Routes for Vulcan farewell tour revealed

Cold War icon XH558, which is based at Robin Hood Airport will take off for a marathon, nationwide Farewell To Flight sortie this weekend.

But the UK-wide tour will not be the last by the aircraft - with more farewell flights planned throughout October.

Fans of the aircraft have been told to stay away from Doncaster over fears too many spectactors could cause traffic chaos and safety issues causing the event to be scrapped.

Now aircraft owners, the Vulcan To The Sky Trust, have revealed the full itinerary for this Saturday and Sunday’s spectacular.

Saturday’s northern route is scheduled to fly over Gainsborough, Brough, Menwith Hill, Leeming, Durham Tees Airport, Newcastle Airport, Eshott Airfield, Alnwick, East Fortune, Carlisle Airport, Bowness on Windermere, Warton, Chadderton, Manchester Airport, Woodford, RAF Cosford, East Midlands Airport and Derby.

The Sunday southern route is due to take in RAF Waddington, Rutland Water, North Weald Airfield, Gravesend, Herne Bay, Manston, Dover, Ashford, Dunsfold, Farnborough, Middle Wallop, Old Sarum, Bristol Airport, Filton, Cardiff Airport, St. Athan, Staverton Glos Airport, RAF Brize Norton, Wellesbourne, Bruntingthorpe and Newark.

Passes at certain airports will be dependent on ATC clearances at the time of arrival.

A spokesman for VTTS said: “This coming weekend, XH558 will take-off on two large orbital tours of the country, visiting as many places as we can sensibly cover within the operational constraints and time we have available. With flight times expected to be over three and a half hours each day, we also have to consider the limits of fuel-load and of course, the comfort of our flight crews in very cramped and high workload conditions.”

The routes vary from those originally published over ten days ago. Although flight paths may vary once announced and XH558 is airborne, the turning points revealed by the Trust will be the plane’s intended destinations given favourable weather conditions.

The flights however will not be the last - at least two more flights are scheduled before the end of October.

However, supporters have been told to stay away from Robin Hood and Doncaster ahead of the remaining few flights.

The statement said: “The police and emergency services, local authority and the airport are very much aware of growing issues. There is great risk of severe restrictions being imposed on our flight operations if matters persist. We do need to minimise the risk of enforced flight cancellations on the grounds of public safety.

“We would request all our supporters try to view XH558 from another vantage point along the tour routes this weekend. Please do not travel to Doncaster.”

Times have yet to be confirmed and will be published in a VTTS newsletter on Friday, but the flights are expected to start after lunch each day.

Full updates, locations and timings will be made available on Facebook and Twitter.

Click the blue links below to see video of the Vulcan in flight:

VIDEO: Vulcan vows Yorkshire Crowd

VIDEO: Spectacular footage from inside the flying Vulcan

VIDEO: Vulcan flies at RAF Waddington show