Wellesbourne's famous Vulcan bomber nearly hits Stratford Road after slipping off airfield runway
A test run of Wellesbourne’s world-famous XM655 Vulcan bomber ended badly today when it slipped off the runway almost onto Stratford Road.
However it is understood that no one was hurt in the mishap, and that luckily it stopped a few feet from the busy B4086.
The aircraft, which draws crowds of visitors to Wellesbourne Airfield, is carefully looked after by the XM655 Maintenance and Preservation Society, with volunteers regularly at the site.
The Vulcan only occasionally makes high-speed taxi runs, and prior to last year had not done one for five years.
Back then, after its run in July 2021, Wing Commander Mike Politt told the Herald: “The aircraft performed fantastically, she’s in great shape, it went flawlessly. It’s been five years since the last high-speed taxi, and there were certainly a few people in the café and on the airfield pleased to see her running.
“She may have been brilliant, but operating on a 2,000ft runway might not have been great for my blood pressure!”
People on Facebook shared their fears that this mishap might jeopardise future run outs if the Civil Aviation Authority gets involved.
