Iron Maiden are the first rockers to fly their own aeroplane โ€” complete with all their crew and equipment โ€” on a 19 world city tour, with trained commercial pilot, and the bandโ€™s singer Bruce Dickinson as pilot.

The plane, christened โ€˜Ed Force Oneโ€™ by fans, after Iron Maidenโ€™s mascot Eddie is a specially customised Boeing 757 which will transport the band and crew 50,000 miles in the next few months.

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Iron Maiden [pictured above at the Mumbai press conference yesterday]will play 45-dates on this world tour, kicking off proceedings tonight (February 1) in Mumbai, India. Itโ€™s the second time the longstanding rock band have played the city โ€” after holding the capitalโ€™s first ever metal all-dayer concert last year.

Band manager Rod Smallwood loves the speed of the single aeroplane, despite the complications of how to fit everything together. He says โ€œIt is pretty complex to do this. Youโ€™ve got 12 tons of equipment, youโ€™ve got 60-70 crew and youโ€™ve got the band and their families. But with this plane, we can move quickly. On one leg of the tour weโ€™re doing four major stadium shows in four different countries in one week. You just couldnโ€™t do that the normal way.โ€

Maidenโ€™s โ€˜Somewhere Back In Timeโ€˜ world tour harks back to the bandโ€™s Powerslave days. Dickinson describes the mammoth stage set up saying โ€œWeโ€™re bringing a Monster of a show with us โ€“ pyramids, cyborgs, special effects and a setlist to blow every Maiden fanโ€™s mind.

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The tour arrives in the UK, when Iron Maiden play their first ever stadium show at Twickenham Statium on July 5.

Click here for more details about the tour and for the full list of Iron Maiden tour dates in 2008

Find out how you can fly with Bruce and co. on Ed Force One to selected European tour dates at www.ironmaiden.com

Pic credit: PA Photos