A sell-out crowd on Sunday ended a memorable week at the Farnborough Airshow, with the RAF’s Red Arrows taking the curtain with a captivating display of aerobatics.

The 60th anniversary show had record numbers of trade visitors during the first five days, with ticket sales matched at the weekend with a capacity crowd.

Near perfect weather conditions contrasted with the torrential rain which caused the cancellation of last week’s Fairford event.

For many, the most exciting moment was seeing the Avro Vulcan delta-winged V-bomber make its return after a £7.5m restoration project managed by the Vulcan to the Sky Trust, but paid for with donations from the general public.

The former nuclear bomber was retired from active service in 1984 before being mothballed by the Ministry of Defence because of high running costs.

Its take-off on Thursday, the first of four appearances at the show, was enough to get hundreds of suited airline executives, arms dealers and engineers away from their sales stands and after-lunch drinks to witness the event from whatever vantage point they could find.

Long-term funding

Barry Masefield was the crew’s air electronics officer during the flight on Saturday.

“It was brilliant - it really felt good, but the conditions were very windy,” he said.

“We had to be very cautious of the wind blowing us back to the ground where the crowd were standing. Safety is our main concern but it all seemed to work out very well.

“It was a wonderful experience and a privilege to fly it.

“There has been so much offered by members of the public digging deep into their pockets to get it flying again, and I am very conscious it is they who have brought it to where it is now.”

Mr Masefield added that the charity that owned the Vulcan was in desperate need of a major corporate sponsor.

The aircraft is unlikely to return to Farnborough and could be grounded for good unless some long-term funding can be secured, he said.

"Fantastic show"

The prime minister who sent the Vulcan to war, Margaret Thatcher, was reportedly at the show on Saturday to see the flight.

Aldershot, Farnborough and Yateley MP Gerald Howarth is a trustee of the Vulcan charity and took Lady Thatcher, whom he personally served as an aide during the 1980s, to see it being restored last year at RAF Waddington.

“She was hugely impressed and delighted that we had the project underway,” he said. “Now we have proved it is a display project.”

Mr Howarth, a licensed pilot and the Tories’ shadow defence procurement minister, hosted both the Conservative leader David Cameron and Shadow Chancellor George Osborne during airshow week.

“It has been a fantastic show,” he said on Saturday.

“People come to see the aeroplanes and see them close up, and the airfield is pretty much closed to the public except for two days every two years, so this is their opportunity to enjoy the facility here.

“While this is a trade show, I think the public are very important to the industry and to the show organisers. Talk to anyone within the civilian or military aircraft industry and many of them caught the aviation bug at an airshow.”

Although not taking to the skies, there was another recently completed project to bring a pioneer of flight back into the spotlight.

Samuel Cody’s historic 1908 flight at Farnborough Common - now the site of the airfield - was the UK’s first sustained heavier-than-air flight.

Thanks to a band of volunteers from the Farnborough Air Sciences Trust (FAST) museum in Farnborough Road, a full-size replica of Cody’s Flyer was on display at the airshow for the first time.

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