THE world's last flying Vulcan bomber plane will make a majestic farewell tour of Britain this weekend.

The XH558 bomber, an icon of the Cold War, will fly over Durham Tees Valley Airport and Newcastle Airport on Saturday, October 10, to give fans a spectacular display before its retirement.

Enthusiast Paul Metcalfe said: "It's a great symbol of British engineering as it was Brits who designed, built and flew it. I've known about the iconic Vulcan for a long time but I took a keen interest this year when I realised it wouldn't be flying any more."

The aircraft, designed in the late 1940s, will be grounded after three main companies, BAE Systems, Marshall Aerospace and Defence Group and Rolls-Royce, withdrew their support this year.

Richard Clarke, spokesman for the charity Vulcan to the Sky said: "It's a very sad occasion. The aircraft has been so successful over the years and she's been very popular at air shows.

"She's been seen by an estimated 22 million people since she first flew in 2007 which equates to the amount of money we've spent restoring the plane, so we like to think of it as 'a pound for a smile'.

"She's given a lot of enjoyment to the public over the years and I want to say thank you to everyone who has supported her. Without their admiration and help we couldn't have restored her."

Saturday’s northern route is scheduled to fly over Gainsborough, Brough, Menwith Hill, Leeming, Durham Tees Valley Airport, Newcastle Airport, Eshott Airfield, Alnwick, East Fortune, Carlisle Airport, Bowness on Windermere, Warton, Chadderton, Manchester Airport, Woodford, RAF Cosford, East Midlands Airport and Derby.

The southern route will take off at RAF Waddington and land at Newark on Sunday, October 11.

With flight times expected to be over-three-and-a half hours each day, the team has said it will have to consider the limits of fuel-load and the comfort of its flight crews in very cramped and high workload conditions.

Exact flight times will be released tomorrow (Friday, October 9).

Two final flights are also scheduled for the end of October.