was not possible. There was extremely poor visibility, reduced by the drizzle and very low lying clouds.

Instead, G-CIVB lifted off at 8:40am and G-CIVY followed one minute later, managing to complete its flyover of the runway at 1000 feet.

The aircraft headed to different destinations – one to Cotswold Airport at Kemble and one to St Athan Airport in Wales – where they are being stored until their final fate, scrap or sale, is decided.

The weather wasn’t good in the Cotswolds either with winds of 20+ knots, which meant that G-CIVB had to circle seven times before finally making an approach.

As well as photographs, British Airways supplied this video. If you cannot see the video, click here. Full credit to the team who turned this around in just a few hours:

Catch up on our Boeing 747 articles

It was back in July that we found out that the Boeing 747 fleet was heading for early retirement as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. You can read our original article on the news here.

We followed up with a two-part story detailing the events that lead to the design and development of the 747 at Boeing in the 1960s as well as an article on the history of the Boeing 747 at British Airways.

Join us on Instagram for a BA Boeing 747 quiz!

To mark the occasion we thought it would be fun to host a BA Boeing 747 quiz on our Instagram story this afternoon. You can follow us @HeadForPoints or by clicking here.

The quiz will be on our story from midday. Here is your starter for 10 – In which James Bond film was a British Airways Boeing 747 First Class cabin featured?