Avro Heritage Museum (avroheritagemuseum.co.uk), located on the old Woodford Airfield in Cheshire, recently unveiled its largest renovation project — the Avro Vulcan XM603 aircraft.

With the help of volunteers and donations, including paint donated by Manchester-based HMG Paints (www.hmgpaint.com), the lengthy project has resulted in the Vulcan sporting the same iconic livery as when it was first manufactured.

The XM603 returned to its birthplace and became a static display at the former BAE Systems site in 1982.

HMG Paints manufactured and supplied a ‘coatings system’ to restore the XM603 to its November 1963 livery, when it first left the main hangar at Woodford.

The company’s sales representative, Steve Rawson, said: “We were delighted to be part of such an exciting project, and we have enjoyed the journey with the volunteers, who have done a fantastic job of renovating the aircraft in our paint.”

The museum, which opened last autumn, preserves the heritage of Avro aircraft development from 1907 to 2011, including such iconic aircraft as the Avro 504, the Lancaster, the Shackleton and the Vulcan.

During the Cold War, the Vulcan played a major role as part of the UK’s nuclear deterrent force. It is also famous for the raid on Stanley Airfield during the Falklands War.