The Untold

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The Untold: Seven Four Heaven

Seven Four Heaven

BBC Radio 4 - The Untold, Seven Four Heaven

The final descent of the last BA 747, witnessed from a lay-by. Will it land?

The final descent of the last BA 747, witnessed from a lay-by in Gloucestershire. Will it land?

On a main road between Cirencester and the M4 is an unremarkable lay-by. Earlier this year, Luis opened a burger van here, and since then, this lay-by has become a tourist destination. 

On the other side of the road is a small private airfield, which hosts light aircraft, and flying lessons. But there's also a company there called ASI, who demolish planes. 

Over the summer, British Airways announced they would be retiring their entire fleet of Boeing 747s, early, due to the pandemic. And many of them have been destined for this airfield. Suddenly there's a queue of 747s lined up on the other side of the fence, and people travel from far and wide to catch a glimpse of them. 

Producer Polly Weston went to visit the lay-by, and met Luis, who explained that he'd just heard the very last one would be arriving here the following morning. People would travel overnight to be there to catch a glimpse of the Queen of the Skies' final descent. There's 19-year-old Sam who's travelled from Newcastle, with his partner Samantha and their ten month old baby, Henry.  And Kate, who decided to take redundancy after 22 years as cabin crew when BA announced they would retire the plane. Everyone is braced to witness this moment. But there's a catch... the weather is terrible, and the pilots need to be able to see the runway. Will the weather clear? Will the plane  be able to land?

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