20 Things You Didn’t Know About Casino Royale (2006)

10. “His Target Is The Skyfleet Prototype!”

The prototype Skyfleet S570 that Le Chiffre hopes to destroy after betting against it on the stock market was a modified Boeing 747-236B registered as G-BDXJ. A former British Airways airliner, it is stored at Dunsfold Aerodrome in Surrey for use in film and television productions.

Peter Lamont and special effects supervisor, Chris Corbould adapted the cockpit profile, replaced the outboard engines with external fuel tanks, and substituted the inboard engines for mock-up engines to make it look like an experimental aircraft.

The airport scenes, whilst set at Miami International Airport, were filmed at Prague-Ruzyne International Airport in the Czech Republic, Lynden Pindling International Airport (then-known as Nassau International Airport) in The Bahamas, and Dunsfold Aerodrome.

For the gruelling tanker chase between James Bond and Carlos on the runway, second unit directors Ian Lowe, Terry Madden, and Alexander Witt simulated a police car being hurled into the air by the force from an airliner’s engines by attaching a cable from a crane to the car's rear bumper. The scene was captured without the use of CGI; when the cable went taut, the crane pulled the car out of shot whilst an airliner took off in the background.

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I started writing for WhatCulture in July 2020. I have always enjoyed reading and writing. I have contributed to several short story competitions and I have occasionally been fortunate enough to have my work published. During the COVID-19 lockdown, I also started reviewing films on my Facebook page. Numerous friends and contacts suggested that I should start my own website for reviewing films, but I wanted something a bit more diverse - and so here I am! My interests focus on film and television mainly, but I also occasionally produce articles that venture into other areas as well. In particular, I am a fan of the under appreciated sequel (of which there are many), but I also like the classics and the mainstream too.