Vulcan bomber charity offers chance for your name on its wing

For £30 you can have your name written on the wing of the last airworthy Vulcan bomber

Supporters of the last airworthy Vulcan bomber are being given the chance to have their names written on its wings.

The XH558 the Vulcan To The Sky Trust will charge £30 per name to help fund its plans for a new hangar at Robin Hood Airport in Doncaster.

The 57-year-old nuclear bomber was put into storage at the airport by the trust earlier this year.

The new hangar will provide a home for XH558 and a base for other restoration and operational aircraft projects.

Vulcan bombers carried Britain's nuclear deterrent during much of the Cold War. They were retired from RAF service in 1993.

More stories from around Yorkshire

The XH558 was the last airworthy example in the world before it was grounded.

Robert Pleming, who leads the project team, said the "Names Under XH558's Wing" initiative would mark the 10th anniversary of the first post-restoration flight in October 2007, which was 14 years after its last RAF outing.

He said two areas of grey on the wings had been allocated for the names which would only be visible close-up.

"This opportunity to place names on the wing was not available to us before because MoD and CAA regulations on ex-military aircraft markings meant that whilst she was flying, we had to keep her external appearance in as near to original RAF markings as possible," he said.

XH558 lost its permit to fly at the end of October 2015 as the engineering firms who helped keep it in the air accepted they no longer had the skills available to ensure safety.

It was placed in a hangar at the airport and attracted 1,000 people a month, until the space was needed for other uses and it was put into storage.

The opportunity to put a name on the bomber closes on 1 October ahead of an unveiling on 18 October, the 10th anniversary of the first post-restoration flight.