The Vulcan Tour hits Farnborough

To a small hill overlooking Farnborough Airport, birthplace of British aviation, to see XH558, the last surviving Vulcan bomber make a farewell flypast before she is grounded.

I've been in a Vulcan, and it is a thing of noisy, deadly beauty and a living monument to the billions of pounds poured down the toilet during the Cold War. Vulcans and Lightnings - we knew what we were doing back then, which was mostly building airframes round hugely powerful engines to see what they would do.

The Lightnings went years ago (although there's one in the FAST Museum at Farnborough), and now it's farewell to the last of the Vulcans.

And it seems like everybody and their dog is there to see it, and there is some severe camera envy. That line in the background is some of the worst parking you will ever see in your life, and there was literally a cast of thousands on the heathland. (I parked really badly somewhere else, so don't go blaming me)

And here she comes.

Closely followed by...

And there she goes.

Then everybody went home, and Farnborough Airport was left to its executive jets.

Bye bye Vulcan. You were ace. And loud. But mostly ace.