A WOOLSTON man, who turned his passion for radio-controlled aircraft into a family affair, is bringing the largest model of a Vulcan bomber in Europe to Haydock Park.

The Vulcan was used by the RAF between 1956 and 1984, and formed the backbone of Britain’s airborne nuclear deterrent during the Cold War. It also played a vital role in Operation Black Buck, which was the longest bombing raid in history at that time, during the Falklands War in 1982.

The last airworthy Vulcan XH558 was grounded in autumn 2015 but Dave Johnson spent four years painstakingly creating a fifth scale model of the bomber out of balsam and plywood. The model has a 20ft wingspan and can fly at 150mph.

Dave, chairman of the Large Model Association, said: “It’s the largest model in Europe and it will be the first time it has been seen in this area. We don’t do air shows in the north west unfortunately because there are no airfields anymore.”

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Dave, of Weir Lane, is particularly pleased to be displaying his four-jet engine in the region as Vulcans were made nearby at Woodford Aerodrome in Stockport. Enthusiasts can also meet former RAF pilot Martin Withers who was involved with the Black Buck raid over the Falkland Isles and continued his flying career as a Vulcan display pilot.

Dave added: “He did fly the real Vulcan until last year. There’s none in the world left flying now apart from this model. When I was flying my Vulcan he was in the crowd last year. We got talking and he took on the job of president of our association.

“When I’m flying he’ll do the commentary. It’s great to have him on board. He tends to do events at the bomber airfields in Lincolnshire but he’s never been over to this side of the country to do a talk.”

Around 60 large models of planes from the First and Second World Wars through to the modern jet age will be on display for a static show at Haydock Park next Sunday, March 19.

Dave, who has been chairman of the Large Model Association for 14 years, said: “We’re hoping it will put model aeroplanes in a good light because all you hear lately is about these drones crashing into planes. These plonkers give our hobby a bad name.

“If it works out right we’ll definitely do more in this area. When you tell most people about model aircraft they think they’re piddling little things. They’re absolutely amazed when they see what we’ve got. You can sit in some of them.”

Dave, who is semi-retired, has more than 40 large models in his collection, many of which have been used in TV shows and films. They are kept in six garages that are also used for his day job as a washing machine engineer.

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Dave’s model of a B-17 bomber, which was based at RAF Burtonwood, was used in Memphis Belle.

The 68-year-old said: “You wouldn’t know it but it was all done with models. They slowed the film down and put noises in the background to make it more realistic.”

Dave’s Vulcan has been featured on The One Show and he has had enquiries from TV and film producers. His sons Andrew and Christopher and grandson Adam, 17, are also enthusiasts. He taught Andrew to fly models at Victoria Park and he enlisted Christopher to help build the Vulcan Meanwhile, Dave’s wife Pam has got used to the likes of the Vulcan sitting on the driveway next to the family car.

He added: “It’s always been a family do really. We’ve planned our holidays around air shows over the years.”

Every winter Dave works on new models and maintains older ones in preparation for the 20 shows he exhibits at every summer.

“The latest one I’ve done is a big Red Arrows’ Hawk which is beautiful,” said Dave, who used to fly on the disused runways at Burtonwood.

Dave, who is also a member of Warrington Model Club, said it took five years to master radio-controlled flying, working his way up in confidence to the bigger models.

He added: “They’ve got the same control boxes basically. Each one is slightly different just like driving a different car is. But once you’ve mastered one you’ve mastered flying. A lot of the youngsters we teach fly on computers initially and they’re brilliant from the word go. When I started doing it there were no computers to learn on. You had to go out and learn by crashing them in the park.

“My worst crash was on the front page of the Warrington Guardian many years ago. I built this four engine bomber when I was in charge of Warrington Model Club and photographer Mike Boden turned up to see it go on its first flight at Gateworth Farm in Sankey Bridges.

“It crashed spectacularly and I remember Mike getting a sequence of all the bits scattering down the runway.

“You learn from things like that. It was a real disaster because I had a lot of money tied up in it.”

Dave’s impressive models are often mistaken for the real thing too.

He said: “They have proper jet engines and run on jet fuel so when they’re flying they’re just the same. I’ve also just been two gallons of the actual paint that was used on the real Vulcan that did the Falklands raid. So over winter we’re going to repaint it and make it even more authentic.”

Haydock Model Show is at Haydock Park in Warrington Road next Sunday, March 19, from 10am. Tickets are £5 and under 16s get in free. The event is also raising money for the North West Air Ambulance charity. Visit largemodelassociation.com for more information