Quality film with detailed interviews recounting this wonderful Aircraft. No fluffy "History Channel" content....This film is definately one for the aviation enthusiast
Very much enjoyed this documentary. My father was involved in the development of the Buccaneer in the 1960s, liaising with Brough as a RN engineer. He was Commander (E) at Lossiemouth in the late 60s. He always had tremendous admiration for the Buccaneer. As I type this, I'm looking at a very tarnished silver plated Buccaneer presented to him in 1967 - I'm going to give it a damn good polish! Thank you for some happy memories.
I was at Bae Systems Brough on the day that the RAF paid homage to where the Buccaneers had been made, at the end of their service, with a large diamond formation. The entire factory was allowed to go out to watch the spectacle. One of the factory sheds was behind us and sheltered from view was the River Humber and Lincolnshire. Myself and a friend of mine are ex RAF and we were both expecting the RAF pilots to scare the life out of everyone in one way or another. Sure enough just as the diamond formation had passed our front two Buccaneers coming from behind us skimmed the roof of the shed at high speed. Everyone hit the deck but my friend and I were still standing. Even so it caused a chill to run up my spine. Brilliant.
Inside bombs - machined from solids - air brakes -retractable refuelling nozzle - enhanced lift technology on wings and tailplane ... years ahead of its time in my view.... Beautiful Aircraft..
Sure was, spent a few good years on the Bucc whilst in the RAF, But No retractable in flight refuel probe / Nozzle though, It was fitted on the UK based kite's, & not on the ones, I was on XV & 16 son's based at Laarbruch then West Germany...
I was standing on the flight deck while we were in war games with the British attacked I remember looking down into the two man cockpit as they flew about 50 feet over the water, very fine pilots.
I remember a similar experience during Navy days at Portsmouth, we were on the Sheffield i think and the announcer said a sea harrier was going to do a pass, I was looking everywhere but couldn't see it, in the end I looked down and there it was! and yup i was looking down into the cockpit as the pilot carried out a high speed pass. It was pretty hard to believe, even to this day.
I remember walking in the hills of snowdonia. I looked down and saw a buccaneer following the terrain along a valley below me. That was the first time I had looked down on an aircraft in flight. Quite stunning.
Excellent documentary. A shame it doesn't cover the Buccs sold to the SA Air force. Whilst controversial, at the Battle of Cassinga, a Bucc layed in to, destroyed & continued to suppress a convoy of tanks etc that were advancing on a group of evacuees, that were awaiting helicopter rescue. The Bucc, whilst taking out a lot of ground targets, came under repeated heavy fire. Upon inspection, it had taken 17-19 direct hits! It took them on the chin and still made it back to base safely!
Always loved this marvelous aircraft especially in Royal Navy service of course, as a young lad in the 1960s to the 70s it was the jet I dreamed of roaring off of HMS Victorious, Hermes or Eagle. Alas I never became a pilot but I served. : ) RN 1978-1986
Most aircraft that feature in these types of aviation history videos are usually billed as the 'first' of something, or the fastest, or the greatest or the highest or the...something outstanding. The thing about the buccaneer is that it wasn't the first or the fastest or the greatest anything at all.... it was just very good at everything it did and it did it all for an impressively long time. It was an unglamorous workhorse that paid for itself many many times over and in my book that makes it a great aircraft.
When i was a young soldier in the German Air Force in 1978 a few Buccaneers come to visit our Fliegerhorst. We made jokes about the airplane. Our Pilots flew F 104 Starfighter! The best looking and incredibly performing aircraft! When our guests left we all gathered around to farewell our friends. The Buccaneers left, only to come back a few Minutes later to "attack" our Fliegerhorst. We stood there and dropped our jaws. They where so fast and so low we couldn't believe our eyes! We looked at each other unable to say something. We never made a joke again about this fantastic aircraft.
"No fluffy 'History Channel' content". Thank you! This business of turning aviation films into rock video wannabes has been getting on my nerves for years.
One of the finest aircraft I ever had the pleasure and honour to work on, it is such a pity the aircraft industry in the United Kingdom died as the aircraft it produced were some of the finest ever made, but as this film demonstrates the development and introduction to service took far to long, and that in turn lead to the military turning to other countries for aircraft, if only we hadn’t insisted on having an aircraft perfect before releasing it to service, perhaps we would still have large scale aircraft industry, instead we rely on collaborative manufacture or overseas manufactured aircraft. RIP United Kingdom aircraft manufacture. I don’t think that anyone has produced an aircraft that could match the Buc for its TFR capability, and that is another story. The Buccaneers being transferred to the RAF was absolutely imperative, just because the government was so short sighted and cancelled the TSR-2, a decision that was also, in my opinion, influenced by the USA and the Common Market (as it was then), just the first in a long line of decisions forced upon the 🇬🇧 by the E.U, when, or if we eventually leave the EU we might, I say might get back to the old days of building and buying British aircraft, oh, forgot, we will probably go cap in hand to the USA, just because of the “special relationship “, and at the moment I don’t see a viable alternative, even the typhoon, as good as it is, can’t cover all the bases, the Lightning 2 is taking far to long to enter service and can’t do the job it is supposed to, we would be better of with Falcons and Hornets, throw in some A-10s (yes I know they are out of service but there are plenty out in the desert) and finally a few B1B’s just for luck, easy this procurement lark, don’t need pen pushers in Whitehall, oh and our helicopter fleet and airlift capability is fine, for now at least. Have fun ripping my comments to shreds, I love a good debate/arguments, bring it on!
Droning on about the TSR2 is usually done by right-wing types who don't like the Labour party and prefer the party that appeased Hitler. The real disaster in British aircraft procurement was the Conservative 1957 Defence White paper that cancelled lots of promising aircraft, leaving just the TSR2 for the RAF, which was then loaded with bureaucratic problems by the Conservative government up to 1964. Many say that the TSR2 was compensation for the air force losing the strategic deterrent role to the navy. The Buccaneer should have been developed from the outset for the RAF as well as the navy.
great video, actual interviews with the men who built and operated the machine in question. You cannot possibly get any more informed insight than that. Also I have always had a soft spot for the buccaneer
Born in RNH Gibraltar, one of my earliest memories is these flying over our house in Gib. Liked them so much my Dad bought me a print of one when I was 3 which I still have hanging in my study. Awesome machines.
I had an airfix scale model Buccaneer when I was a kid. My dad helped me put it together. I loved that thing. It even had the rotating bomb bay. I love those big hefty 'shoulder' jet air intakes, and I always imagined it transforming into a Gundam .
The Buccaneer flew so low that during Red Flag exercises the fighters had to look for dust trails to find them. Also they could fly faster fully loaded at low level than the Mach 2 Strike Aircraft.
Yes, and with its area rule and boundary layer it could fly under full control incredibly low and slow. I watched one flying down a valley near where my dad lived in Wales, and I could barely believe just how slowly it was flying. A fast jet going that slow? Any other aircraft would have simply fallen out of the sky!
They had to ascend from 10 feet to 20 feet to stop the dust trails.. it was also said would take 4 seconds to get a missile lock on a Buccaneers but a 5 seconds the American fighter would hit the ground
I do know there was a argument during a red flag exercise because the observer said the buccaneers had not PULLED UP to open the bombay doors! (rotary bombay, no doors)!
By all accounts this is one of those special aircraft that delivers what it looks like it would deliver. A very robust jet that can fly steady as a rock straight and true even a zero feet.
Having worked on both the Buccaneer & Phantom aircraft at Brough & H.O.S.M. great film, agree with Richard Smith's comments it would have been a lot better in the original 4.3 format. Have experienced seeing the Buccaneer fly at low level between the Hangers at H.O.S.M. working as ground crew in the 70's a great thrill to see again.
I still remember when I was young living in South Cornwall and saw a couple of Buccaneers flying down to bomb the Torrey Canyon stuck on the rocks at Lands End ( a failure as the crude didn't burn) but i think the only operation they flew for the British forces. The South Africans used them a lot in the bush war, to great effect. A super achievement for British engineering.
You ask kids today and they have no idea what a slide rule is. When I did my A levels in 1973, the slide rule was all we used for mathematics and physics.
If the slide rule was that great, then those same people would not have invented calculators. Regardless of what you use, you still need the same Math knowledge.
XK486 crashed at Low Hunsley Farm, Little Weighton, John Joyce an observer died in the first test flight, two more died with Sea trials on an aircraft carrier (including RN Pilot), two more died at Holme on Spalding Moor where the aircraft was being tested from. This was between 1959-1963
I really do enjoy all things military aviation, especially jets. But I do find this type of documentary with the facts and specific interview type things of people that don’t throw any bullshit in the mix and tell the good and bad the most interesting. If you have access to any more of these types of films or even just audio of different aircraft and wouldn’t mind sharing that would be something to look forward to!
This was when we, GB, were still building fantastic aircraft, better than anyone else at the time... I was just over a year old when his first flew....
The 'Bucc' was a fearsome beast,I remember standing near the end of the runway at RAF Honington ( at Bulk Fuel Inst5A/B) watching them take off and you could literally feel your bones shaking! always made me feel proud to be Air Force!When they turned to for Gulf One it was like watching your Grandad re activated,but as always they saw the job done.A wonderful Aircraft,I never heard an Aircrew Officer moan about them!
The bones shaking part of the deal was due to those earlier jet engines. For whatever reason they are far louder than modern fighter engines. I don't understand why exactly as they are both jet engines that have no bypass at all unlike commercial engines. Commercial jet engines have become increasingly quieter as they have gone along as they have discovered bypass technology. Today's ultra high bypass engines are amazingly quiet. Could you imagine how loud the engines from the A380 or other huge twins like the 777 would be if they weren't bypass engines? Jeez they wouldn't just shake your bones, they would shatter them! But even fighters engines today are far quieter. The loudest aircraft in the American Navy is the A6, now only around in its electronic warfare version. This was an aircraft that dates roughly to the same time as the buccaneers. The A6 was far louder on takeoff than any of the more recent aircraft like the F/A 18 Super Hornets, louder by a long ways I might add. Again I don't understand why. Neither engine features by pass technology, no fighter jet does for that matter, so one would think, if anything, the Hornets engines would be quite a bit louder as they are far more powerful even without counting the temp thrust gain when in afterburner. But nope it's the older less powerful A6 engines. They are so loud that with some people if they are standing too close the sound actually makes them nauseous like it they were suddenly motion sick. I would like to see a video on exactly why those engines of old are so loud. I know why they smoke and newer ones dont, cause the newer engines burn the fuel much more efficiently,
I like how cool and understated the pilot is "[landing on a carrier] is not at all as difficult as it might look". Contrast that with any other documentary on YT, with its obligatory fawning comments, that shows naval aviation.
I have lost count of the number of times I was on the receiving end of "attacks" from these guys when I was in the RN. Many a time I have stood on a bridge wing and looked down into the cockpit of one of these monsters flown by some of the best pilots ever. I have seen these pull up to pass over the focsle of a frigate ffs!!
Us RAF ground crew loved them too! Absolutely brilliant aircraft, I saw one today, not airworthy but at Newark Air Museum nr the former RAF Swinderby. The best Fleet Air Arm cast off's the RAF ever got.
I'm quite certain that a new tranche of Buccaneer airframes, equipped with modern engines, avionics & weapon systems and working in the low level attack role, would still give any Air Defence System a good eye watering kick in the bollocks.
sorry to be offtopic but does any of you know a tool to log back into an Instagram account?? I was stupid lost my login password. I would appreciate any help you can give me!
@Grey Roger I really appreciate your reply. I got to the site through google and I'm in the hacking process atm. Seems to take quite some time so I will get back to you later when my account password hopefully is recovered.
The tail is not only the airbrake - the aircraft was intentionally designed to be longer than the length that would fit on the carrier flight deck lifts. However by opening the airbrake and rotating the hinged nos (with the radar) 180 degrees the aircraft was short enough to meet the specified length.
"Never fired a shot in anger." Really? Do these people ever check their facts? The Buccaneers of the South African Air Force were pretty much constantly in action during the Border War.
Thanks for the upload. I had this film on VHS but it went missing during a house move. Glorious to see it again. Such a pity the RAF big wigs resented the Bucc for being a Navy aeroplane. It could have been upgraded and kept effective well through the 90s.
I got this as an airfix model sent to me when i was a kid. Didnt like it much then as it wasnt supersonic. Now i get it! Typical elegant, understated and effective brit design. If you guys werent so short sighted you'd still be sat with us now. At the top of the pack! You know what. There should be more british american projects 50/50 down the middle. cos at the moment. Your talents are being wasted my friends. An affectionate 'yank'!
I'm sorry to say it but the U. S has often put a stop to the british developing their own military projects in favour of buying theirs. Which put an end to most of their military aviation industry. I think they still do engines, radar and ejection seats. But as far as a full aircraft. The last of a long line I think was the harrier.
Cool plane! .. legend... I seen Buccaneer planes on HMS Eagle when it visited NZ in the early 70s..... I been interested ever since.. thanks from NZ ✈️👍🇳🇿
In mid 1977 I was an RN POAF (O) on 809 RN Squadron based at RAF Honington. It was a Saturday, and we were informed via telecon from ATC that two RAF Jaguars were diverting into Honington, it being a Saturday there were no RAF ground crew available to ‘see them in’. We were of course were more than happy to comply, whilst assisting the lead Jag pilot to unstrap and make his seat safe, I mentioned that his Jag looked like a high performance sports car compared to our ageing Buccs on the flight line. His response was (with a nod towards our Buccs) 'If I had to go to war, I'd prefer to go in one of those than one of these!' Says it all really doesn't it?
Worked on them '89 to '92. Best low flying aircraft the UK has ever produced. Should have fitted it with the Tornado avionics (like they did at Boscombe Down during Tornado development) and kept it in service. Bomb proof airframe. Not unsurprising the Tornado couldn't carry out the same mission profiles when it took over maritime ops after the Bucc was retired.
I agree I thought it was much smaller until I saw the one at Newark Air Museum. The other aircraft that is bigger than it seems is the Gannet. At the other extreme the Folland Gnat looks as though you can put it in your pocket. Newark had the Gnat under the wing of a Gannet - it fitted with plaenty of room to spare !
Very interesting to listen to the test pilots' stories, but when the film gets to 13:50 or so and the first Buc' is lined up on the carrier (Ark Royal?) for its first launch, and then you see how short the lanuch pad is... jeepers. Standing start to ~100kt or so in about the length of a football pitch, in a development ship that's never done this before. "All set? Jolly good, off you go then."
The nose folded back and the split tail extension folded to allow the aircraft to be short enough to fit on the aircraft carrier lifts. The split tail was also the air brake. They had an interesting discussion with the procurement people as it was longer than specified unless the nose and tail extension were folded.
The pilots used to say, that the only replacement for the Buccaneer...was another Buccaneer! Check out footage of some of the early 'red flag' excersises in the US!
Dear god, I love this plane, was brought up with it, pops was FAA for 24.5 years so it was there when I was born,and was there all through my youth, some of the tales he told I belive are still classified?
Wonderful aircraft. The designers apparently didn't do anything groundbreaking with the structural airframe in order to make it more resistant to the tremendous stresses of low altitude flight but applied known design principles to enable the stresses to be spread throughout the aircraft frame and not too greatly in any single spot. The Buccaneer would fly low altitude sorties as a matter of course, for its operational lifetime, that would have simply trashed other aircraft in a fraction of the time. Tremendous aircraft and greatly underestimated.
Sorry, but they did mess up for the Mk2 when they put the bigger wing on the airframe without any other modifications which led to fatigue failure and the loss of aircraft and their crews.
10:44 By comparing the lateral position of the "face curtain" overhead ejection "handle" between the Pilot and the backseater, you can see the backseaters seat is laterally offset to starboard compared to the pilot. I've heard "the Buc's backseater's view is a bunch of the pilots right shoulder."lol Great videoi.
Further to a previous comment an international interceptor test was arranged wherebye a Concorde would fly over at full speed while interceptors from NATO including the US would after taking off cold. Attempt to catch her. Not only was the Lightning the only one that could catch her, it also overtook it drawing considerably applause from the US observers.
Looking at the Buccaneer I would think that a lot of people would be unaware that it was designed to deliver the ultimate weapon, and on knowing this it suddenly takes on a brooding malign character.
It originated as the NA 39 designed as a carrier-borne attack aircraft able to carry a nuclear bomb below radar coverage.hence the rotating bomb bay I remember photographing one at Farnborough in late 58/60 or thereabouts :-)
Who produced this amazing docummentary? Also, who did the music for it? I have to say the tone and style set for this production was wonderful. Thank you very very much for posting it.
My memory of the Buccaneer is sailing a 60 ft yacht across the Minch and being 'attacked' by a pair of Buccaneer's who were flying low enough to lift over the mast of our boat. Pity I did not have a camera handy at the time.
One factual note - the S Mk-50 variants flew combat missions in South-Africa It also had RATO packs, which were thankfully discontinued before I worked on the bucs - HTP is nasty stuff
My dad was one of the chief electricians that worked on these at Brough then when the squadron moved to Honington we moved from Hull to Stanton so my dad could sub-contract to the RAF to maintain them until the end of their stay there. His name was Trevor Isaksen if anyone at Honington knew him?
I have the vid on video tape and it goes into everything from design to service .I must have a hundred or more vsr tapes on various aircraft design and entry into service and I am hoping to transfer everything to DVD .
Yeah that's the catapult wire. Notice at 13:50 they're hooking a wire onto the aircraft, well that wire gets catapulted off the carrier along with the aircraft.
@14:28 catapult launch uses a rope stirrup / sling - jettisoned after take off into the water have often wondered how many they had onboard, or if they had a rating hard a-braiding below deck... #stopgapmeasure !
I think you will find that the splash is a trolley. Launches used to be by hydro-pneumatic systems whereby a steel wire rope dragged a small trolley along the flight deck, with the aircraft towed along behind. With the introduction of steam catapults in the mid 1950s the steel cable was replaced by a shuttle which was attached directly to the aircraft and the deck. By so doing you can transfer more energy to the aircraft and simplify the launch with fewer moving parts.
Aha! I have just been searching the internet...without success..'''steam catapult splash''...Was it recoverable? I was imagining them running out of ''thingys'' to throw in the sea.
Very much enjoyed this documentary. My father was involved in the development of the Buccaneer in the 1960s, liaising with Brough as a RN engineer. He was Commander (E) at Lossiemouth in the late 60s. He always had tremendous admiration for the Buccaneer. As I type this, I'm looking at a very tarnished silver plated Buccaneer presented to him in 1967 - I'm going to give it a damn good polish! Thank you for some happy memories.
I was at Bae Systems Brough on the day that the RAF paid homage to where the Buccaneers had been made, at the end of their service, with a large diamond formation. The entire factory was allowed to go out to watch the spectacle. One of the factory sheds was behind us and sheltered from view was the River Humber and Lincolnshire. Myself and a friend of mine are ex RAF and we were both expecting the RAF pilots to scare the life out of everyone in one way or another. Sure enough just as the diamond formation had passed our front two Buccaneers coming from behind us skimmed the roof of the shed at high speed. Everyone hit the deck but my friend and I were still standing. Even so it caused a chill to run up my spine. Brilliant.
Inside bombs - machined from solids - air brakes -retractable refuelling nozzle - enhanced lift technology on wings and tailplane ... years ahead of its time in my view.... Beautiful Aircraft..
Sure was,
spent a few good years on the Bucc whilst in the RAF, But No retractable in flight refuel probe / Nozzle though, It was fitted on the UK based kite's, & not on the ones, I was on XV & 16 son's based at Laarbruch then West Germany...
xvlaarbruch .. When were you at Laarbruch. I was there with the Royal Engineers.
I was standing on the flight deck while we were in war games with the British attacked I remember looking down into the two man cockpit as they flew about 50 feet over the water, very fine pilots.
the only thing that defined how low a buccaneer went was the pilots skill and the size of his balls.
I remember a similar experience during Navy days at Portsmouth, we were on the Sheffield i think and the announcer said a sea harrier was going to do a pass, I was looking everywhere but couldn't see it, in the end I looked down and there it was! and yup i was looking down into the cockpit as the pilot carried out a high speed pass. It was pretty hard to believe, even to this day.
I remember walking in the hills of snowdonia. I looked down and saw a buccaneer following the terrain along a valley below me. That was the first time I had looked down on an aircraft in flight. Quite stunning.
I was ships company,Ark Royal 1975 - 77 these used to land on the roof. Even as a stoker I fell in love with these and Phantoms
Excellent documentary. A shame it doesn't cover the Buccs sold to the SA Air force.
Whilst controversial, at the Battle of Cassinga, a Bucc layed in to, destroyed & continued to suppress a convoy of tanks etc that were advancing on a group of evacuees, that were awaiting helicopter rescue. The Bucc, whilst taking out a lot of ground targets, came under repeated heavy fire. Upon inspection, it had taken 17-19 direct hits! It took them on the chin and still made it back to base safely!
They were awesome there.
Always loved this marvelous aircraft especially in Royal Navy service of course, as a young lad in the 1960s to the 70s it was the jet I dreamed of roaring off of HMS Victorious, Hermes or Eagle. Alas I never became a pilot but I served. : ) RN 1978-1986
Most aircraft that feature in these types of aviation history videos are usually billed as the 'first' of something, or the fastest, or the greatest or the highest or the...something outstanding. The thing about the buccaneer is that it wasn't the first or the fastest or the greatest anything at all.... it was just very good at everything it did and it did it all for an impressively long time. It was an unglamorous workhorse that paid for itself many many times over and in my book that makes it a great aircraft.
SAHBfan, well said
Absolutely spot on.
It was the first military jet to have a proper head up display
@@softdrive9244 ah sadly not, that was the Lightning
@@HardThrasher I don't think so.
When i was a young soldier in the German Air Force in 1978 a few Buccaneers come to visit our Fliegerhorst. We made jokes about the airplane. Our Pilots flew F 104 Starfighter! The best looking and incredibly performing aircraft! When our guests left we all gathered around to farewell our friends. The Buccaneers left, only to come back a few Minutes later to "attack" our Fliegerhorst. We stood there and dropped our jaws. They where so fast and so low we couldn't believe our eyes! We looked at each other unable to say something. We never made a joke again about this fantastic aircraft.
I have read somewhere that this was one of the most cost-effective aircraft of all time. This plane means business.
"No fluffy 'History Channel' content". Thank you! This business of turning aviation films into rock video wannabes has been getting on my nerves for years.
thank youspottydog
One of the finest aircraft I ever had the pleasure and honour to work on, it is such a pity the aircraft industry in the United Kingdom died as the aircraft it produced were some of the finest ever made, but as this film demonstrates the development and introduction to service took far to long, and that in turn lead to the military turning to other countries for aircraft, if only we hadn’t insisted on having an aircraft perfect before releasing it to service, perhaps we would still have large scale aircraft industry, instead we rely on collaborative manufacture or overseas manufactured aircraft. RIP United Kingdom aircraft manufacture.
I don’t think that anyone has produced an aircraft that could match the Buc for its TFR capability, and that is another story.
The Buccaneers being transferred to the RAF was absolutely imperative, just because the government was so short sighted and cancelled the TSR-2, a decision that was also, in my opinion, influenced by the USA and the Common Market (as it was then), just the first in a long line of decisions forced upon the 🇬🇧 by the E.U, when, or if we eventually leave the EU we might, I say might get back to the old days of building and buying British aircraft, oh, forgot, we will probably go cap in hand to the USA, just because of the “special relationship “, and at the moment I don’t see a viable alternative, even the typhoon, as good as it is, can’t cover all the bases, the Lightning 2 is taking far to long to enter service and can’t do the job it is supposed to, we would be better of with Falcons and Hornets, throw in some A-10s (yes I know they are out of service but there are plenty out in the desert) and finally a few B1B’s just for luck, easy this procurement lark, don’t need pen pushers in Whitehall, oh and our helicopter fleet and airlift capability is fine, for now at least.
Have fun ripping my comments to shreds, I love a good debate/arguments, bring it on!
Droning on about the TSR2 is usually done by right-wing types who don't like the Labour party and prefer the party that appeased Hitler. The real disaster in British aircraft procurement was the Conservative 1957 Defence White paper that cancelled lots of promising aircraft, leaving just the TSR2 for the RAF, which was then loaded with bureaucratic problems by the Conservative government up to 1964. Many say that the TSR2 was compensation for the air force losing the strategic deterrent role to the navy. The Buccaneer should have been developed from the outset for the RAF as well as the navy.
I just blame politicians, not a particular party or person, just politicians in general.
A fascinating story behind this very interesting airplane. i thoroughly enjoyed this.
great video, actual interviews with the men who built and operated the machine in question. You cannot possibly get any more informed insight than that. Also I have always had a soft spot for the buccaneer
Born in RNH Gibraltar, one of my earliest memories is these flying over our house in Gib. Liked them so much my Dad bought me a print of one when I was 3 which I still have hanging in my study. Awesome machines.
My father worked in the RNH Gib in the late 60's
I had an airfix scale model Buccaneer when I was a kid. My dad helped me put it together. I loved that thing. It even had the rotating bomb bay. I love those big hefty 'shoulder' jet air intakes, and I always imagined it transforming into a Gundam .
Loved watching the Buccs kick ass in the gulf war! What a testiment to a fabulous design.
The Buccaneer flew so low that during Red Flag exercises the fighters had to look for dust trails to find them. Also they could fly faster fully loaded at low level than the Mach 2 Strike Aircraft.
True! Not for nothing were Buccaneer pilots known as "Tree-Dodgers"...
Then the fighters pilots complained so the Buuccs had to fly higher...
Yes, and with its area rule and boundary layer it could fly under full control incredibly low and slow. I watched one flying down a valley near where my dad lived in Wales, and I could barely believe just how slowly it was flying. A fast jet going that slow? Any other aircraft would have simply fallen out of the sky!
They had to ascend from 10 feet to 20 feet to stop the dust trails.. it was also said would take 4 seconds to get a missile lock on a Buccaneers but a 5 seconds the American fighter would hit the ground
I do know there was a argument during a red flag exercise because the observer said the buccaneers had not PULLED UP to open the bombay doors! (rotary bombay, no doors)!
By all accounts this is one of those special aircraft that delivers what it looks like it would deliver. A very robust jet that can fly steady as a rock straight and true even a zero feet.
Last British built bomber... i served as ground crew, on 12 squadron @ RAF Honnington 1975/6 on them..
A strangely beautiful aircraft. I remember seeing them when I was a boy.
Having worked on both the Buccaneer & Phantom aircraft at Brough & H.O.S.M. great film, agree with Richard Smith's comments it would have been a lot better in the original 4.3 format. Have experienced seeing the Buccaneer fly at low level between the Hangers at H.O.S.M. working as ground crew in the 70's a great thrill to see again.
Robert Blackburn was my great great grandfather.
+Joshua Benns Bravo! don't you mean "is"?
Cheers! His company made a great airplane. I wish the company was still around
Cool story bro. Lord Nelson is mine
Cool Story. I'm a descendent of King John.
I served on HMS EAGLE from 1964 to 1968 it was a great aircraft to watch along with the sea vixen.
I still remember when I was young living in South Cornwall and saw a couple of Buccaneers flying down to bomb the Torrey Canyon stuck on the rocks at Lands End ( a failure as the crude didn't burn) but i think the only operation they flew for the British forces.
The South Africans used them a lot in the bush war, to great effect.
A super achievement for British engineering.
They were always send in to bomb tanks or do a low flyover. The enemy hated them and they were build tough.
Designed and flown in the days when real men used slide rules to do dead-hard sums, and smoked pipes!
You ask kids today and they have no idea what a slide rule is. When I did my A levels in 1973, the slide rule was all we used for mathematics and physics.
If the slide rule was that great, then those same people would not have invented calculators. Regardless of what you use, you still need the same Math knowledge.
XK486 crashed at Low Hunsley Farm, Little Weighton, John Joyce an observer died in the first test flight, two more died with Sea trials on an aircraft carrier (including RN Pilot), two more died at Holme on Spalding Moor where the aircraft was being tested from.
This was between 1959-1963
I really do enjoy all things military aviation, especially jets. But I do find this type of documentary with the facts and specific interview type things of people that don’t throw any bullshit in the mix and tell the good and bad the most interesting. If you have access to any more of these types of films or even just audio of different aircraft and wouldn’t mind sharing that would be something to look forward to!
Loved hearing from the men connected with the aircraft, now they'll never die, their words forever in the ether of the internet.
a great shot of the catapult bridal hitting the water at 14:30.
This was when we, GB, were still building fantastic aircraft, better than anyone else at the time... I was just over a year old when his first flew....
Typhoon? Merlin? F-35?
Yeah, the main word in my statement is 'still'... Supermarine Spitfire... Sunderland... I think we're roughly on the same page... ;-)
Er, no, I mean Great Britain as we were called in the 60's...
So good , the RAF used them in 1991 in the Gulf war conflict. Hadn't seen this vid before . Thanks for the upload , great airplane the Bucc
The 'Bucc' was a fearsome beast,I remember standing near the end of the runway at RAF Honington ( at Bulk Fuel Inst5A/B) watching them take off and you could literally feel your bones shaking! always made me feel proud to be Air Force!When they turned to for Gulf One it was like watching your Grandad re activated,but as always they saw the job done.A wonderful Aircraft,I never heard an Aircrew Officer moan about them!
The bones shaking part of the deal was due to those earlier jet engines. For whatever reason they are far louder than modern fighter engines. I don't understand why exactly as they are both jet engines that have no bypass at all unlike commercial engines. Commercial jet engines have become increasingly quieter as they have gone along as they have discovered bypass technology. Today's ultra high bypass engines are amazingly quiet. Could you imagine how loud the engines from the A380 or other huge twins like the 777 would be if they weren't bypass engines? Jeez they wouldn't just shake your bones, they would shatter them!
But even fighters engines today are far quieter. The loudest aircraft in the American Navy is the A6, now only around in its electronic warfare version. This was an aircraft that dates roughly to the same time as the buccaneers. The A6 was far louder on takeoff than any of the more recent aircraft like the F/A 18 Super Hornets, louder by a long ways I might add. Again I don't understand why. Neither engine features by pass technology, no fighter jet does for that matter, so one would think, if anything, the Hornets engines would be quite a bit louder as they are far more powerful even without counting the temp thrust gain when in afterburner. But nope it's the older less powerful A6 engines. They are so loud that with some people if they are standing too close the sound actually makes them nauseous like it they were suddenly motion sick.
I would like to see a video on exactly why those engines of old are so loud. I know why they smoke and newer ones dont, cause the newer engines burn the fuel much more efficiently,
British aircraft from 1944 to 1970 are just down right sexy
***** And the Fairey Gannet
Gibbo263 I think the same, they seem more fashionable than anything else! This aircraft is gorgeous...
Surely you have to extend that back to 1938 with the Spitfire mk1
The mosquito beautiful machine the sea fury ,the Vulcan, the Hart even the gladiator in its way
I like how cool and understated the pilot is "[landing on a carrier] is not at all as difficult as it might look". Contrast that with any other documentary on YT, with its obligatory fawning comments, that shows naval aviation.
I have lost count of the number of times I was on the receiving end of "attacks" from these guys when I was in the RN. Many a time I have stood on a bridge wing and looked down into the cockpit of one of these monsters flown by some of the best pilots ever. I have seen these pull up to pass over the focsle of a frigate ffs!!
Thanks for sharing ... Enjoyed the program immensely
Formidable aircraft ! Thanks for the video.
A fantastic video, very enjoyable. Thanks for sharing
EXCELLENT documentary on an excellent aeroplane. Thanks for posting!
Great docu. Thanks for uploading.
Us RAF ground crew loved them too! Absolutely brilliant aircraft, I saw one today, not airworthy but at Newark Air Museum nr the former RAF Swinderby. The best Fleet Air Arm cast off's the RAF ever got.
13:45 the Brits had awesome steam cats too. The Buc was the height of their big carrier days. Whooosh!
Very interesting. Great watch.
Really enjoyed this ! Sorry it's gone
I'm quite certain that a new tranche of Buccaneer airframes, equipped with modern engines, avionics & weapon systems and working in the low level attack role, would still give any Air Defence System a good eye watering kick in the bollocks.
sorry to be offtopic but does any of you know a tool to log back into an Instagram account??
I was stupid lost my login password. I would appreciate any help you can give me!
@Russell Zakai Instablaster =)
@Grey Roger I really appreciate your reply. I got to the site through google and I'm in the hacking process atm.
Seems to take quite some time so I will get back to you later when my account password hopefully is recovered.
@Grey Roger it did the trick and I actually got access to my account again. I am so happy!
Thank you so much you really help me out :D
@Russell Zakai Glad I could help =)
Anyone who enjoyed this should
Also seek the Ken Norman interview on “aircrew interview channel.
Thankyou spottydog4477 for this upload!
Have always wondered about the tail of the Buccaneer - finally learned: "Air Brakes". Not what I expected.
The tail is not only the airbrake - the aircraft was intentionally designed to be longer than the length that would fit on the carrier flight deck lifts. However by opening the airbrake and rotating the hinged nos (with the radar) 180 degrees the aircraft was short enough to meet the specified length.
"Never fired a shot in anger."
Really? Do these people ever check their facts? The Buccaneers of the South African Air Force were pretty much constantly in action during the Border War.
SAAF aircraft at 50:34. Probably pre delivery.
...and at 52:41 with the Kasteel clearly evident
Thanks for the upload. I had this film on VHS but it went missing during a house move. Glorious to see it again.
Such a pity the RAF big wigs resented the Bucc for being a Navy aeroplane. It could have been upgraded and kept effective well through the 90s.
probably one of the most beautiful aircraft ever built served on HMS ark royal 76/79 flight deck party ...real planes
Excellent! Anson is very entertaining.
Good music, good video, thanks for posting
I got this as an airfix model sent to me when i was a kid. Didnt like it much then as it wasnt supersonic. Now i get it! Typical elegant, understated and effective brit design. If you guys werent so short sighted you'd still be sat with us now. At the top of the pack! You know what. There should be more british american projects 50/50 down the middle. cos at the moment. Your talents are being wasted my friends. An affectionate 'yank'!
***** you should do something about it. Your government needs to know. We should start something because it is true waste of talent.
@Nick Magee What do you mean by "sat with us now"?
Over the decades we have suffered from too many down right stupid politicians !
America rarely shares. We shared an awful lot, but there was very little in the way of reciprocation I'm sad to say.
I'm sorry to say it but the U. S has often put a stop to the british developing their own military projects in favour of buying theirs. Which put an end to most of their military aviation industry. I think they still do engines, radar and ejection seats. But as far as a full aircraft. The last of a long line I think was the harrier.
Very interesting history of a very elegant aircraft
Fantastic bit of kit, way ahead of the game.
I've been on a destroyer bridge and looked into the cockpit as they went past below - just a few feet above the waves!
Cool plane! .. legend... I seen Buccaneer planes on HMS Eagle when it visited NZ in the early 70s..... I been interested ever since.. thanks from NZ ✈️👍🇳🇿
We have a guy here in Cape Town, South Africa that owns a Buccaneer and flies it. He also owns a Hue helicopter the last time I heard.
What a lucky fellow . Goes he have a name ?
A beautiful looking aircraft imho.
No mention of a very successful career with the South African Air Force.
Footage is available on TH-cam.
Yes, I remember them well !
Beautiful machine.
thank you
Excellent.
Would have liked a segment with regards the Buccaneer's use by South Africa, especially during the border war, for completeness.
We don't exist, remember? That war "never happened", remember?
In mid 1977 I was an RN POAF (O) on 809 RN Squadron based at RAF Honington. It was a Saturday, and we were informed via telecon from ATC that two RAF Jaguars were diverting into Honington, it being a Saturday there were no RAF ground crew available to ‘see them in’. We were of course were more than happy to comply, whilst assisting the lead Jag pilot to unstrap and make his seat safe, I mentioned that his Jag looked like a high performance sports car compared to our ageing Buccs on the flight line. His response was (with a nod towards our Buccs) 'If I had to go to war, I'd prefer to go in one of those than one of these!' Says it all really doesn't it?
I remember them flying in South Africa by our Air Force, damn, the noise it was a loud plane, but I loved it.
Finest low level strike aircraft ever built...
Worked on them '89 to '92. Best low flying aircraft the UK has ever produced. Should have fitted it with the Tornado avionics (like they did at Boscombe Down during Tornado development) and kept it in service. Bomb proof airframe. Not unsurprising the Tornado couldn't carry out the same mission profiles when it took over maritime ops after the Bucc was retired.
Very nice plane, in so many aspects.
I saw a Buccaneer at the museum in Hendon s few months ago, that plane is HUGE.
I agree I thought it was much smaller until I saw the one at Newark Air Museum. The other aircraft that is bigger than it seems is the Gannet. At the other extreme the Folland Gnat looks as though you can put it in your pocket. Newark had the Gnat under the wing of a Gannet - it fitted with plaenty of room to spare !
Very interesting to listen to the test pilots' stories, but when the film gets to 13:50 or so and the first Buc' is lined up on the carrier (Ark Royal?) for its first launch, and then you see how short the lanuch pad is... jeepers. Standing start to ~100kt or so in about the length of a football pitch, in a development ship that's never done this before.
"All set? Jolly good, off you go then."
one very elegant aircraft
I miss the slight murkiness of the TV of my kidhood. That's how I still think real life should look on television.
The nose folded back and the split tail extension folded to allow the aircraft to be short enough to fit on the aircraft carrier lifts. The split tail was also the air brake. They had an interesting discussion with the procurement people as it was longer than specified unless the nose and tail extension were folded.
The pilots used to say, that the only replacement for the Buccaneer...was another Buccaneer!
Check out footage of some of the early 'red flag' excersises in the US!
The pinnacle of British military aviation
Philip Lau Really? I give that to the TSR2, this was so so in comparison.
Dear god, I love this plane, was brought up with it, pops was FAA for 24.5 years so it was there when I was born,and was there all through my youth, some of the tales he told I belive are still classified?
Wonderful aircraft. The designers apparently didn't do anything groundbreaking with the structural airframe in order to make it more resistant to the tremendous stresses of low altitude flight but applied known design principles to enable the stresses to be spread throughout the aircraft frame and not too greatly in any single spot. The Buccaneer would fly low altitude sorties as a matter of course, for its operational lifetime, that would have simply trashed other aircraft in a fraction of the time. Tremendous aircraft and greatly underestimated.
Sorry, but they did mess up for the Mk2 when they put the bigger wing on the airframe without any other modifications which led to fatigue failure and the loss of aircraft and their crews.
Except for the F105 which could easily run away at Mach 1+ the only limit was the canopy melting temp. The worlds best low level strike aircraft!
10:44 By comparing the lateral position of the "face curtain" overhead ejection "handle" between the Pilot and the backseater, you can see the backseaters seat is laterally offset to starboard compared to the pilot. I've heard "the Buc's backseater's view is a bunch of the pilots right shoulder."lol Great videoi.
Further to a previous comment an international interceptor test was arranged wherebye a Concorde would fly over at full speed while interceptors from NATO including the US would after taking off cold. Attempt to catch her. Not only was the Lightning the only one that could catch her, it also overtook it drawing considerably applause from the US observers.
Good yarn mate!
an absolutely beautiful aircraft that had teeth!
Looking at the Buccaneer I would think that a lot of people would be unaware that it was designed to deliver the ultimate weapon, and on knowing this it suddenly takes on a brooding malign character.
I believe Buccaneers were used as laser designating aircraft in the first gulf war !
Hello Michael,, Ieed the 'Buc' was used in GW1 or that very purpose..and used very successfully!!
cheers
From what I gather Shamus it was a very capable aircraft for what it was designed for.repurposing aircraft rarely produces a good option
It originated as the NA 39 designed as a carrier-borne attack aircraft able to carry a nuclear bomb below radar coverage.hence the rotating bomb bay
I remember photographing one at Farnborough in late 58/60 or thereabouts :-)
Michael Wilkinson s
flip inheck h
Who produced this amazing docummentary? Also, who did the music for it? I have to say the tone and style set for this production was wonderful. Thank you very very much for posting it.
My memory of the Buccaneer is sailing a 60 ft yacht across the Minch and being 'attacked' by a pair of Buccaneer's who were flying low enough to lift over the mast of our boat. Pity I did not have a camera handy at the time.
One factual note - the S Mk-50 variants flew combat missions in South-Africa
It also had RATO packs, which were thankfully discontinued before I worked on the bucs - HTP is nasty stuff
bloody brave guys if you ask me bloody proud of them all god bless
greate story just like Great Planes series
At 9:57 when the turn, they are almost the spitting image of the Harrier from the top.
My dad was one of the chief electricians that worked on these at Brough then when the squadron moved to Honington we moved from Hull to Stanton so my dad could sub-contract to the RAF to maintain them until the end of their stay there. His name was Trevor Isaksen if anyone at Honington knew him?
I have the vid on video tape and it goes into everything from design to service .I must have a hundred or more vsr tapes on various aircraft design and entry into service and I am hoping to transfer everything to DVD .
I am hoping you'll also transfer them all to TH-cam!
remember to set monitor to 4:3 or you will see super stretched buccaneer mkii.
Yeah that's the catapult wire. Notice at 13:50 they're hooking a wire onto the aircraft, well that wire gets catapulted off the carrier along with the aircraft.
@14:28 catapult launch uses a rope stirrup / sling - jettisoned after take off into the water
have often wondered how many they had onboard, or if they had a rating hard a-braiding below deck... #stopgapmeasure !
most of the speys from the south african air force are at my school now im currently assembling one.
No mention of the two we had in the Falklands in 1982
I think you will find that the splash is a trolley. Launches used to be by hydro-pneumatic systems whereby a steel wire rope dragged a small trolley along the flight deck, with the aircraft towed along behind. With the introduction of steam catapults in the mid 1950s the steel cable was replaced by a shuttle which was attached directly to the aircraft and the deck. By so doing you can transfer more energy to the aircraft and simplify the launch with fewer moving parts.
Aha! I have just been searching the internet...without success..'''steam catapult splash''...Was it recoverable? I was imagining them running out of ''thingys'' to throw in the sea.
mart fart No - all the 'shuttles' went to the sea bottom...
the shuttle was essentially just a small / plain tylinder of steel