Iron Maiden said goodbye today to Ed Force One, the huge Boeing 747-400 that transported the British band around the world during The Book Of Souls World Tour. The last flight of the aircraft, always piloted by vocalist Bruce Dickinson, was between Oslo and Gothenburg.
666… the date chosen by the band to say goodbye to their plane, 6/16/16 is a kind of irony and reference to the famous Iron Maiden hit, The Number Of The Beast.
In a video posted on YouTube, Dickinson says he will miss the plane that took them through Asia, Oceania, America (North and South) and Africa. The vocalist said that Ed Force One still has a pending task, namely transporting a large number of fans from Iceland to Marseille () to witness the game against Hungary for the European Championship.
Since distances on the European continent are short, the band found it unnecessary to continue moving around with the plane. From now on, the team will be mobilized in trucks and buses.
Some photographs of Ed Force One when he was in Brasilia:
During Iron Maiden's tour, Ed Force One became news with its arrival in Zurich (Switzerland), when it was compared with the small planes of the President of , François Hollande, and the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel.
Zurich airport yesterday. The three planes of Angela Merkel, François Hollande and Iron Maiden side by side. pic.twitter.com/2qQeG7mboK
—Mathieu von Rohr (@mathieuvonrohr) 2 June 2016
During its period of operation with Iron Maiden, Ed Force One suffered some breakdowns while ing through Chile. In a towing procedure, a pin that locked the mechanism broke and the aircraft advanced on top of the service tractor, the result was two damaged engine fairings, which also required the replacement of two engines. The band stayed on some stages without the presence of Ed Force One, but soon the aircraft was returned and allowed the band to continue their tour of Brazil with the 747.
The first place that Ed Force One landed in Brazil was in Brasília, where the Aeroflap team had the privilege of taking several pictures, from the moment it landed until its takeoff.
