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Ainscough Crane Hire’s Birmingham Depot has worked with client CEVA Logistics to bring the wow factor to the star-studded premiere of the year’s most anticipated film.
CEVA’s Showfreight team was appointed to ship and assemble a full-scale replica of a Eurofighter Typhoon -a model that has been used in combat during operations in Libya, Iraq, and Syria – for display at the premiere of Top Gun: Maverick, the long-awaited sequel to the 1986 classic.
The huge military aircraft was loaded into long trailers, moved to London, and unloaded at Leicester Square using an Ainscough 150t all-terrain crane. Ainscough worked closely with Ben Jones – CEVA’s exhibition lead supervisor – to ensure the crane was able to arrive on location in time.
The CEVA team had only seven hours from evening until early morning to unload and install the replica in time for the premiere. The Eurofighter Typhoon subsequently proved the perfect background to the event at which the film’s leading man Tom Cruise and other Hollywood stars were joined by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.
After the event, CEVA’s specialists promptly started the disassembly and offloaded the replica back to its storage facility.
Ainscough’s team for the job included regional planner Angela Tapper and crane operator Dave Neal.
Trevor Lakin, assistant manager of Ainscough’s Birmingham depot said: “This was a very prestigious lift for our team to deliver, though it was made straightforward by excellent planning undertaken by our friends at CEVA. We’re really happy to have played a part in such a brilliant event, one that will live long in the memory of all those involved.”
Ben Jones, exhibition leadman supervisor, CEVA Logistics, said: “It was once again a great pleasure to work with Ainscough Crane Hire – they really are first class and always terrific to work with.
“Ceva Showfreight was contracted to install the replica typhoon at the movie premiere – the build itself went extremely well and that’s down to the planning and effort that’s put in beforehand.
“I would like to extend thanks to Trevor Lakin and his team, including the crane driver on the night, Dave Neal who turned out to be a bit of a ‘Maverick’ on the levers himself! We have a very few busy months ahead and look forward to working with Ainscough again soon.”
