A British plane enthusiast has put his vintage nuclear bomber up for sale on the internet auction site eBay.
”Vulcan bomber XL391 (complete with engines). Your chance to own a piece of aviation history,” reads the advertisement posted by flying instructor Brian Bateson.
As the plane weighs 40 tonnes and has a wingspan of 30m, it also points out: ”As is, where is. Buyer collects!”
Bateson, who had placed it at the entrance to Blackpool airport in east England for visitors to admire, decided to sell the plane so the airport could expand.
The reserve bid of £6 000 is ”not dissimilar” to what he paid for it in 1983, Bateson said.
Vulcans were built in the 1960s to carry nuclear bombs during the Cold War, but were later converted to carry conventional armaments.
Bateson’s plane was stationed on Ascension Island in the South Atlantic during Britain’s 1982 conflict with Argentina over the Falkland Islands, but was not called up to the front. — Sapa-AFP