The last Vulcan bomber to take to the skies will remain a “living aircraft” despite coming to the end of its flying days, according to the trust dedicated to its preservation.

The 55-year-old XH558 has been thrilling millions of enthusiasts around the UK this summer in its last-ever flying season. But it loses its permit to fly at the end of this month as the engineering firms which have helped keep it in the air have finally accepted that they no longer have the 1950s skills available to ensure safety.

Restored Avro Vulcan XH558 bomber which had to cut short a test flight in April 2008.

Richard Clarke – a trustee of Vulcan To The Sky Trust (VTST) – said it has been inspiring to watch the huge crowds that have turned out to see the huge Cold War bomber at airshows around the country this year.

He said: “We’ve had eight full flying seasons and the impact on the British public has been absolutely amazing. We estimate around 22 million people have seen the aircraft in her flying years, which is absolutely incredible.”

Standing in front of the aircraft at its home at Robin Hood Airport, in Doncaster, Clarke said: “This aircraft has got an amazing emotional connection to the British public. It’s one of those aircraft that have been taken to the heart – like Concorde, really.

“I think that’s due not just to the power and the manoeuvrability but also the grace of the aircraft, the shape of the aircraft – those beautiful delta wings which, of course, led to so many other engineering innovations in the following years.”

He added: “She looks futuristic, not the age she is. She’s 55 years old, you’d never believe it.”

The Vulcan fleet was designed in the late 1940s and delivered to the RAF in the mid-1950s to carry Britain’s independent nuclear deterrent. When the Royal Navy’s Polaris missile submarines took over this role in the early 1970s, the Vulcans carried on as conventional bombers.

WRAF girls Margaret Drabble (left) and Rita Smith, the first women to fly in one of the Vulcan bombers, with members of the crew in June 1966.

In this latter role they had a final hour of glory in 1982 when they bombed the runway at Port Stanley during the Falklands War – a raid which has gone down in military history due to the complex multiple refuelling operation that was necessary over such huge distances.

It is sad it’s got to stop flying, but there is a new life for the Vulcan

“It has a very auspicious and historic link with the RAF and did a great job over the years in preventing war ever happening,” Clarke said.

“The government wanted an aircraft that could carry the full nuclear capability right into the Soviet Union. And this aircraft could do that. It had great range and could fly right into the heart of enemy territory.”

XH558 was the first B2 variant Vulcan to be delivered to the RAF in 1960. It was also the last Vulcan to fly as an RAF aircraft in 1992.

Vulcan XH558 stands inside its original Cold War hangar at Robin Hood Airport, Doncaster ahead of being retired as a flying aircraft.

Although much of its service was at RAF Waddington, in Lincolnshire, it spent many years in its current home, Hangar 3 at RAF Finningley, which is now an international airport.

As well as plans for a new visitor centre at its Doncaster base the trust has pledged to keep XH558 maintained for what is known as fast-taxiing. This is when the aircraft roars down the runway to take-off speed, letting enthusiasts hear its trademark engine howl, but without actually taking off.

“It’s sad it’s got to stop flying, but there is a new life for the Vulcan,” Clarke said.

“We want to let people have the ability to come and see the aircraft and get up close and personal to her – under the wings – and see what a fantastic engineering achievement she is and what a beautiful aircraft she is at first-hand.”

He added: “We want her to remain a living aircraft.”

Bomber was ‘a force for peace’

The best-known Vulcan pilot – who led two of the now-legendary raids on the Falkland Islands – believes the huge bomber was a force for peace, despite its original role as Britain’s nuclear deterrent.

Martin Withers led the first Vulcan attack on the Port Stanley airfield during the 1982 Falklands War.

He also led one of the other four Black Buck raids from Ascension Island to attack Port Stanley airfield when it was held by Argentinian forces.

The raids were the only time in the Vulcan’s 30-year service with the RAF that it dropped bombs in anger.

The aircraft were built at the height of the Cold War to carry Britain’s nuclear weapons to the Soviet Union. “Its original function was to keep the peace and not really to drop bombs,” Withers said.

“This is the whole thing about the nuclear deterrent, which I strongly believe in. It was not there really to drop bombs, it was about developing something that was capable of doing it to make sure nobody did attack you.

Withers is one of a number of pilots who have continued to fly the last airworthy Vulcan from its home at Robin Hood Airport, in Doncaster. But those flights are now coming to an end.

The pilot described how he has been greeted almost like a rock star at air shows this summer, as enthusiasts said goodbye to XH558 – which was not itself involved in the Falklands raid.

“People seem to really adore this aeroplane, I can’t really explain it,” Withers said.

“There’ll be tears when it’s all over. We’ve seen plenty of tears this season. I’ve been on the ground at one or two air shows and people are just sobbing – grown men are crying on one another’s shoulders and all the rest of it.

“It’s really adored by people who aren’t normally particularly lovers of aircraft.”