XH558 - Bruntingthorpe

The spiritual home of XH558 saw a brief fly-past from the Vulcan on a fleeting farewell visit.

After spending many years on the ground here but maintained to a semi-operational level, it was fully restored to full flying status. However, the time has come this year to stop flying -  it's just too expensive for the groups involved to keep it in the skies. 

That's a real shame as these are glorious planes in the air. Incredibly graceful considering their size and their intent. Only ever actively deployed to drop conventional bombs, thankfully, they were designed to deliver a hammer-blow to the USSR with nuclear weapons. 

We saw just a few seconds as it flew just one circuit, but, that was more than the simple fly-past that we were advised would be the case. But, then, it was saying bye to its home.