Astraeus and Iron Maiden
The
heavy metal band Iron Maiden lead singer
Bruce Dickinson was an Astraeus Captain, flying the Boeing 757 aircraft when not performing with the band.
[6] Dickinson was also Astraeus's Marketing Director. Dickinson has flown many high-profile flights for Astraeus: for example, on 20 October 2010, he flew the
Liverpool F.C. team to
Naples,
Italy, for their
European Cup match against
Napoli.
Iron Maiden commissioned an Astraeus 757 as transport for their
Somewhere Back in Time tour in 2008 and nicknamed it Ed Force One, flown by the lead singer Dickinson himself. The aircraft was converted into a
combi configuration, repainted with an Iron Maiden livery and was used in this scheme until 28 May 2008. The same aircraft (G-OJIB) was used again on the second leg of the Somewhere Back in Time tour in 2009. The aircraft was also meant to be used for
The Final Frontier World Tour in 2011; however on 8 February 2011 another 757-200 aircraft (G-STRX) departed
Southend with a sightly differing Iron Maiden livery for the tour.
In 2014, Dickinson purchased a
Fokker Dr.I triplane replica G-CDXR and joined the Great War Display Team, which re-enacts
First World War air battles at airshows across the UK.