VIP Visitors are given a guided tour of Vulcan XL426 at London Southend Airport by an experienced guide before climbing into the Vulcan’s cockpit to sit in either the pilot’s or co-pilot’s seat (an experience which is not available at our Visit the Vulcan Days).

Outside the cockpit, VIP Visitors will be able to meet the Trust’s engineering team and learn more about their work maintaining and restoring XL426.

The tour includes a look behind the scenes to see the workshops and engineering activities not normally seen by the public, giving a truly close-up view of the mighty delta’s inner workings and the work involved to maintain this British aviation and Cold War icon.

Each Vulcan VIP Visit will last approximately three hours and must be booked in advance. All VIP Visitors must be over-16 and must bring identification (passport and/or driving licence) with them.

The maximum number of visitors within each visit will be eight and during the tour you will be in a group of four.

This will allow you to sit in both the pilot seats and the rear crew seats during the cockpit tour. Rotating during the visit between seats, the cockpit tour will be for 30 minutes, giving you 15 minutes in the front and 15 minutes in a rear seat.

Depending on serviceability and engineering activities the aircraft may be 'live' with ground power and engineering activities within the workshop and hangar will vary.

The Vulcan VIP Visit will start with a welcome presentation which will include tea, coffee and biscuits for 30 minutes and then into the tour.

Afterwards a selection of Vulcan souvenirs will be available to buy as a memento of your time with us.