Plans unveiled for national memorial for the RAF’s Cold War V-force squadrons

The elegantly simple 20ft structure out of Portland stone will be carved with three models of the strategic bomber, known as the V-bombers, and bear the inscription: “They kept us safe”.

Michael Trotter, from the Vulcan to the Sky charity, said: “People have forgotten that during the Cold War in the 1950s and 1960s we were under a global threat from nuclear war and the V-force crews were ready to go at a moment’s notice. Potentially their home bases were targets, potentially they would have had nothing to come back to.”

The memorial will take pride of place outside The Vulcan Experience at Doncaster Sheffield Airport, which was formerly RAF Finningley, a V-Force station.

It comes as a fundraising drive for a new hangar for the Vulcan XH558, where visitors will be able to hear and see the story of her history, has reached more than £500,000.

The charity is negotiating to secure a mortgage of up to £2.4m, but still needs to raise a little over £1m from the public.

Mr Trotter said he believed people would travel to Yorkshire just to see the memorial, which will cost around £100,000.

He said there was a sense of urgency to get on with the work, and to make it a fitting tribute to the late Dr Robert Pleming, who led the restoration of the X558.

He said: “We have set ourselves the target of early summer to get the funds raised and start the building.”

Since 2017 the XH558 has stood exposed to the weather. Although designed to be outside, at 60 years old she needs to be under cover.

XH558 made its first test flight on May 25, 1960, at Woodford Aerodrome, not far from Manchester Airport, and since leaving service has been the subject of several preservation appeals.

Some £6.5m in public donations and lottery funding saw it restored in flight 13 years ago. Over the next eight display seasons, it was seen by an estimated 20 million people.

In 2019, a fundraising drive anticipated the aircraft’s 60th anniversary by offering donors the chance to have their names etched in vinyl on a commemorative plaque beneath the wings.

There are two ways to support the charity in their appeal to build the new hangar and memorial.

A donation of £50 will see donors automatically become an XH558 Guardian Member for 12 months, receiving copies of the biannual Guardians’ magazine.

They will also receive a reproduction of the XH558’s unique registration plate from 1959, and their name or a name of their choice will be added in perpetuity on a very special hangar exhibit with genuine XH558 provenance placed next to the aircraft and honouring all those who will have made the new home possible.

A donation of £30 will bring the same Guardian Member benefits but names will be placed on two specially mounted original Vulcan port and starboard wing tips in the hangar, major items from the spares purchased from the MoD after XH558 left RAF service.

They will also receive a sample set of genuine Avro/Hawker Siddeley Aviation fasteners from the RAF stock purchased with XH558.

To donate or find out more visit www.vulcantothesky.org