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Around this time two years ago, the Southwest held its breath as local businessman Johnny Palmer took on his biggest challenge yet. The owner of Warleigh Weir came up with the crazy idea of ​​driving a Boeing 727 down the M5 motorway, and he pulled it off.

People from Gloucestershire, Somerset and Bristol flocked to see the show unfold. It was quite an event and all so that Mr. Palmer could have a proper office for his Brislington business, Pytch.

The entire drama was “absolute chaos” but a publicity stunt that paid off and left the name “Johnny Palmer” on everyone’s lips that day. For a whopping £100,000, you now have one of the most exclusive boardrooms in the world.

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The tech entrepreneur discovered the private jet from the 1970s in an “aircraft graveyard” in the Cotswolds and decided to “upcycle” it into an office. The aircraft was built in 1968 and used by Japan Airlines before passing into private hands in the mid-1970s.

New, it would have cost £40 million, but (since it had no wings or engine) Johnny got a £100,000 deal. After months of planning, on Saturday 27 February the wingless and tailless airframe was strapped to a lorry and driven down the M4, M5 and M32 from Kemble.

Johnny, then 38, said: “It was absolute chaos, everything! The trailer went through a pothole in the track and we got stuck at some of the corners and junctions.”

“There were some difficult moments. Like when the police refused to let us use the planned route, when it went under a motorway bridge and when the emergency services had to overtake us.”

A TV show, streamed live on YouTube, followed the plane’s progress from start to finish. Meanwhile, hordes of people flocked along the route, wanting to see him in person.

The entire plan was nearly derailed just 300 yards from their final destination when a parked van blocked the route. Yet even that was not a challenge to Palmer, who had him out of the way.

Finally, around seven hours after it left Kemble, the Boeing 727 settled into its final resting place at the Palmer business park. The next day “two giant cranes” hoisted it into position ready for the nose cone to be reattached.

Johnny said, “Seeing that it’s a real thing in the real world after months of working on it in CAD made me grin from ear to ear. When I finally saw it in place I was blown away – it’s absolutely huge.” , especially since we have supported it on a structure, which means that the plane is more than seven meters high.”

The plane would be restored to its 1970s splendor with no trace of modern technology, the businessman explained. During the lockdown, Pytch’s existing offices were used for broadcast and green screen filming, so they needed a new, vibrant place to work.

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