The Blackburn Buccaneer was a British Royal Navy then Royal Air Force (RAF) two-seat, twin engine attack bomber in carrier service starting in the early 1960s. Then the UK laid up their large regular carriers in favor of smaller, cheaper Harrier ‘jump jet’ ships, too small for the mighty Buccaneers.

So when the RAF took over the Buccaneer squadrons they also took on their short and long range attack mission role on sea and land, with both nuclear and conventional warloads.

Unusually for a European plane, Buccaneers had excellent range and were the first Royal Navy aircraft to fly the North Atlantic nonstop and unrefueled.

Along with large fuel tanks it also carried four 1,000 pound bombs internally for high speed and low drag. With a revolving bomb bay door that could double as a huge belly tank holding more than 400 gallons for even more range.
For shorter, slower missions, 16,000 pounds of bombs, rockets, napalm, missiles etc could be accurately dropped or fired from very low altitude.

Long missions were flown at chillingly low levels at over 500 mph by brave pilots. In good crew comfort in a beefed up structure redesigned for mostly low altitude use. Carrying anything up to and including nukes to smite Britain and NATO’s naughty foes, especially a new type of Soviet six‐inch gun cruiser, the Sverdlov class.

After the native TSR bomber was canceled and the US F-111 bomber deal fell through the RAF was forced to reopen the production lines and build more Buccaneers for the RAF’s mandated NATO responsibilities.

In its early service life with the Royal Navy and South Africa, its only export success, it was several times deployed to sink foundering tankers and ignite the cargo. South Africa was afterwards imbargoed and was unable to buy more needed strike planes, turning to always amenable Israel instead.

Other than striking leaking sinking tankers they were also heavily used in African border wars for loitering CAS (Close Air Support), the long range being useful and the weapons load being large.

They were used extensively for many years as aeronautical test mules for the UK factories for various engines, systems and configurations testing.

Buccaneers were supplanted, mostly in favor of the Panavia Tornado aircraft, after their swan song heavy use in the 1991 Gulf War as bombers and laser designators. Shortly after they were all retired after nearly thirty years of service.

A capable attack bomber for sea or land strikes far from mother ship or friendly airfields, it was flown at 100 feet and 500 mph, by steely-eyed steady handed pilots without a nerve in their body. No terrain following radar used.

Even at turbulent low levels it was smooth and stable because of high wing loading and was easy to fly. Good on gas because of the civilian derived non-afterburning (reheat) turbofan. Streamlined versatile rotating bomb bay.
Buccaneers landed at relatively slower speeds despite the high wing loading because of extensive blowing of hot engine air over wings and tail for boundary layer control (BLC) on landing.

Combined with sophisticated drooping flaps/ailerons, and beefed up landing gear to ease carrier or short tactical air strip deployment.

Lucky British Royal Navy and then RAF pilots, for this plane was effective and deadly, winning bombing accuracy fly-offs regularly in the USA and Canada in the 1970s.

The Blackburn product carried a heavy deadly load a long way; at high speed and at minimum altitude; to accurately strike a sea or land target; and then give pilots a good chance of successful egress.

Back in the late fifties, Britannia might no longer rule the waves but could still build a world leading attack bomber, in some ways equalling or bettering our own Navy’s nearly contemporary A-6 Intruder attack plane.

All images, information source from Wikipedia: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackburn_Buccaneer

Additional source Airvectors.net: http://www.airvectors.net/avbucc.html

Unless noted, all text and images by todgermanica.com.