Vulcan bomber ploughs into field after overshooting runway

A Vulcan bomber ploughed into a field after slipping off a runway, stopping just inches away from cars on a busy road.

The XM655 aircraft was on a trial high-speed run when it failed to slow down as intended – and ended up in a field, narrowly avoiding ploughing into the road.

No one was hurt in the “taxi test” at Wellesbourne Airfield near Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, but Stratford Road was closed off.

Experts put the accident down to a malfunction of a piece of equipment in the cockpit, which meant the bomber went at high speed for two seconds longer than it should.

The four-engined Vulcan, which is based at Wellesbourne, no longer flies and makes high-speed taxi runs only occasionally.

But it had been due to taxi down the runway at an event on Sunday commemorating the 40th anniversary of the “Black Buck” raids during the 1982 Falklands conflict.

The XM655 Maintenance and Preservation Society, which looks after the aircraft, cancelled the event, saying although the bomber was largely undamaged, a lot of inspection work was needed.

Photos show the aircraft at the edge of a field with its nose over a hedge just feet away from Stratford Road.

The society wrote on Facebook: “Due to a malfunction of a piece of equipment in the cockpit, the aircraft remained at full power for approximately two seconds longer than intended.”

Explaining what went wrong, it wrote: “After satisfactorily completing low speed steering and braking tests on runway 05/23, the aircraft was taken onto runway 18/36 for a trial high speed run.

“Due to a malfunction of a piece of equipment in the cockpit, the aircraft remained at full power for approximately two seconds longer than intended.

“This resulted in excessive speed and less distance in which to stop, and the aircraft passed beyond the end of the runway on to the agricultural area, stopping just before the airfield perimeter.

“The failed equipment was an air speed indicator which had been tested and found satisfactory six days ago, and which started working normally before the end of the run.

“The aircraft brakes worked properly but were unable to bring things to a halt within the reduced space available.”

The RAF says the Vulcan was the second of its “V bombers”, and like the Valiant and Victor, was part of Britain’s nuclear deterrent force for 15 years until the Navy’s Polaris submarines took over in 1969.

The last Vulcans retired from operational service in 1984.

Last year, Wing Commander Mike Politt said: “The aircraft performed fantastically, she’s in great shape, it went flawlessly.”