Big Bird Virgin Atlantic Airways Boeing 747-100 G-VMIA Scale 1/400 BB4-741-006

Virgin Atlantic Airways only had one Boeing 747-100 in its fleet, with the registration G-VMIA. Also known as the “Spirit of Sir Freddie”, it was named after Virgin Atlantic's founder, Richard Branson [1].

The Boeing 747-100 was the first iteration of the iconic “Queen of the Skies” design. Virgin Atlantic started operations in 1984 with a leased Boeing 747-200, but the 747-100, G-VMIA, joined the fleet in 1990 [1].

Virgin Atlantic retired its entire 747 fleet in 2020 due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on air travel. The last passenger flight for Virgin Atlantic's 747s was a special “rescue flight” from Los Angeles back to London Heathrow in March 2020