Cold War bomber to return to sky

The money to return a Vulcan Bomber based in Leicestershire to the skies has been secured.

The Heritage Lottery Fund has just confirmed the release of £2.5m to restore the plane kept at Bruntingthorpe Airfield in Harborough.

The project had been beset with financial problems but now it is hoped the aircraft could be flying again within 14 months.

The "Vulcan to the Sky" campaign had been raising funds for seven years.

We feel the public will really benefit from hearing the Cold War story which not that many people know Felicity Irwin, Vulcan to the Sky

The Campaign Director, Felicity Irwin, had feared their efforts had been in vain.

She said: "It is the culmination of seven years of jolly hard work but we always believed in the project.

"Its just wonderful (the Heritage Lottery Fund) has seen the value and significance of the heritage asset which this aircraft is.

"We feel the public will really benefit from hearing the Cold War story which not that many people know."

Vulcans were long range bombers designed during the Cold War and were retired from service in 1993.

The lottery funding was offered at the end of 2003 but the campaign had to raise matching funds.

That figure has been reached in time for this weekend's Waddington Air Show in Lincolnshire.