A VINTAGE Tiger Moth aircraft landed at Aston Down airfield near Stroud this week, 80 years after it first landed there.

The aircraft landed at the site on Thursday (August 6), which is the 80th anniversary of when, during World War II, this actual aircraft was delivered to its operational RAF unit at Aston Down from the Morris Motors Cowley where it was made.

Watch the aircraft on its 80th anniversary visit to Aston Down:

Two former Concorde flight crew made the special anniversary flight from Berkshire.

Chris Cooper of the Cotswold Gliding Club said: "We had a few challenges with a persistent belt of rain which delayed the historic flight until 3.15pm.

"But it all went well, with a perfect landing at Aston Down by Peter Sinclair, a retired Concorde pilot, and Trevor Norcott, a former Concorde flight engineer."

Trevor Norcott said that although the aircraft are completely different, as the Concorde is a bit faster than the Tiger Moth, the latter is just as challenging to fly as the former.

Eighty years ago on August 6, at the height of the Battle of Britain, the brand new Tiger Moth was flown from the Morris Motors factory in Oxford, where it was made under licence, to RAF Aston Down.

Pilots trained on Tiger Moths for about 19 hours before they progressed to flying Spitfires and Hurricanes.

On its latest journey it was flown from White Waltham airfield in Berkshire, where it is owned by a syndicate of seven former Concorde flight crew, to Aston Down airfield the home of Cotswold Gliding Club.

“It was a great sight to both see and hear the aircraft return home," said Chris Cooper of the Cotswold Gliding Club.

"The owners must be congratulated on keeping it in tip top condition. 

"Several members of Cotswold Gliding Club were there to make both it and the two pilots welcome.”