Former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was in Farnborough on Thursday to celebrate the 100th anniversary of powered flight in Britain.

Exactly 100 years to the day after Samuel Franklin Cody made his historic first flight at Farnborough Common, Lady Thatcher was among the guests to witness the unveiling of a new building housing a replica of Cody’s famous aircraft.

The enormous 52ft replica plane, built entirely by volunteers from FAST, the Farnborough Air Sciences Trust, is now on display to the public as part of Farnborough’s aviation museum.

A half-hour flypast of historic aircraft followed the unveiling ceremony, with the iconic delta-winged Vulcan bomber at the centrepiece of the display.

The flypast by the Vulcan came after it made its dramatic comeback to the Farnborough Airshow in July after a £7 million private refurbishment.

Sadly, unless a major corporate sponsor can be found to help fund the Vulcan to the Sky Trust in the coming months, last week’s flight over Farnborough could be the aircraft’s very last display.

The Vulcan’s visit last week was of particular significance as its pilot, Martin Withers, was among the crew sent to war by Lady Thatcher in 1982 to begin Britain’s attack on Argentinean forces in the Falklands.

The bombing raid on Port Stanley airfield, which lasted 15 hours 50 minutes, was at the time a world record for the longest bombing raid and won Withers a Distinguished Flying Cross.

For more on this story, see next week's Farnborough Mail, out on Tuesday, October 22.