There's a strange-looking Boeing 747-200 in Casino Royale and it has an interesting backstory behind it

This weird-looking thing is a Boeing 747-200 that featured in both Casino Royale and something else you may have watched a thousand times before.

The plane is apparently real, but bits about it aren’t.

Aviation enthusiasts and movie buffs know what it’s for, and why.

But there’s one thing about it that some people are missing.

This Boeing 747-200 is basically a ‘Frankenplane’

People generally refer to weird, hybrid, mash-up cars as Frankencars, and the term is particularly popular within the watch community for watches that aren’t fake, but they’re a far cry from real.

In this case, we can talk about a Frankenplane.

The fuselage is of a Boeing 747 – 747-200 unless our eyes are deceiving us – but the engines aren’t from a 747.

They aren’t even Boeing’s.

Redditors – that’s often the case – couldn’t find a consensus.

Initially, everyone assumed these would be B-52 (above) turbofans.

But someone else pointed out that may be from turboprops from an Ilyushin Il-62, an iconic Soviet-era aircraft pictured below.

But then another Redditor who goes by LordvaderUK came to the rescue and said that whatever they are, they are fake.

“Can confirm. [The plane is] still there. Looking pretty grotty now. The ‘engines’ are made of plywood or some similar material which hasn’t stood the test of time. Source: I took this photo in September 2025,” they wrote.

We managed to get in touch with the Redditor and he confirmed the engines/jets/props are basically fake.

“I’m no expert but close up they’re definitely not metal, they are made of some sort of wood and they are now badly decayed,” he told Supercar Blondie.

We’re not surprised.

We know money is often no object in Hollywood, but fitting this Franken-Boeing with real B-52 engines would cost millions, probably tens of millions.

Even Hollywood producers have their limits.

Peter Lamont, production designer for Casino Royale, said he specifically modeled the plane – called ‘Skyfleet S570’ in the movie – to look like a futuristic prototype with B-52-style jets.

So they aren’t from an Ilyushin or a B-52, but they are made to look B-52-esque.

The plane has since been used in other movies, including Fast & Furious 6, but there’s another reason why it might look familiar, especially if you’re a car person.

Where else have you seen this?

This Boeing 747-200 featured in Casino Royale, the first Daniel Craig-era James Bond movie, and also on Top Gear.

That’s because the plane is parked at Dunsfold Park, the semi-abandoned airport that also doubles as a race track in the UK.

And a movie set, as it turns out, because airport scenes in Casino Royale were mostly filmed here.

This, more importantly, was the location that Top Gear used for years.

So if you thought you may have seen this plane in a shot that also included Clarkson, Hammond, May or some amazing supercar.

Well, you were probably right.