Vulcan is saved

Air enthusiasts have raised enough cash to save the world’s last remaining Chadderton-built flying Vulcan bomber just days before it was grounded forever.

The Vulcan to The Sky Trust, which owns the Avro Vulcan XH558, was told it must raise £400,000 by yesterday or it would be forced to sell the aircraft abroad or ground it.

On Thursday the Trust said it still needed to raise £75,000.

Even though it did not reach its target, trustees agreed the rest of the money could be raised after it received more than £43,000 in pledges.

Nearly two million people have seen the Cold War bomber in action at air shows this year. Trustees want the Vulcan, which gets no Government funding, to fly for at least two more display seasons.

The plane was built at the former Avro factory in Greengate, Chadderton, now BAE Systems, in 1960. Although most Vulcans were retired by the mid-1980s, the XH558 Vulcan carried on with airshow duties until 14 years ago.

Its first flight after restoration was in October, 2007 after eight years’ work by the trust.

In its Cold War heyday the Vulcan was on 24-hour standby to drop nuclear bombs on the Soviet Union. During the Falklands War, five Vulcans took part in record-breaking 8,000-mile flights from Ascension Island to bomb the runway at Port Stanley.

Chief executive of the Trust, Dr Robert Pleming, said the board of trustees contacted him on Friday to say the Trust has sufficient liquidity to continue after a windfall of donations.

He wrote: “This is obviously really good news, and is very much down to you, our core supporters, and the desires of the wider public, who have dug deep into their pockets to move us forward once again.”

The Vulcan was the world’s first successful large delta wing aircraft, and the first model made its maiden flight in 1952. The last Vulcan was withdrawn in 1984, but the XH558 flew on to 1993 as an RAF display Vulcan, before being purchased by the Trust, which restored it.

The £400,000 target is still £32,000 short. Anyone wishing to donate can do so by visiting www.vulcantothesky.org/donate or by calling 0845 5046 558.