Have you ever wondered where do airplanes go to die? Most of the decommissioned aircraft end up in ‘plane boneyards’ where some of its parts are salvaged and the rest of the carcass is cut up and left to rot. A few of them, though, are turned into creative projects and are repurposed into interesting creations. Building hotels and restaurants inside the fuselage of aircraft is a popular theme. We have even seen a 42-foot-long Learjet turned into a road-legal limousine. However, something on the internet recently caught our attention. A British aerospace mechanic built his dream trailer out of a scrapped engine housing of a Vickers jetliner. Steve Jones – who served in the Royal Air Force – got himself the engine nacelle from a 1967 Vickers VC10 airliner. The aircraft served in the Royal Air Force for nearly 45 years and was decommissioned in 2012.
According to Jones, the project took almost six years of planning and 1000 hours of labor to complete. The custom camper turned out to be more complicated to build than what Jones had anticipated. However, the hard work paid off when the one-of-a-kind camper was featured on British architectural show George Clarke’s Amazing Spaces. In an interview with The Drive, Jones said: “I’ve converted lots of camper vans and caravans over the years, and used all that experience in designing and building the pod. The whole job was extremely difficult. This part was never designed for this purpose. The fabrication was the longest job. I’m always doing weird and wacky builds, and I wanted to make something that everyone goes WOW! I think I’ve achieved that now.” Jones had actually worked on VC10 aircraft, and admitted he “always loved the jet”. The highlight of the camper is its massive front window offering an unhindered view of the outside. The window built into the engine’s air inlet gives the camper a futuristic look, maybe even a little sci-fi-ish. On the inside, the camper features a kitchen to make food and drinks on the road and has four beds. What’s incredible is that Jones spent only $4,400 in total to create the custom camper. It’s already an internet hit and attracted offers for more than $31,000.
[Via: The Drive]
