Just outside Lisbon Airport we can see an old jet airliner. Nothing unusual about that, clearly - however you’d have to go a very long way to find another aircraft that has ever been converted into a strip bar, complete with DJ booth in the cockpit!¹

The aircraft is a relatively rare Convair 880 - there were originally 65 built, but today there are just 8 left in the world. Only one of these has been fully preserved: The Lisa Marie, which used to belong to Elvis Presley.

Unfortunately, you won’t be able to pay this historical location a visit, as just a few weeks ago the strip bar was closed down and the plane destroyed.

So there’s only 7 now.

Thanks to Frank.

As any bond villain will attest, a true megalomaniacal dictator should have a number of underground lairs from which to hatch evil plots.

As we can see, North Korea’s Kim Jong-Il and his associates have plans to go one better than the average Bond villain, and are imitating the Thunderbirds with this runway being constructed underneath a mountain.

The runway, in the region of Wonsan, sticks out a bit at either end so we can measure it at 1800m long and 30m wide. A close up of the entrance shows its still being constructed.

The idea here seems to be that foreign military satellites (and Google Earth enthusiasts) would be unable to see what aircraft North Korea have under the mountain, so if a war broke out Thunderbird 2 could use the runway for launch.

The North Korean military are apparently so convinced that the “runway mountain” is the future of modern warfare that they’ve actually built three separate runways across the country. This second example is in the area of Onchon.

I’ve never claimed to be a military expert, but this all seems a bit mad to me - surely the benefits of hidden aircraft are outweighed by the fact that it would be very easy for an attacked to completely ruin the airbase with one strategically placed bomb at the entrance?

Thanks to danescombe.

At Beijing’s huge Capital International Airport, it looks as if disaster is about to strike. As one unsuspecting propeller plane begins its take-off, it seems completely unaware that a large jumbo jet is hurtling towards it, also ready to leave the ground.

Thankfully, the images were taken at different times, and, with some relief, we can report an incident was avoided - nevertheless, a rather disconcerting sight!

In time for the controversial Olympics this summer, the new - Norman Foster designed - Terminal 3-E has also just been completed, and holds the long winded title of the largest airport terminal building complex built in a single phase, with a floor space of almost one million m².

This image was collected when the terminal was nearing completion and, as you can see, the two main parts and the gates are not yet complete. However, Foster & Partners have lots of images showing the completed design in all its glory.

Thanks to Al Cohole.

Over at the Google Earth Community they’ve found a fantastic sight - not one, but two planes about to be refuelled mid-flight over the California desert.

From their measurements, these appear to be F-16 fighter jets, moving in (or perhaps moving out) from a KC-10 “Extender” - a tanker which is derived from the commercial DC-10.

This sight is also unique on Google Earth in that it is perhaps the largest collection of planes found in mid-air at the same time, with 7 aircraft captured in a single image! Waiting behind the re-fueler are two further F-16s, and another pair are ahead - presumably they’ve already had their fill.

There’s a fantastic photograph of a DC-10 refuelling an F-16 at Wikipedia, and see our previous post showing another mid-flight refuelling.

Thanks to tsb60robert at the Google Earth Community.

Ville de Bordeaux is a carrier vessel that has been specially designed to transport various pieces of the Airbus A380 around the globe.

Given that the A380 is the largest passenger airliner in the world, it’s no surprise that the ship which carries it has its own world record (although it’s not as exciting) - Ville de Bordeaux has the largest ever watertight stern door on a ro-ro¹ vessel!

Collecting pieces from manufacturing sites in Germany, Spain and Wales, Ville de Bordeaux can be seen here docked at Bordeaux’s Pauillac terminal, where she drops off the various plane parts. Look closely and you’ll see the cargo door is open, and an aircraft fuselage has been rolled across the pontoon and transferred onto a barge.

This is actually one of two specially built semi-submersible barges which collect the cargo before heading south down the river to Langon, where the aircraft is unloaded for road-transport to Toulouse for final assembly (where, as previously posted, you can see the finished product).

You can follow the full story of A380 transport on the Google Earth Community. There’s also ground level pictures of Ville de Bordeaux on Flickr or see where she is right now with Vessel Tracker.

Thanks to Rene73.

A strange procession is moving through the streets of Los Reyes Acozac in Mexico - the fuselages of not one, but two aircraft!

As they’re roughly 100 feet in length, the giant plane bodies could be for Boeing 737s - but what would they be doing here? 737 fuselages are usually made in Wichita, Kansas, so it’s a bit of a mystery why they would be in convoy through Mexico.

Discussions on the Google Earth community suggest the fuselages could actually be for McDonnell Douglas DC9/10s - which went out of production decades ago - so maybe they’re being scrapped somewhere round here?

If they are scrap, hopefully they won’t be abandoned on the road as happened to one Boeing 737 making its way through Mumbai traffic last year…

Thanks to carmedic.

In the Saratoga Passage, Washington, there appear to be four planes flying in very close formation. Although it could just be an image overlay problem (there appears to be a seam between them) the four ‘motion ghosts’ are all in the same frame, making me believe it to be genuine.

The small, square wingspan (about 22 feet with the ruler, assuming they are flying low) makes them likely to be aerobatic planes, but I can’t identify which model, sadly.

I’m hoping this isn’t a repeat of the last time planes in formation were featured on Google Sightseeing, as it turned out to be a case of photoshop shenanigans!

Thanks to kjfitz at virtualglobetrotting.com.

Founded in 1964, the Red Arrows is the common name for the Aerobatic Team of the Royal Air Force. The team consists of nine BAE Hawk aircraft, with a tenth always carried to events as a backup.

The ten craft are found neatly lined up on one of Blackpool airport’s runways. They now perform nearly every year at Blackpool, and are famed for their 9-plane diamond formation.

All of the pilots are volunteers, and only serve a three year term of duty - as such there are always three new pilots each year. The pilots will all have seen frontline RAF duty, and have had 1500 flying hours.

According to Wikipedia:

The Red Arrows have no reserve pilots, as a spare pilot would not perform often enough to fly to the standard required. If one of the pilots is not able to fly, the team flies an eight-plane formation. However, if the Team Leader, ‘Red 1′, is unable to fly then the team does not display at all.

At the Red Arrow’s base, at RAF Scampton in Linconshire, another of the distinctive red planes is sitting on the tarmac by the hangars.

Meanwhile, a Folland Gnat, the aircraft the Red Arrows used before the Hawk, is on the grass and now acts as a gate guard for the base.

It is not unusual for British residents to see the Red Arrows fly past on their way to an event, as they generally travel at around 1000 feet to avoid the clouds or straying into flight paths.

More info on the Red Arrows can be found at their official site, and of course at Wikipedia. There is also a brilliant flickr photo pool of the team in action.

See our previous post, Planes Taking-off in Formation, for some possible sightings of other countries’ aerobatic display teams.

Thanks: JosieNorden, Ollie Miller and Rob H.