THOUSANDS of people descended on RAF Fairford this week, hoping to catch a once-in-a-lifetime glimpse of the President of the USA.

Tonight plane spotters, excited residents and visitors from all over the country gathered outside the airbase on Whelford Road to see the President arrive at the end of the NATO summit.

Air Force One had arrived in Fairford last Wednesday ahead of the summit which took place in Newport at the end of this week.

Tonight, people excitedly waited for hours for President Obama to arrive, unaware at first that he had taken an impromptu visit to Stonehenge.

Residents of Malmesbury who had expected him to fly over the town on his way back to Fairford had planned to gather in the Abbey graveyard with glowsticks and LED lights to wave goodbye.

But the President did eventually arrive at the Fairford base at about 8pm, greeted with cheers from the waiting crowd.

Karen Fenton left her home in Blackpool at 4am today to get to Fairford for Obama'a arrival.

"It's very exciting," she said. "My husband is very into military planes but as soon as he said the President and Air Force One, I wanted to come too!"

Janet Long lives in Newport, close to where Obama was staying in Celtic Manor. But she said she came to Fairford to see the action up close, as security was so overwhelmingly tight in the Welsh city.

"I love aeroplanes," said Janet. "We would not be able to see Obama in Newport. The hotel had an eight mile steel fence circle around it. I was told they had 20,000 police officers there as well.

"It was nice to see Air Force One on Wednesday. Using my sons zoom lens we saw him walk down the steps."

The NATO summit saw world leaders fly into the UK to attend the event, making it the largest gathering of international leaders seen in Britain.

Photos of Obama leaving RAF Fairford to come.