Hamburg Airport is looking to scrap its Boeing 707-430 that was formerly a Lufthansa aircraft before starting a new life as a museum piece. The aircraft will be primarily recycled with interested individuals able to bid on their favorite pieces.

2020 saw many aircraft being retired and scrapped well ahead of time. Everybody has seen the pictures of the British Airways Boeing 747s being dismantled at sites across Europe. However, it is not just recent retirees that are being scrapped. Indeed, Hamburg Airport is now set to destroy a Boeing 707 that has served as a museum piece for the past 20 years.

Farewell D-ABOD

After almost 40 years in service with Lufthansa and 20 years in service as a museum piece at Hamburg Airport, D-ABOD is older than most aircraft found at major international airports. However, the 60-year-old Boeing 707 will soon be no more as the North-German airport seeks to dismantle the aircraft.

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According to the airport, it has made several efforts to hand the historic aircraft over as an exhibit to be preserved for the future. However, such efforts have been in vain. As such, the airport feels it has no option but to dismantle the aircraft, set to happen in the spring.

60 years of history

There aren't many aircraft at major international airports that can boast 60 years of history. However, D-ABOD can. According to planelogger.com, the aircraft took its first flight in April 1960, the same month that it was delivered to Lufthansa. Named 'Frankfurt', the aircraft flew with Lufthansa for 15 years until 1975. Indeed, the Boeing 707 was the aircraft that pushed the German flag carrier into the jet age.

The aircraft then became a classroom for Lufthansa Technik mechanics. However, as aviation technology advanced, the airline decided that it no longer needed such an aircraft. In 1999 Lufthansa Technik repainted the aircraft in the colors of Hamburg Airport before handing it over. The aircraft was sold to the airport for just €1 ($1.20) and replaced a Super Constellation that previously served as a museum piece.

A museum piece no more

Since being at the airport, D-AOBD has been used as a museum piece but also as a film set. While featuring in some German-language broadcasts, the aircraft also landed a spot in the 2001 film Bend It Like Beckham. Additionally, it has also been used for training exercises by various organizations based at Hamburg Airport.

While it may be the end of the airframe as a whole, individual pieces of the aircraft will be able to live on in the homes of Boeing 707 and Lufthansa fans. The auction house Dechow will sell critical parts of the aircraft, such as cockpit instruments and flaps. This is the auction house that is selling items from the old Berlin Tegel Airport.

Have you seen Hamburg Airport's Boeing 707? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!