Vulcan is a no-show for Waddington

The last airworthy Vulcan bomber has failed to fly on either day this year's Waddington International Air Show.

The organisation which operates and maintains the aircraft, the Vulcan to the Sky Trust, was unable to get its permit to fly renewed in time.

Fans had previously been left disappointed last year when the Vulcan performed its display on the first day of the show but had to cancel the second day performance due to an electrical fault.

A spokesman for the trust said: "As part of the 2005 to 2007 major servicing, a number of structural inspections had to be deferred, because it was not feasible to complete them on Vulcan XH558's airframe.

"It was planned by VTST and Marshal Aerospace, in agreement with BAE Systems and the Civil Aviation Authority, that these inspections would be carried out before the renewal of XH558's Permit to Fly on July 3, 2009.

"Unfortunately, despite our best intentions, it has not yet proved possible to complete all these inspections.

"Consequently, we have currently not fully met the conditions that would enable the issue of XH558's permit to fly renewal.

"XH558 is however is fully serviceable and ready for flight, and Marshall Aerospace together with VTST and BAE Systems are doing all they can as quickly as they can to resolve this unexpected, one-off issue within the next few days.

"We are very sad that it is not going to be possible for the Vulcan to display at Waddington over the weekend of July 4 and 5."

RAF Waddington spokesman Wing Commander Simon Prior said: "Obviously we are very disappointed both for the Vulcan Operating Company and for the huge crowd.

"There are great displays to see both in the air and on the ground and that combined with the fabulous weather is still going to give us bumper crowds."

For the full story see Monday's Lincolnshire Echo.