Lancaster bomber: Excitement as legendary WW2 aircraft flies over Peak District sites

It was also spotted at other popular Peak District landmarks such as Curbar Edge.

The aircraft is run by the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, based at RAF Coningsby.

It was part of huge circular route taken by the veteran aircraft, which took it as far south as London, and as far north as Hull.

After flying south of Chesterfield, it headed north close to Bakewell, to Hope, and over Bamford. The Lancaster then headed north over the Ladybower reservoir, just before 12.45pm. and then on past the Derwent reservoir, continuing its way north.

It could also be seen over the Woodhead Pass a few minutes later.

The Peak District reservoirs are famously linked to the famous World War Two Dambusters raids, where Lancaster crews practiced their flying over the Derwent dam during their preparations.

There was a Dambusters museum based at the site for many years. However it was closed by Severn Trent Water for safety reasons.

The Dambusters raid was a famous RAF raid carried out in May 1943.

The plan was to use a specially designed ‘bouncing bomb’ that could be dropped from a modified Lancaster bomber and would bounce on the water before sinking at the base of German dams, exploding underwater and causing enough of a shockwave to blow a hole in the dam. They had to bounce to avoid torpedo nets placed under the water by the Nazis.

The water would then flood the industrial Ruhr valley.

Wing Commander Guy Gibson led 617 Squadron on the famous bombing mission, which was made into a film in the 1950s starring Richard Todd, who visited the previous Derwent museum in 2002, before it was closed.

The raids targeted the Möhne, Eder and Sorpe dams. Only the Sorpe dam remained intact after the raids.

In all, 133 aircrew in 19 Lancasters took off to bomb the dams. Of those, 53 men were killed and three became prisoners of war.