007 Relations

Company vehicle

Vehicle Bond drives

Notes

In the opening sequence of 'Octopussy' Bond used a gadget that at first appeared to be a horse's rear, but then became a mini-jet. Bond escaped and finished his objective at the same time.

The BD-5 was designed by aircraft designer Jim Bede in 1973 and can be either propellor or jet driven. Even before the prototype flew, orders were received. The production how ever had to stop shortly after start as the engine manufactorer, Hirth of Germany went bankrupcy after delivering about 500 engines. The attempt to find another firm to deliver engines was successful, but instead of delivering engines within 9 month it took the Japanese company over 3 years to complete the new engine. In 1979 the Bede Aircraft Corporation went bankrupcy too. By now the BedeCorp is producing kits and planes. The jet engine driving the BD 5J is not in production any more, so the only available version is the propeller driven BD 5.
The plane is available as both a kit or manufactored version. Guinness book of records has listed the plane as the world's smallest jet at the time.

The Acrostar is not only fast, but incredibly manoeuvrable - a real acrobat of the air with a max. dive speed of 350 mph (560 km/h). Its take-off run was 540 meters (1800 ft), and its landing run 240 meters (800 ft). Despite its short fuselage, the cockpit could accommodate even a tall man such as Bond in reasonable comfort.

On 6. December 2014 the BD-5J was on auction at Julien's Auctions starting bid USD 100.000,-. Note: engine not included! But it wasn't sold.

Technical Data

• Model: Bede DB-5J
• Serial number: 001
• Engine: micro-turbo TRS-18 engine
• Maxspeed: 300 mph
• Max. level speed: 320 mph (512 km/h)
• Length: 3,60 m (12ft)
• Wingspan: 3,90 m (13 ft)
• Height: 1,70 m (5 ft 8 in)
• Weight: 204.5 kg (450 lb)
• Ceiling: 9,000 metres (30,000 ft)
• Capacity: 1 pilot
• ID: N70CF

Gadgets

• Folding wings

Sources

The Essential Bond, by Lee Pfeiffer & Dave Worrall, Boxtree, 2000.
James Bond, The Secret World of 007, Dorling Kindersley, page 82/83.