A race against time to save a rare first world war hangar roof has failed after demolition began on the building yesterday. The fate of the unusual relic came into question when the North Walsham garage it was on became unsafe after high winds.

A race against time to save a rare first world war hangar roof has failed after demolition began on the building yesterday.

The fate of the unusual relic came into question when the North Walsham garage it was on became unsafe after high winds.

Airfield enthusiasts have spent the last few months searching for ways to rescue the beams.

But funding and space problems meant they had to give up and focus on saving a small piece.

The roof used to be part of RAF Bacton, a night-time airstrip housing biplanes between 1915 and 1918 and later used to top the Norwich Road garage.

STS Holburn agreed to donate the roof to anyone who could safely remove it.

Several volunteers came from across the country to find a way to save the whole thing. Instead they managed to find the money to salvage a few metres, which they plan on donating to museums across the region.

Yet airfield fans still held out hope a saviour would step forward at the last minute and agree to fund the rescue mission.

But as the early morning demolition work began on the garage it became clear that a part of aviation history was about to disappear and there was nothing they could do about it.