If they had passed it unawares, it was a sight which might have come as something of a shock.
In the early hours of Halloween, as most of Norfolk slept, a passenger plane was lifted by crane over the Norwich Northern Distributor Road (NDR), resting briefly on the tarmac as it went.
After years of taking to the skies, it was making its final journey to the City of Norwich Aviation Museum, having been donated as an exhibit.
The RJ85 passenger jet’s arrival had been months in the making, with plenty of preparations - and an overnight road closure - needed to make it a reality.
Trevor Eady, from the museum, said its journey was made in two parts - one leg over the fence of Norwich Airport and onto the NDR, and the second over another fence into the museum’s land.
He said weather had been in their favour, with conditions cool and still, and wind only picking up later on in the early hours, and that the move had been completed by about 5am.
Mr Eady added that the RJ85 has “many links” with operations from Norwich, and KLM UK Engineering.
The aircraft was formerly operated by City Jet, and has been a regular sight at Norwich Airport since Air UK took delivery of the Avro 146 type aircraft in 1983.
The Bae146/Avro RJ aircraft is a four-engine high-wing aircraft which operated out of many city airports, with its quiet operation having been the key to its success. It has been marketed as the “whisper” jet.
It will be the only one of its kind on display at an aviation museum in the UK.
The museum thanked those who were involved in securing the new aircraft, including City Jet, Quinto Crane and Plant, Air Salvage International and Norwich Airport.
The museum, a charity which works to preserve aircraft and artefacts linked to Norfolk, was able to expand after an increase in visitor numbers when the NDR was completed.
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