Regatta bosses have shot down hopes of seeing the world's last flying V bomber in the skies above Dartmouth this summer.

Nobody has stepped up to say they are prepared to come up with the £14,000 needed to pay for a fly-past by the iconic delta winged Avro Vulcan aircraft.

So the town will get a display by the more modern twin-engined RAF Typhoon multi-role combat jet instead – which is also cheaper to book in.

The Dartmouth regatta committee decided to abandon moves to include the Vulcan in its air displays over the regatta week – which includes a display by the Red Arrow aerobatics team, said regatta vice chairman Hilary Bastone.

Some committee members wanted to see the proposals dropped because they want the town's royal regatta emphasis to be on the water events and not the air displays.

But Mr Bastone said: 'The reason why it won't be coming is we decided that we could not afford it this year.

'If we had looked at it earlier in the day we may have been able to drop something else. It's in the melting pot for next year.'

He said that next month's regatta spectacle includes helicopter displays, The Blades aerobatics show, the famous Red Arrows display and the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight.

'That really is plenty,' he said. 'We weren't going to have the Typhoon but as we didn't go for the Vulcan we slotted in the Typhoon – which is not anywhere near as expensive as the Vulcan.'

Vulcan bombers were the front line aircraft in Britain's nuclear strike force throughout the height of the Cold War in the 50s and 60s.

It only actually went to war when it took part in a world record-breaking 8,000-mile round trip mission to bomb the Port Stanley airstrip during the 1982 Falklands conflict.

The last flying Vulcan has had £7m spent on it to get it back in the skies but because of the cost of replacement parts could be grounded at the end of this or next year.

l See letters, page 10.