Plane lifted into back garden as bunker takes shape

When asked why he had lifted a section of a former plane into the ground in his back garden, Dave Billings shrugged his shoulders and said: "Why not?"

The 45-year-old recently used a huge crane to lower the fuselage of an old Bmibaby Boeing 737-500 into a large hole in his lawn, after buying it online for £4,000.

A team of volunteers helped to lower the aircraft cabin into position at his home in Hilton in Derbyshire.

Dave has now adapted it to allow the space to become an underground "man cave", and it will ultimately connect to an existing underground room beneath his garden.

Dave said he first saw the listing for the plane on Facebook Marketplace.

He added: "I thought, you know what? I could buy that, but what I'm gonna do with it?"

The first friend he discussed the idea with told him it was "silly", so he went to his seven-year-old son for guidance.

"He says, 'dad, you've got to buy that'. I'm like 'OK'," Dave said.

His wife Beth took a little longer to be convinced, questioning why he would buy "a pile of junk", but he persisted.

Dave said: "The worst thing if you're buying a Boeing 737 is how do you go and get it?

"Then another friend of mine messaged saying 'if you buy it I'll load it for you'.

"It went from there really."

The aircraft was built in 1993 and made its last flight in 2013, ending its days flying holidaymakers from East Midlands Airport to destinations including Alicante, Malaga and Faro.

In 2009, it was named Pudsey Baby for the BBC Children in Need appeal.

Since 2021, Dave has documented projects like this on his YouTube channel, Tornado Dave, which has more than 326,000 subscribers.

Dave captured the crane being lifted into place from several angles, including from the crane itself using a GoPro-style camera that was fitted when it was on the ground.

He said he decided to set up his own YouTube channel after he worked on the Guy's Garage television programme - with presenter and former motorcycle racer Guy Martin - who drove one of Dave's modified Land Rovers.

Dave, who also runs a storage and fabrication businesses, used a 3D printer to create a scale model of how the fuselage will connect to an existing underground room beneath his garden.

He aims to apply for retrospective planning permission on the project, which he hopes to have finished by February.

The plane was lifted into place on 20 October, with five volunteers helping him out as well as the crane operators.

When asked what his first impressions of the plane were when he first saw it, he said: "The scale on the picture is completely different to actually when you get there.

"It was massive. I thought it's such a good room size. Sometimes things are too narrow, but the plane width is absolutely perfect."

Dave said he had considered adding games machines to the bunker when finished, but added it would sadly not be wide enough for a pool table.

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