Nimrod group hopes plane can fly as airport shuts

Volunteers behind the preservation of a historic Nimrod aircraft hope it can be flown out of Coventry Airport when it leaves the West Midlands after 15 years.

Nimrod Preservation Group XV232 is setting up the operation because the airport will close in June, and the aircraft will need to reach its new base in Kent.

This weekend, the plane will be towed from its position on grass to a hangar or hard-standing, in the first stage of its removal, using specialist equipment from Birmingham Airport.

Graham Morgan, chair of the preservation group, said one of three options they are looking at was a "one-off ferry flight to Manston International Airport".

''We're currently reviewing three possible options for the future of our historic aircraft," he said.

The other two are "road transport to RAF Manston History Museum, or scrapping, if no other option proves viable'', Morgan explained.

The need to move the aircraft was confirmed in December, when the closure of Coventry airport was announced.

Owners, the Rigby Group, said the ceasing of runway operations at the Baginton site would enable the next phase of building work to begin on Greenpower Park, the location of a proposed battery gigafactory.

Mr Morgan explained that the cost of moving the Nimrod with by air or land won't be cheap.

"Dismantling and the road move could cost us up to £250,000, with the insurance and the work that is required on [the plane], your looking around £100,000,'' he said.

But time is running out to get the plane back in the air as the insurance at Coventry airport will expire in June.

After the aircraft has been towed off the grass this weekend, volunteers will then assess what work needs to be done on it and decide on its future.

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