A NUCLEAR bomber has arrived in York, following more than a decade of negotiation.

The Mirage IV was picked up on Monday, March 27, at Chateaudun Air Base in France and took almost four days to travel to the Yorkshire Air Museum in Elvington, where it arrived at 7pm on Thursday.

The aircraft was Western Europe’s fastest military jet, capable of sustained speeds of Mach 2.2 (1,400 mph) and was unloaded on Friday morning, before reconstruction starts tomorrow.

York Press:

Ian Reed, director of the memorial museum said: “The last two weeks have gone by so fast, with very early mornings and a lot of pressure.

“It’s a tremendous relief to get it here, we’ve been talking about this for for 12 years and sometimes we thought it would never happen and then a spark might reignite and someone high up would say yes, and give us more hope.

“It’s the biggest thing we’ve ever brought to the museum.

“There aren’t many museums left in Britain that do things like this any more, it was a huge logistical operation with a lot of elements to it.”

Due to the huge size of the aircraft, just loading the plane onto its transport took more than ten hours. Two trucks of support equipment were filled, along with two large trailers - one for the fuselage of the Mirage, and another for its wings and tail.

Mr Reed said the Mirage’s journey from France went relatively smoothly, but there were some delays as the convoy was slowed up by a crash on the M1, and HGV drivers’ regulations which delayed the arrival by several hours.

However, thanks to an early start by crews from the museum on Friday, the aircraft was unloaded from 6am to allow the French drivers to head back to Portsmouth for their ferry, the project is now once more ahead of schedule.

He said: “The next stage starts on Sunday.

“The French team arrive in Hull on Sunday, come straight here and start, and will be here for five days.

“They won’t leave until it’s finished.

“We might even start to put the wings on on Sunday.”

Thousands of people around the world followed the Mirage’s journey via social media and on the museum’s website, and Mr Reed said the donation was a huge honour for the museum.

He said: “There aren’t many of these aircraft left in the world, this is in the best condition of them all, and we’ve got it forever.

“The fact they have given Britain their best example of their best aircraft is quite a significant honour.

“I can’t fault all the teams, especially the French team who helped us.

“They have all been very positive, overwhelmingly helpful.”

To keep track of the rebuild, go to mirage.yorkshireairmuseum.org or search Twitter for #mirage2elvington