More than 1,400 retired aircraft have ended their flying days at Mark Gregory's Air Salvage International (ASI), a firm that has spent three decades assessing, dismantling and recycling planes at a private airfield two miles from Kemble in Gloucestershire. One of its most notable aircraft is a VIP-configured Boeing 727 that once belonged to Saddam Hussein's fleet.
From redundancy money to aircraft recycling
Mark started the business in the early 1990s using his redundancy money. He bought his first aircraft and spent six months taking it apart to sell the parts. Today, the operation employs dozens of staff to meet demand from the aviation industry.
The costs involved can be substantial. The aircraft equivalent of an MOT can cost around £1 million, prompting many owners to send their older planes to Mark instead. In some cases, reusable parts and recyclable materials can bring in as much as £12 million.
Training exercises and crash investigations
Dismantling aircraft is only one part of the business. ASI also stages training exercises for organisations including the SAS, helping them rehearse emergencies involving planes. In one simulated scenario, Mark and his team crushed a van with an aircraft fuselage, after which special forces had to tackle an exercise involving hijackers and passengers playing the role of injured casualties.
Another offshoot of the business is crash site investigation. Although downed planes rarely make it to ASI due to the extent of the damage, members of Mark's team are occasionally called out to inspect the aftermath of major aviation tragedies.
The dictator's jet and its fate
The Boeing 727 became part of Saddam Hussein's fleet after he ordered Iraqi Airways to seize every Kuwait Airways aircraft during Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990. When owned by the Kuwaiti royal family, the 189-seat jet was stripped of its standard seats and fitted with plush velour seats with extendable footrests, JVC TVs built into mahogany walls, and glass vases filled with plastic roses next to unopened bottles of bubbly.
Mark was keen to keep the dictator's jet, which is decorated with plush velvet seats and wood panelling. Other parts of the aircraft have found second lives: one large chunk of fuselage ended up in the shadows of The Swarm rollercoaster at Thorpe Park, while others are sent out to aviation enthusiasts who want to decorate their homes with various pieces.
Parts, films and small-screen appearances
Many firms that send their planes to ASI know exactly what they want back, with demand lists that can stretch to 2,000 parts from a single jet. The airfield and its jets are also movie stars, with countless films shot at ASI, including The Fast and the Furious 6, World War Z, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Mission: Impossible, and Batman. The site has also appeared on television programmes such as The One Show, Horizon, Inside Out, Terror in the Skies, Engineering Giants, Casualty and Doctor Who.
