A golden opportunity for an impressive old war bird to fly again
Plans to bring the Vulcan back to life may be thwarted, says Eve-Ann Prentice
SHE USED to be powerful, potentially deadly, and played a crucial role in the Falklands campaign. She was also a fearless defender of Western interests during the darkest days of the Cold War. Today, however. she faces the scrapheap, despite the attempts of Lord Tebbit to save her. The “she” is question is not Baroness Thatcher, but the Vulcan bomber — the linchpin of Britain’s defences between the 1950s and the 1980s. Now, at a former RAF base, Bruntingthorpe, in the Leicestershire countryside, the race is on to rescue the Vulcan and fly one for the first time since 1993.
Most of the 134-strong fleet, which saw active service from 1956 until 1984, have been scrapped and just three remain on display in Britain —