Air show hits highest of heights

The world's only Vulcan bomber left flying in the world soared in the skies above RAF Cosford for the first time in 17 years as part of this year's record-breaking annual air show.

The hotly-anticipated fly-over was in doubt just hours before yesterday's annual extravaganza because it had not been flown since its servicing in the winter.

But organisers – who were left "overwhelmed" by the turnout of 58,000 aircraft enthusiasts – pulled out all the stops to get it in the skies, making it one of the star attractions at the show and earning rounds of applause from the enthusiastic crowd. Roads were clogged and trains packed to capacity during the show, forcing police to order an issue that people could only get to the show by walking.

John Francis, air show marketing coordinator, said: "We had to open the gates and hour and a quarter earlier than advertised at 7.15am in order to get the backlog of people in.

"Beforehand there were people queuing up when I came in at 5.30am by Cosford railway station. The weather was perfect and ticket sales were up by 16 per cent."

The six-hour flying programme, celebrating decades of aviation history in the skies, was opened by the RAF Falcons Parachute Display Team. More than 100 stalls were also set up as part of the event.

Peter Phillips, aged 52, of Merthyr Tydfil in Wales, was at the show with family and friends from Wolverhampton and Telford.

"We drove up the night before the show and stayed at a friend's house. It took about two hours to get to the show from Wolverhampton."

Despite the queues to get through the doors, Mr Phillips said the show had been "fantastic". Office worker Simon Penfold from Penn, Wolverhampton, took his two children. He said: "The traffic queues were just staggering. They've been running it so long I can't understand how it could have been so chaotic."