Man builds ‘ultimate underground bunker’ to survive World War III

By Tom Jeffreys

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

Dave Billings, 44, created his first bunker 11 years ago, as he lives on an old army camp, which he felt "needed a bunker".

He felt the need to upgrade his original bunker because its flat roof means it is “more like a basement” - and he wanted a party room because if he is ever confined to quarters, he "might as well enjoy himself".

So he bought a Boeing 737 fuselage off Facebook Marketplace in December 2025 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, it will a fully functioning fallout shelter that could protect him from blasts 10 miles away.

And until then he will be fully protect 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.

“You need some activities, don’t you? But there’s a lot of room to do things in there. I mean, it’s a Boeing 737, they’re pretty big!”

Dave has already restored the airplane 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 was a prepper, I’d be stopping everything else to get on with it. I do these things because they’re cool, I enjoy it. But this one’s a cool thing that’s got a purpose; it can be classed as functionable.

“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 for myself and the way I do it is by making my own little world here.

"When I’m in my area, I like to be safe, that’s it. That’s what I’m making.

“The last [bunker] is spot on. I use it as a living room and watch the Formula One down there. It’s a good place to be if stuff starts going wrong, but if we actually talk about nuclear – and I think we’re way off that personally – we need this new room.

“After building it, I decided that the next one would be a proper fallout shelter because if you’re going to do it, you might as well do it properly.”

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 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 in to his son Oliver's school to do 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 per cent of his free time working on making it war-ready. He’s leaving the decoration to Oliver, 7.

“I showed my wife the Facebook advert and she said ‘why are you thinking about buying that pile of scrap’. But Owen said ‘that’s amazing, why haven’t you already bought it?’

“It’s a BMI Baby plane so he’s busy trying to remove all the stickers so it says BMI Baby again. He absolutely loves it, finished school and comes outside to see what I’m doing. So if it’s not a fallout shelter, it’s making him and me happy isn’t it?

“He’s not interested in looking at a tablet when he’s got a Boeing to go and play with."