Pictures of taxi run of Southend Airport's RAF Avro Vulcan

The Avro Vulcan - which took up permanent residency at the airport in 1984 – was on the runway to mark the anniversary of 617 Squadron’s daring Dambusters raid.

The aircraft, lovingly cared for by the Vulcan Restoration Trust, took part in a special Twilight Taxi Run event to commemorate 80 years since the Dambusters’ Second World War raid.

This was an attack on German dams carried out on the night of May 16 and 17 1943 by 617 Squadron RAF Bomber Command, later called the Dambusters.

A picture of the Vulcan aircraft about to take flight at Southend Airport (Image: Ron Willard)

For the Southend Airport event, an initial trial run down the airport runway took place last weekend, and was hailed a huge success.

The Vulcan aircraft at Southend Airport with parachute deployed (Image: Kenneth Campbell)

In a video on Facebook, the trust teased a test-run of the jet bombing down the tarmac.

Crowds behind a fence watching the Vulcan taxi run (Image: Kenneth Campbell)

Two runs were conducted with the second at high-speed.

Picture of the Vulcan aircraft at Southend Airport as it takes part in a taxi run (Image: Simon Murdoch)

Echo camera club members have been sharing their fantastic pictures of the event. 

Picture of the Vulcan aircraft at sunset in Southend (Image: Charlie Brooks)

The XL426, built by British aircraft manufacturer Avro, has strong links with the Dam Busters its sister plane, the Lancaster, was used on the raid and served the 617 Squadron in the 1960s, 70s and 80s.