Man buries old 737 jet in garden to use as nuclear bunker if World War 3 starts

A man who built a £50,000 underground bunker is spending another £20,000 on a second buried hideout in case the Iran war comes to Derbyshire.

Dave Billings, 44, created his first bunker 11 years ago in his old army camp, but said he felt the need to improve the original bunker, which he said is like a ‘basement’.

So naturally, he bought a Boeing 737 fuselage off Facebook Marketplace and is now turning it into an adjoining second bunker, which he will eventually bury in his garden in Hilton, Derbyshire.

Although the dad does not anticipate the Iran conflict coming UK-side anytime soon, he does think World War 3 is inevitable and wants to be prepared.

Once in the ground, which Dave estimates he will have done by Autumn this year, and be a fully functioning fallout shelter that could protect him from blasts 10 miles away.

And until then, he will be fully protected in his current bunker, which is stocked full of beer, rations, and has a toilet and a bed.

He said: ‘I don’t understand why this thing with Iran has just happened, but war seems to be very fashionable at the moment.

‘Whatever happens, the best thing you can do is be prepared, and if you’re 10 miles away from a blast, you’ll probably be alright in it, it would stop the radiation going down there.

‘The plan is, if it’s not a fallout shelter, it’s going to be a bar, a party room in the theme of a fallout shelter, kitted out with all the bits so you won’t get bored down there, as well as just surviving.’

Dave has already restored the aeroplane’s kitchen and is planning to make the toilet functional again. He’ll add some sofas, bunk beds, and on top of the bar, would like a flight simulator with a recreated cockpit.

It’s the addition of fun aspects like these that he says makes him different to a ‘prepper’.

He said, ‘I’m still building this for fun at the moment. If I were a prepper, I’d be stopping everything else to get on with it. I do these things because they’re cool, and I enjoy them. But this one’s a cool thing that’s got a purpose; it can be classed as functional.

‘If things escalate and it is going to be needed, I can speed the job up, but I don’t think anyone will bomb the Derbyshire Dales.’

Asked about the state of affairs in Iran, Dave’s position is the same as it has been since he first began making his first underground bunker.

‘I have no idea about politics, but I don’t think it’s necessarily Trump, these things just come out of the blue so quickly, and it could end straight away, it could be dragged on or could get a lot worse,’ he said.

‘We can’t stop it, you can protest all you like, but realistically, whatever happens, you’ve got to live with it. I just like to keep myself to myself, and the way I do it is by making my own little world here.’

With help from some friends, he bought the scrapped BMIBaby fuselage in December 2025 and transported it home at a cost of £4,000.

He estimates it will cost £8,000 to supply concrete to hold it in place, £3,000 for mesh required to do that, and £2,000 on insulation to ensure the plane’s material holds firm against outside pressure and inside condensation.

That’s before the added cost of food, drink and beer to supply it with.

Alongside the barrels for the bar, he plans to stock it with plenty of cans to mitigate the barrels ageing, as well as three to six months worth of food.

He plans to have the plane fully functional before he puts it underground, although the ground is too wet to do that now anyway.

In the meantime, he will present it at the NEC in May Maker’s Central, a showcase of inventions and is going to his son Oliver’s school to give a talk on the bunker.

To make it fully functional, he needs to work out ventilation, the toilet, kitchen, water supply and electricity, and he has bought a Ram Air Turbine generator for the latter.

Dave, who works full time as an engineer, says he spends 50%of his free time working on making it war-ready. He’s leaving the decoration to Oliver, 7.

Dave joked: ‘He’s not interested in looking at a tablet when he’s got a Boeing to go and play with.’

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