BOURNEMOUTH Air Festival favourite Vulcan XH558 has taken a significant step towards returning to the public limelight.

This year the air festival celebrates its milestone tenth anniversary, and the iconic Cold War bomber - which flew at Bournemouth for the last time in 2015 - played a huge part in the event's success.

Although it is highly doubtful XH558 will ever fly again, the plan was - that after her retirement the Vulcan to the Sky Trust (VTST) would eventually run the aircraft on the ground, during a series of public events, at her Doncaster Sheffield Airport home.

However, earlier this year after the lease expired on the trust's hanger the Vulcan was towed into storage. And the loss of public access to the aircraft had dire consequences.

Dr Robert Pleming, of the VTST, explained: "Sadly, with the loss of income from hangar tours, events and trading, to remain viable we had to scale back to one-third of our original team."

With question marks over the bomber's future, the trust issued a 'survival plan' appeal - and financial support for XH558 quickly flooded in.

Now, thank to public backing, the trust has announced XH558 will be brought out of her 'hibernation status' to full ground running condition. By mid-June, VTST hopes to take the bomber onto Doncaster Sheffield Airports's engine running pan, where her Olympus engines will be checked.

The trust hopes the famous 'Vulcan Howl' will be heard again during a series of public engine runs scheduled for this summer.

Dr Pleming said: "This is the first important stage in returning Vulcan XH558 to the public, and is confirmation that the success of the survival plan in placing the trust on a sustainable footing is now allowing us to move forward, including planning for a new purpose built-hangar.

"However, the future still depends critically on meeting our planned income targets this year. I would urge everyone to get involved in our upcoming activities and events, purchase gifts and memorabilia from our web store and eBay presence, and of course to carry on donating."