Buccaneer Tales

[Pete208]

I am a great fan of the Buccaneer and would love to hear any stories that you would like to share.
It was a great aircraft that certainly showed that it had a few 'aces up its sleeve' during the Gulf conflict. It was a sad day when the last and best Buccaneer Sqn stoped 'doing the business.'
Please help! I eagerly await your replys.

[This message has been edited by Pete208 (edited 05 April 2001).]

[BEagle]

237 OCU crewroom mid-70s. Mate is on the phone to a F4 base regarding fighter affiliation training. After listening to the F4 bloke say "Can you keep it below 550 knots please.......below 4g......oh, and please don't use the (jamming) pod" he replies, "Tell you what, fighter puke, why don't you play the bombers and WE'LL play the fighters!!"

A typical Bruce Chapple quote:"You don't look for people to avoid in this thing, you look for people to ram. It's not so much built as quarryed!!"

[Ima Muppet]

I think that the last and best Buc Sqn is still doing some business. It sounds like they have an attractive new badge on the way...?

[Pete208]

Yes they are still doing business, and I didn't mean to suggest otherwise. Shame about the badge, has this rumour been confirmed and if so what does the new one look like?

[This message has been edited by Pete208 (edited 05 April 2001).]

[Ima Muppet]

Unfortunately, it is true. The new one is still in the design process. Whether or not it gets implemented is yet to be discovered.

[Jensen]

Lossie, early 90s. Old and bold ex-Bucc pilot converting to the GR1, on one of his first flights over an unusually calm bit of the North Sea. Pilot takes GR1 ever lower and ever faster. Faster and lower. After a few minutes at very low level, the GR1 nav is sweating a fair bit. Later, back at Lossie, Nav says
"I've never been so scared, what were you doing?"
"Oh, you know the Bucc could fly in ground effect at 20 ft or so above the sea - well I was trying to find the same thing on the GR1".
"And?"
"The Tornado doesn't have it".

[THINALBERT]

Honington 1981 Air Day. Big unveiling of Tornado GR1. Tens of thousands turn up to see new addition to RAF inventory perform.

Same tens of thousands of people go home marvelling at 4 ship Bucc airfield attack.

Tornado doesn't get a mention.

I was sitting on the 208 hangar roof and it was VERY low and VERY fast.

Happy days.

[Out Of Trim]

I remember reading about the Buccaneer at Red Flag Exercises in Nevada desert in the Eighties I think.. The Americans could not believe how low.. how aggresive and how professional a low level attack could be..

It still remains an impressive aircraft. http://www.pprune.org/ubb/NonCGI/cool.gif

[John Eacott]

I think it was Eagle, we had a light blue chappie from Boscombe Down (IIRC) carrying out trials on the Martell. As the weather got a bit ordinary, the deck pitch got to about 60' around 1 wire, and it was "suggested" the trials be called off.

If you take the tyres off the main wheels and let the oleo's down to flat as possible, the undercarriage doors are still a couple of inches off the deck. If you persist in landing a heavy Bucc on a pitching carrier, just about out of limits, you can scrape the bottom edge of the undercarriage doors on the deck without a problem.

Then there was the steely subbie who collapsed the nosewheel and slid along the deck with no. 3 wire holding him against go around thrust, until a yellow jersey knocked on the canopy and suggested that he might like to throttle back a bit http://www.pprune.org/ubb/NonCGI/redface.gif

There are quite a few photos of Bucc's on my web site, under photo gallery/navy/buccaneer. If you're interested.

[Pete208]

Would love to see the photos as I am sure many others would be. Could you let us know the address please.
Thanks

[Biggles Flies Undone]

Pete, check his Profile - the homepage address is in there.

Very nice photographs!

[Pete208]

Thanks didn't think to look there, still new to the site I guess.
Well some great stories, what an aircraft. As an engineer I was fortunate to get a 'back seat' trip. I never expected a jet that size to be able to do all the things that it did.
It is a memory that I will never forget

[Snapshot]

John, how the devil are you? Great to see you on PPRuNe.

Pete208
I assume you have seen my Buccaneer Website?
www.blackburnbuccaneer.co.uk (http://www.blackburnbuccaneer.co.uk)

and DARE I start posting Banana photographs on here AGAIN!! "No..No.. Brooks" I hear.
You decide? I did post a number of my photographs on a recent thread titled LOW LEVELLERS which has probably just fell off the bottom of the page?

As for stories, any of you lot that have offered up a tale care to help out with my 'soon to be released' Buccaneer Tribute CD? Some money going to ben fund blah blah but need plenty of tales of buccaneering. Anyone got the 'bottle' to put pen to paper or shall we just continue to hear the distant tunes of "nah na na nah' in the back of some distant drinking hole now and then when the ale has done it thing and someone remembers that the 'B' word is not a swear word but a word to be proud of! She was, infact OUR LAST 'TRUE' BRITISH BOMBER!
(Please, don't nail me for what must be my most aggressive post of this forum, but it is a tad annoying that very few of the 'few' are 'pitching up' with a few quick, short or long memories of the Buccaneer.

Standing by for insults but I'm ugly enough to take it :)

Kind regards to all,
if anyone does want to help PLEASE mail me at [email protected] or go in via my web site at www.AvCollect.com (http://www.AvCollect.com) This project is VERY important.
Andrew Brooks
Snaps

[Pete208]

Nice to hear from you again Andy, We have spoken via the internet and I have seen your site many times. Two questions for you:

1. When is there going to be a 208 Sqn badge on your site, they were the last and by no means best Bucc Sqn?

2. When is your CD going to be out, I know you want to get it right, but how far off release is it?

Thanks

[deltahotel]

Best aircraft I ever flew. Wasn't very good at it, mind and after 200 hours got specially selected for multi turbo props.

Aviation's not been the same since they took bomb bays out of aircraft. Look forward to the CD.

[VP8]

Cowden Range. Early 80's Bannana returning from Germany on Mon after weekend away.

Rolls into tgt 6 rolls bomb bay out falls all crews gear, got a no spot as well!!

[Chris Kebab]

...followed on the same range if I recall by some 1369s in transit.

Phew went the officers concerned!

[Snapshot]

Sorry sorry, just could not let this one pass!
http://members.tripod.co.uk/AvCollect/buccaneer/tain2.jpg
SALUTE TO TAIN
"Cleared in HOT"... "Whoops another one slick, get the binos out"

[Chris Kebab]

God, there's some rogues in that shot!

[ShyTorque]

Towards the end of the aircraft's life-cycle one suffered a double HYD failure, never considered possible before so no FRC drills or other advice had been suggested.

Problems: No powered controls, no flaps, no u/c, no airbrakes, no hook. Also no fuel transfer from drop-tanks although this was not realised until later, read on.

A/c was landed flapless and wheels-up at St. Mawgan with a g/speed well over 200 kts! The drop-tanks were kept on to prevent a wing digging in. They were thought to be empty but turned out to contain a lot of fuel due to the transfer problem. Highly spectacular video was recorded of the aircraft trailing sparks down the runway. One drop tank touched tarmac, holed and fuel torched into a large fireball behind the speeding Bucc. That tank emptied, the aircraft rolled until the other tank touched due to weight imbalance. Same again but this time the fireball enveloped the aircraft due to a much lower g/speed.

Fuel and fire all gone, the aircraft clattered to a halt in one piece. The canopy opened and two aircrew (probably wearing brown trousers) ran away up the tarmac at high speed. Fire trucks arrived late due to being at the downwind threshold and not being able to manage 200 kts g/speed!

[This message has been edited by ShyTorque (edited 07 April 2001).]

[Snapshot]

Chris Kebab,
100% agree, ha! That photograph is in a few toilets I can assure you. Great shot though don't you think? Notice wind speed on the roof!

Shy torque,
Not heard that one, noticed you have edited it also, would you mind telling all or pointing me in the right direction for 'one for the CD?'

Kind regards
Snaps
www.BlackburnBuccaneer.co.uk (http://www.BlackburnBuccaneer.co.uk)
www.AvCollect.com (http://www.AvCollect.com)

[ShyTorque]

Snapshot,

I don't know an awful lot more but I believe the video was shot by the St. Mawgan flight safety cell. I think it happened in about '92 or '93.

I don't personally have a copy, nor any photos.

The edit was only because I missed a capital letter at the beginning of a sentence!

[ShyTorque]

Another good one was the Bucc that lost its tail in Wales in 1977. Its pilot had pulled 13G in a desperate but successful attempt to miss a Hunter!

Crew safely ejected and finished up in a lake. They amused themselves by seeing how much of the safety equipment they could use before they got fished out.

Another OCU aircraft came back with mud splashes on the underside due to a stude's target fixation on the range whilst delivering a 28lb'er. Close call - the aircraft film of that is probably in an archive somewhere! Or maybe the stude took it with him as he went away never to darken the door again.

ShyT

[Zoom]

Visited Brough in 1969 and saw Buccs being built and was gob-smacked at the size of the main spar - carved from solid, by the look of it. I reckoned that the aircraft would last forever, so I was stunned when they were all grounded with cracks back whenever it was. As an F-4 jock in RAFG, the only aircraft that ever flew below us (as in right underneath) were the Buccaneers. I understand, though, that the cockpit was as much an ergonomic mess as the rest of the RAF's inventory. In the 70s a Bucc came off Nordhorn range and was joining up sharpish with his leader. As they got close the nav, with impeccable timing, shouted for a fuel check, so the pilot responded instinctively. I believe that the fuel gauge was somewhere up the pilots armpit with no repeater in the back cockpit....... Fortunately both aircraft survived the collision.

[Flatus Veteranus]

In 69/70 there were some of us at HQ STC and at MOD who thought that an avionic update and new buy of Buccaneers would be better value than what was then called MRCA. This would have left money in the kitty for a decent (ie American) fighter. We were told to belt up and stop rocking the boat in no uncertain terms.

------------------
presto digitate

[Chris Kebab]

Love old RT in the middle above.

"I'm not letting 130dB 50' above my head spoil this pose"!

Only joking mate.........

[Snapshot]

Chris,
I assume your post is regarding my photograph? There are no crew there with initials RT!
If you want to mail me with who you thought it was, I can confirm the rouges.
Regards
Snaps.
www.AvCollect.com (http://www.AvCollect.com)

[DouglasDigby]

Wasn't there a Dambuster II episode over the Mohne Dam??

[Pete208]

You may wish to check out the following site:
For those who love the Bucc!!

http://www.buccaneerclub.co.uk/

[Low and Slow]

Bucc OCU type told me that the brochures for the Bucc S3 were ordered destroyee because the specs made MRCA/Tornado look silly.

Any truth in this. Anyone still got the brochures?

[kabz]

(See picture above)

Oh good God! It's Thrust 2 with wings...

[beaglepup]

RAF Buchan, 1963. I was waitng to go down the "hole" when 2 buccs came in off the sea, up the access road and UNDER the Type 80. Quite impressive, except the Type 80 was in a little hollow!

[Tilt&Gain]

If a story is worth telling, then its worth exaggerating - especially you Shy!!!!!Just a small difference in the St Mawgan truth and the story on here.
Low & Slow, sorry to disappoint but, no truth I'm afraid but......
There was a Bucc at Boscombe that was used as a test platform for GR1 avionics and was hidden away after the MRCA came in to service.

[ShyTorque]

Tilt,

Which one and what's your version? I have seen the video and spoken to the pilot of the first tale and was at 237 OCU when the other two happened so I would be interested in the other side of the story(ies).

[This message has been edited by ShyTorque (edited 13 April 2001).]

[Chris Kebab]

Snaps,

Ref your shot - my slowly failing eyesight and a partially shagged 7 year old 14" monitor still make that grin look like Ron T's!

[Tilt&Gain]

Shy,
Don't get me wrong, just a bit of harmless banter about the way none of us can leave a juicy story as is!!!
The St Mawgan jet story:
Wingman told the aircraft concerned that he was venting fluid - assumed it was fuel so rolled the bomb bay to get rid of it. Wasn't fuel, was hyd fluid and rolling door used up the last of it. Flying controls not affected as it was a different system. Flaps available but not gear. Landing speed was about 165. Wing fuel was transferred by air pressure not hyds but no tanks were on the aircraft, the fire on touchdown was from the bomb door fuel tank and was only residual fuel. Canopy was jettisoned on short finals as the crew expected a fire!
So, close to the truth but as I said before: If a story is worth telling......

Snaps,
When is your CD being published - desperate for a copy! I have a few stories and photos if you're interested - e mail under profile.

T & G

[This message has been edited by Tilt&Gain (edited 15 April 2001).]

[ShyTorque]

Tilt,

Well thanks for that! The pilot told me the story the way I posted it so the bullsh*t is all his! Wait till I see him next....

He got a Green Endorsement out of it anyhow.

[Tilt&Gain]

Shy...
He's coming to work with me soon, I'll give him what for too! We were crewed together for the last few years of the jet - he does like his swinging lampshades doesn't he!

[Hugh Jears]

Q. Where do you keep buccaneers?
A. Under your buccin' hat!

Pete208, not ex Fish head are you?

[ShyTorque]

Tilt,

He'd better like swinging wings too, then!

ShyT

[Pete208]

Another site with some cool Buccs

http://www.thundercity.com/

[granmarriott]

I seem to remember one Sqdn Ldr look of horror when after climbing out of his bucc he saw that the bombay door was rotated a full 90 degrees and so virtually on the deck. He had done a couple of fly bys because the door was showing crosshatched for ATC to check the status only be told it was "partially open". I think he maybe would have banged out had he known the truth and not landed.

Mind you if I recall same jockey mught have been wanting to bang out anway after hearing how much fun it was from his navigator.

TTFN
exXVsqn armourer

[NURSE]

Is it true the Navigator gave road directions to one of the Bucc pilots over Beruit in the 80's ie 'left at the round about.'

Are there any tales from this deployment?

[brickhistory]

Nurse,

Check your PM's please.

Brick

[BEagle]

"Is it true the Navigator gave road directions to one of the Bucc pilots over Beruit in the 80's ie 'left at the round about.' "

Nothing particularly unusual about that. On one exercise in the '70s over France, I said to the chap at the helm "Take the road left at that church". He did, we hit the target (a road/rail crossing). The only aircraft in the exercise to do so.

That was in a Vulcan.....

[ranger703]

Inbound to Target 6 at Tain from Bonar Bridge,matey has a major hydraulics failure on short finals to target,still pickles bomb and then proceeds to imitate a dolphin all the way back to Lossie before finally taking the RHAG and landing safely.One of so many memories of the great Banana jet.

Kuodos to you Mr.Brooks,hope your keeping well,I can still smell the Avtur from those final days.

Not many of the few still flying frontline,although Whizz still regularly keeps us entertained and Stormin Norm harldy lets a day go past without putting us in our place.

[LOMCEVAK]

Another trick bombing was to get airborne from Oerland in Norway from the westerly runway and drop a bomb on Tarva range directly from take-off. I can't remember how far it was, but you could just make 500 kts by release!

Thin Albert, was the Honington Air Day to which you refer 30 May 81? My logbook shows that we flew a 6 ship for "Airfield Attacks" at Waddington and Honington that day. I seem to remeber that "NA 250 ft agl" was the order of the day, and these were the days when you could launch a 6 ship on a Saturday for other station's open days.

As for the St Mawgan incident, if he had a double hydraulic services failure, he would have lost the mainplane flaps. However, the aileron droop came from the flying control hydraulics and the tailplane flap was electrical. Therefore, I suspect that the landing was 0-25-25.

I do not recall any IFR navigation in Beirut (I Follow Roads), but many of the training sorties terminated in an airfield attack at Akrotiri. It was politely pointed out that if we were calling it an airfield attack, perhaps we would care to fly at such a height that the bombs would work if dropped. Therefore, for attacks after that we climbed to 85 ft (simulated BL755, 0.68 SAFU for those who wonder which weapon). One pilot did score a DH on the line hut when his overflight caused the fan to fall from the ceiling! Unfortunately, the Bucc had the ability to cause damage to buildings, and a similar problem once occurred with the light fittings at West Freugh tower.

One aspect of Op Pulsator in Beirut/Akrotiri was that it was during this time that we first had AIM9Ls and ALE 40 flares fitted to the aircraft. We had little knowledge of how the flares would work so the detachment QWIs decided on a little trial. There were two issues of interest. Firstly, what would happen when you fired the flares at operational heights and secondly what would happen if one fired inadvertently on the ground. The second point was of interest because the safe headings for the AIM9s had a bulk fuel installation about 100 yards behind the aircraft! We took one aircraft with 15 flares and another with a Pave Spike pod to film events. At 550 kts and 50 ft, the flares hit the water after about 1 second, then resurfaced about 2 secs later still burning! Not good for the programme that we were using. However, we held one flare until after we landed, stopped on the runway, had an armourer insert the butt test key then, with a fire truck in attendance, fired the flare. It rolled about 50 ft and stopped, so we were happy; HQ STC were not, but were we bothered?

We were constrained politically to using Paveway II LGBs in Beirut, with the primary mission to take out any artillery firing on our troops in the city. However, the normal toss profile would be ineffective against targets significantly above run in height (as the guns would have been) so we developed a 40 degree dive self designation profile. We obtained 6 bombs for a trial, and a CTTO man was dispatched to oversee events. Akrotiri workshops made 2 large square rafts for targets which were then floated in Episkopi Bay. The bombs were to be dropped "clear range", which included laser safety considerations. The first 2 bombs dropped hit the rafts and sunk them. We had proved the attack worked, and so were denied the request to make 4 more rafts or drop any more bombs. However, we did have a bet with the CTTO man for a bottle of champagne for each bomb that worked, and he dutifully paid up. In today's risk averse culture none of this could happen!

One tail piece on Op Pulsator is that at the time Akrotiri had an outstanding station commander, John Willis, and an equally good OC Ops, Nick Hamilton. Without them, the operation would not have been so successful - or so much fun!

[engineer(retard)]

Lom

You missed the bit for the chaff trials, or what happens if you forget it is in the airbrakes before joining the circuit. I think that there was also a toilet roll variant but it may be that my brain cells have never recovered.

regards

retard

[LOMCEVAK]

As is aluded to, the original chaff dispenser in the Bucc was to tape a couple of bundles into the airbrake. It gave just one shot, deployed by blipping the airbrakes momentarily open then closed. No problems until you forgot that you still had the chaff on board and opened the airbrakes on the break to land. No PARs for a few minutes! I do know of one case on a maritime exercise when the chaff was deliberately deployed during a ship flypast. This was quite normal, but in this case parts of the ship had just been repainted. After an upwind release, the chaff drifted gently onto the wet paint, turning the ship into the world's largest radar reflector. The signal from the ship's captain was priceless. Also, on a TLP exercise someone decided to try taping bundles of chaff onto a 1000 lb bomb in the bomb bay, hoping that it would deploy on bomb release. However and not surprisingly, it blossomed as the bomb door was rolled open, entering every nook and cranny on the Bucc. The stories of what happened, such as a continuously rolling bomb door, flashing gear lights, etc. may be somewhat exaggerated, but I believe that there was much hoovering out before it could be flown back to base, and the story goes that it then never flew again.

[brickhistory]

Op Pulsator:

2 x F-4s escorting 2 x Buccaneer for two separate missions.

Phantoms unarmed, Buccs carrying an AIM-9.

Discuss..........

[Pontius Navigator]

<<and the story goes that it then never flew again>>

Off topic slightly but there can be some good trials at the end of an aircraft's life. We watched amazed at a Shacklebomber doing 300 kts plus over the Akrotiri salt lake for high speed manual parachute trials.

More recently a Jaguar trial at the upper end of the release envelope 525k and 150 feet. The bombs bounced 500 yards - less than expected but it could have been interesting if they had bounced higher. Seems the measurements had never been done in practice, only theoretical :8

[LOMCEVAK]

Brickhistory has thrown in another interesting snippet on Pulsator. When we first deployed, the Buccs had AIM9Bs (the AIM9Ls and ALE 40 came into service a couple of months later). For the first two overflight/wave the flag missions, each pair of Buccs was escorted by a pair of RAF F4s. These were very political missions but the rules, including air-to-air rules of engagement (ROE), were determined by the relevant Group, 18 Group for the Buccs and 11 Group for the F4s. 18 Group understood little of the air-to-air scenario and therefore were quite happy for us to carry the AIM9s and use them as required for self defence. 11 Group, being somewhat wiser in such matters, considered the ramifications of flying armed in the same airspace as US, Israeli and Syrian aircraft on what was a non-combat mission, albeit in a war zone. They deemed that the ROE would determine that carrying missiles was not justifiable, and thus the escorts would be unarmed! Not surprisingly, the F4 crews elected to stay off the coast as there was little support that they could give us, and they did not want to be exposed to the surface-to-air threats (ZSU 23-4, SA7, and perhaps SA8 and SA9) unnecessarily. However, when given the chance to beat up a city like that............ Note that if we had been launched on a bombing mission, the F4s would most certainly have been armed.

[brickhistory]

LOMCEVAK,

Please check your PMs.

Thanks,
Brick

[Shackman]

Brick and Lom (re Pulsator)
- And don't forget the 7 Sqn Chinook that took all the press in to the University LS so they could witness 'The first RAF overflight' and then took them all back to Akrotiri afterwards.
But we did bring you back some Beirut Rock - albeit somewhat later!
And for PN's info I also got one Shack up to 330kts S & L doing a noise trial for/at Boscombe Down - and yes it was noisy, but at least we surprised the Harvard that tried to bounce us.

[Rigga]

Back to Buccs;

1. As someone who came off his Fitters course and spent months in Honington’s ASF, grinding and polishing Spars. For the next four years of my Tours, there was always the threat of another Friday afternoon STI/PWI to jack the Buccs up from somewhere further out than the Hardpoints (like the wing tips!) and then put a few more tons of fuel in to see if there were any other areas to crack!

2. At 208 Honington, a very experienced Jockey (Jules? springs to mind) walks in to debrief and snags the Control Column for moving when trim is set. The beast is dragged in to the then condemned Hangar and hauled up on jacks; Rigs connected and a power set strapped on; and there it stayed for three days with Fairies and Riggers of four different shifts slaving over it to find that – errmmm - it should move!

3. On setting off for a Detachment to Lossie for TBC ’81: A certain Wg Cdr (Now Air Commode (Ret’d) and Author) and his trusty Pilot Flt Cdr get all their bags stashed into the nice big Pannier in the Bomb Bay and, as they sign up, they move the big Day-Glo Flag in the 700 warning them the Pannier is fitted.
As normal, they are tasked to visit a Range and do a practice run, with the CBLS loaded, on the way North.
A quick blast down the Range with at least one brain in ‘automatic’ for a nanosecond. B/Bay switch flicked and flicked back. But that doesn’t stop it moving.
Result – another loss of concentration and the bombs miss by hundreds of yards – although there is a reported direct hit of Samsonite on the target!
The following evening was a very large Hangar BBQ and Country and Western Band welcoming our US cousins and their new F16’s, and the only Officers underdressed for the occasion were two guys wearing borrowed Tee-shirts and Jeans.
In “The Clifton”; a big picture, showing a Bucc flying low over a Loch with a fisherman waving from his rowboat, is annotated “Carry your bags Sir!”

4. Honington - Line practice was for all the Lox Pots to be placed behind the aircraft line at the end of each day, for collection by the Lox Pot Trolley/Tractor. All goes well until a Pot is run over by a Tractor, crushed, and actually scrapes along the ground for a few yards before the driver’s attention is gained. Practice changes to place the Pots UNDER the rear of the aircraft, in the hope that the driver will see the aircraft first!

Good reading.

[LOMCEVAK]

Shackman,

I am indebted to the 7 Sqn Chinook pilot (who later ended up in the tp world) who was parked on the stern of the USN ship under whose bows I flew on exiting the city after the flypast! He poured oil on troubled waters, only to have them stirred up again by the USN helo pilot under whom I had flown when around the city!

Rigger,

I was flying the Hunter bounce on the sortie in question when the bags were dropped. As I remember it, the said flight commander's bag stayed in the aircraft; only the boss's were dropped, one of which contained all of the 1369s! There was an attempt to "hush it up", but Honington's Station Commander at the time (who was a fantastic gentleman and pilot) announced it to one and all at a dining in night that evening! I recall that when the squadron arrived back at the end of the detachment, the wives had emblazened the hangar with a banner saying "Tactical Baggage Competition, 2001". Worthy of note was that the other flight commander at the time had dropped his bag on the same range a few months earlier, and it was subsequently washed up in the Humber. Happy days.

[engineer(retard)]

Bringing back a few memories. Key West with a Martel hungfired and smoking. I was watching at an angle of 90 degrees on a revetment as the plumbers took out the thermal battery dressed in asbestos clothes and masked, the OAT about 92 degrees and a hundred per cent humidity. Another Martel mishap in Roosevelt Roads but the less said the better.

Pulsator again. The plods recovering the Penn club jukebox from the block after someone had asked the barman how much for the jukebox. 10p he replied, 10p put on the bar and the music machine was rolled out for a party. Also Pulsator supplier admitted to being a virgin in the bar. After a whip round he was taken down town to see a lady of the night. In the following days debrief, it turned out that he only got a blow job and she nicked his wallet. Thanks to whoever pulled me out the bowl of ravioli I passed out in and saved me from drowning.

regards

retard

[SirPeterHardingsLovechild]

That Beirut experience, possibly the most memorable time of my career.
.
Imagine the Pen Club
.
12/208 Sqn Buccs
56 Sqn Phantoms
100 Sqn Canberras
7/18 Sqn Chinooks
Navy Seakings
2 Para
34 Sqn RAF Regiment
.
All of them on the piss, and trying to out do each other. I remember the Bucc groundcrew nicking the jukebox (Didn't it end up on the roof of the block?). And I remember the practice airfield attacks as I used to be part of the Tatty Ton Banner Party. (Thanks for the chaff remnants, by the way)
.
I was part of a 'flying wedge' composed of 12/208/100 Sqn groundcrew that took out 56 Sqn groundcrew. I still bump into people who claim they were there, a bit like claiming to have gone to school with John Lennon.
.
Nostalgia is not what it used to be.

[engineer(retard)]

SPHLC

As tatty ton, you would have missed the coincidental tour of 56 and the Bucc det in the Keo brewery, We met in the hospitality lounge and made so much noise thatt a board meeting was disrupted and we were all thrown out.

regards

retard

[LOMCEVAK]

I think that it was 43 Squadron who provided the F4s when we first deployed on Pulsator, and that 56 replaced them in the December.

[Tim McLelland]

When you've exhausted the Buccaneer links, there's always my book "Buccaneer" which is still in the Haynes catalogue (or you could try the library for a copy!). Here's one of my snapshots that I used for the book cover:-

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y146/Shefftim/Buccaneer.jpg

:)

[brickhistory]

Not bashful about a little self-promotion, are we?
I thought commercial product mentions were 'verboten' on pprune.

(As an aside, I have a copy of your book. Great photos!)

[Tim McLelland]

I did say you could try the library - I don't care if anyone buys it or not to be honest - 'twas a long time ago! :)

[rolandpull]

The PEN club produced some great nights. One of my memories was the run on three T-shirts logo's produced by three acft operators within the same week:

T Shirt 1- "Real acft fly over Beirut"

T Shirt 2- "Real acft fly through Beirut"

T Shirt 3- "Real acft land for a cup of tea in Beirut"

Happy days...................

[foldingwings]

I seem to remember one Sqdn Ldr look of horror when after climbing out of his bucc he saw that the bombay door was rotated a full 90 degrees and so virtually on the deck. He had done a couple of fly bys because the door was showing crosshatched for ATC to check the status only be told it was "partially open". I think he maybe would have banged out had he known the truth and not landed.

Mind you if I recall same jockey mught have been wanting to bang out anway after hearing how much fun it was from his navigator.

TTFN
exXVsqn armourer

gm, old boy,

"I seem to remember" is surely the start of a story mired by the mists of time. Whilst I accept that it might have been possible that the bomb bay failed half open, it was a hydraulic system fact in the Bucc that once hydraulic pressure was applied to move the door (either open or closed) nothing would stop it completing that cycle; in my over 2000 hrs on the jet I never ever heard of a bomb door failing half open. I have personal experience on 2 occasions, however, of the design of the bomb door hydraulics being to my disadvantage when, first, a tennis racquet was crushed by the rotating door as it was closed for RTB post detachment and, second, when one of 19 demijohns of Cypriot Brandy moved during rotation at Akrotiri before RTB after a rather fine ranger. Both incidents caused damage to the ac skin (not the bomb door) and both earned a mild bollocking from the then OC XV.

Moreover, I doubt the efficacy of your tale as, since the bomb bay didn't have doors that hang down (it rotated within its own volume), there would have been no likelihood of a ground strike in the event that it did, as you suggest, fail half open.

Lastly, I don't recall an emergency drill that might include EJECTION for such an eventuality, if indeed there was any mention at all in the FRCs.

Please don't speculate! It spoils the value of this very good thread:hmm:.

FW

[Wee Jock McPlop]

I was a controller in the tower at Lossie 93-95 and therefore had the pleasure of being there for the last months of Bucc operations. Great bunch of guys on the Bucc fleet - even obliged with a couple of sporty flybys for my wife and I when we were on our honeymoon on Skye! Nearly the best thrill I got on my honeymoon - but not quite!

The flypasts for the disbandment of 12 Sqn were pretty damn good. Senior officers leading at the front of the formation, with the JOs getting progressively lower towards the back - all good stuff. However, the last 208 Sqn formation out of Lossie (going to the scrapmans torch at St Athan) was the one to watch. The forty-odd people watching from the tower were most impressed, but not so sure about the nav of the last one through! That flypast will live long in the memory.

Great days, great jet and the Bucc crews were top blokes to work and socialise with. The ATC lunches in the OM were never quite the same after that.

[Rigga]

Bomb Doors!

1. In an ASF it wasn’t unusual for there to be a shortage of Bomb Door Struts – Big Red Tubular Bars to connect the Main Gear to the Bomb Door and prevent it moving (The Door that is!). It also wasn’t too unusual to find that someone was working in the Door Area, and leaning over the door, or having a hand through the side skins to adjust a Microswitch. It wasn’t that uncommon either, for someone to need to throw chocks or, in at least one instance, a crew ladder into the “jaws” of the door to stop it slowly crushing, or slicing through, an unwary soul.

2. Working through a veerrry long night shift, and just about to knock off at three in the morning, we carry out the dutiful tool-check only to find a torch is missing. After finding the guy who had the torch, we enquire as to what he was doing, “Fitting and Rigging the Bomb Door Jack” came the dreaded reply.
For those that don’t know: The Bomb Door Jack was big and Heavy (with a capital 'H') mounted on the front bulkhead of the Bomb Bay, and behind a great deal of Hydraulic, Fuel and many other systems pipe work. (“Not very ergonomic” wasn’t just in the cockpit). After some detailed planning, we mounted our attack.
We rolled the Door open.
Commandeered the smallest bloke we could find and tied him to the door with that white lashing tape that has no real tensile strength.
Inch the Door closed again and – shouting through the door-latch panels - confirmed that we had dissipated all Hyd Pressures and our hands were off the Rigs.
He then un-strapped himself from the Door and crawled to the front of the Bay. Once at the front, he proceeded to saw the torch in half – it was still where it was placed, jammed behind all those pipes and still switched on – albeit only a glimmer by now.
An hour later, (It’s tough to saw through Batteries, apparently!) He straps himself back in the Door as best as he can, and grips tightly to any Lugs he can. Rigs are re-started and clutches slipped again, to go as slowly as possible to open again.
Voila! End Shift at 0530-ish.

[engineer(retard)]

Rigga

A sqn guy riding the bomb door at Lossie was not so lucky and did not manage to get in before the door swung. Bar a bit of quick thinking from his mate and a handy chock he might have been a bit worse off than a few cracked ribs.

regards

retard

[ZH875]

Not quite so bad as unlocking the folding nose and then have the whole thing fall off. Makes a mess of the radar cables, not to mention the shreddies.....

[engineer(retard)]

I know someone who changed the 91 ways on the radar cables ( 2sets all hand soldered for the uninitiated and had forgot to put the backshells on. To add insult to injury he re-did the job and made exactly the same mistake. We all left at that point to save personal injury, he was way beyond banter.

regards

retard

[ZH875]

Or as we were replacing an RWR RF cable, and the other shift decided to run it from the Fin to inside the radio bay.:ooh:

Have you ever tried crimping 18 x mini-coax pins inside the dark radio bay?, needless to say we extracted the cable and ran it from the radio bay to the fin, and spent Saturday afternoon sat on top of the tailplane where we were a lot closer to the hangar lights and had a lovely flat surface to work on.

[ExpatPom]

I am a recent joiner to Prune having had it recommended by a friend. Quite surprised to find a Buccaneer thread. I have a bit of previous experience on Buccs from the early 80's as a Sooty on 237 OCU at Honington and on 16 Sqn at Laarbruch, before seeing them replaced by Tonkas.

I left the RAF in 97 but was tracked down by some ex 16 mates recently who have a 16 Sqn website. It has quite a bit of general Buccaneer stuff and may put you in touch with some old friends. I include the link if you are interested.

http://www.arni.co.uk/

For info my name is Lenny Bruce and I have just moved to Australia this last month and am working in Canberra.

[engineer(retard)]

Not Lenny the shark by any chance. Have you still got the signed bed sheet?

regards

retard

[ExpatPom]

Might be, along with some other less polite names. Struggling to remember the bedsheet thing though (well it was 20 years ago). Who's that then?

[Argonautical]

Just got this off a binaries newgroup. I have never seen it before so I thought I would post it. Original poster says it shows Buccaneer S2s of 809 Squadron on Ark Royal some time in the mid-70s.

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c2/argonautical/Buccaneers_ark_royal.jpg

[engineer(retard)]

Expat

Lucky guess perhaps. Check your PMs

regards

retard

[wub]

I just came across this on Jetphotos:

http://www.jetphotos.net/viewphoto.php?id=5711457

[Truck2005]

As a happy member of the Bucc Ground Crew fraternity posted to TASF, Akrotiri, I well remember a pair of Buccs that stayed a weekend, (yes, in them days they managed to con the boss into WEEKEND stopovers). Come the see-off we happily stowed quite a few demijons of kokkers onto the bomb door. They had been sealed very lovingly by the crews and all was well as we waved goodbye.

About 30 minutes later we were told that they were returning with one of them developing a hyd leak. :O Any guesses?

[engineer(retard)]

As I recall we were more worried when they weren't leaking. Usually meant they were empty:)

regards

retard

[Truck2005]

What, the demijons:oh:

[western_roo]

Back to Buccs;

4. Honington - Line practice was for all the Lox Pots to be placed behind the aircraft line at the end of each day, for collection by the Lox Pot Trolley/Tractor. All goes well until a Pot is run over by a Tractor, crushed, and actually scrapes along the ground for a few yards before the driver’s attention is gained. Practice changes to place the Pots UNDER the rear of the aircraft, in the hope that the driver will see the aircraft first!

Yes... I remember that one very well, and the errant driver [name supplied upon request via PM, but he was an SAC of the Navigational Instruments persuasion].

The aforeunmentioned tractor driver who, in his defence was retrieving a/c at night, in the rain, also reached under the tractor and pulled out the now hissing and spitting LOX pot, carrying it safely away from the flight line and onto the grass between the pan and the hangar.

As a result, he got bo****ed for running it over, and commended for removing it, so the two cancelled each other out.

[Truck2005]

When the Majors got to Abingdon in '87 we were somewhat a novelty, (and from the comments we got from the sleepy Jag/Hawk community, a bit unwelcome). The aircraft was big, (by comparison), brash, noisey and very much THERE!!!

All our flight tests/deliveries were by squadron crews, not station test pilots like the rest. So the first flight test went well and, on delivery, we asked the crew for a fly past, (if you see what I mean).

Although the head honcho said that this would not happen, we got one anyway, straight down the taxiway underneath the tails of the VC 10s, (all 6 of them), that were in line off to one side.

The complaints from the retired generals on Knobs Hill stopped that happening again but it was an execellent way of saying hello:D

[BeefyBoy]

Found this little snippet whilst trawling through some websites - one in the eye for the USN me thinks!

"We get them in here in Perth pretty often. I've been on board The Johnny Reb, John C Stennis, Nimitz and Carl Vinson.

Funny story, when I was in the airforce I was part of a training exercise in the Channel that actually "sank" the Enterprise. Scenario of a dash by the carrier group down the Channel into the North Sea, we were the bad guys.

I was on Phantoms then, mixed it up with their fleet defence guys, I think they thought we were going to be a push over - wrong......

Meanwhile a Buccaneer flight did their hiding in the waves trick and got past the air defence pickets and onto the carrier. Hypothetical multi- torpedo strike and bye bye Enterprise....

At the de-brief the US rep wanted to say how torpedo-proof the carriers were, and besides the real enemy didn't have Buccaneers. :ok:

The ranking Brit officer, Navy, remarked that the Su-24 and /or TU-22 could probably do a similar job, and both had nuclear capability......Then proceeded to discuss RN tactics in a very unfavourable comparison to those the USN had used.

Given a similar attack a few months before had failed to get through to Ark Royal, which could field far less fleet defence fighters he had a point.

That most priceless of things, a discomfited and speechless American officer, mission accomplished.......:-) " :D

[baboon6]

Torpedoes? From a Buccaneer? Shurely shome mishtake. AFAIK the only anti-ship weapon used by the Buccaneer was the Sea Eagle missile.

[engineer(retard)]

And MARTEL

[brickhistory]

Torpedoes? From a Buccaneer? Shurely shome mishtake. AFAIK the only anti-ship weapon used by the Buccaneer was the Sea Eagle missile.

engineer (retard):
And MARTEL


Gents,

Come now, let's not ruin a perfectly good "stupid Yanks" story with the facts.

[jindabyne]

engineer and bab6

Sea Eagle was the latter anti-ship missile used by the mighty Buccaneer. Engineer is correct to mention Sea Eagle's predecessor, Martel. There were two versions: the TV and the AR(anti-radar). TV was launched at about 10-15nm at around 50ft, and went on to impact the target under control of the navigator using his TV monitor and 'joystick'. AR was also launched at about 50ft, against an emitting radar target, at a range of about 20nm - after launch, the telegraph pole climbed to some 15k feet, and then drove itself into the radar kit. Very accurate. Two of mine were DH's, but then I was only the front-seater, having little to do other than keep us out of the oggin. In its day, an effective piece of kit.

[engineer(retard)]

Nearly too effective in RR :\

regards

retard

[brickhistory]

From across the pond:

M*** N*****, a retired USAF Lieutenant Colonel flew as an exchange navigator with the RAF in the Buccaneer. He came from the back seat of an F-4 Phantom II and after rigorous training found himself in the back seat of the Bucc.
Says he of that cockpit, “It was not logical at all. If you think about the weirdest place to put controls and instruments, that’s what it seemed like the designers did.
“The flight instruments – airspeed indicator, altimeter, etc were down by my left knee. The controls for the bombsight used by the pilot up front were in my cockpit. For those jets equipped with TV Martel (a TV-guided air to ground missile) the monitor was situated between my knees.
“On the plus side, the cockpit visibility compared to the F-4 was tremendous. In the F-4, my vis to the front and rear was very limited. In the Bucc, the seats were offset so the pilot’s ejection seat was actually 5 inches to the left of the centerline and mine was 5 inches to the right so I could see very well forward.
“The intakes blocked a lot of my side peripheral vision, but it was good to the rear and up as well.
“The overall cockpit was smaller than my previous jet. I had to learn to not store anything I would need during flight in the lower leg pockets of my flight suit because once I was strapped in, the sidewalls of the cockpit and the instrument panel in front of me kept me from reaching down.”
N***** says his exchange tour with the RAF and in the Buccaneer was the best of his 20-plus year career. “We thought we trained hard, but those guys were amazing! They practiced and practiced and were merciless in the debriefs. Excellence was considered the norm and not getting reamed out for something was a good debrief. Tough at times, but it made for outstanding airmen.
“The RAF squeezed the most out of their equipment and people, but that made for a very effective weapon.”
He also recalled a low-level Bucc moment that he still cherishes,
“We were practicing ship attack and after simulating the bomb run, I can remember looking up at the bow of a US Navy destroyer as we crossed in front of it.”

[TimGoz]

Hi I was on Buccs at Honington, on the OCU. late 70's to early 8ß's
Good memories of low flying... between the hangars and under the phone line. Lots of screams from babies and mums,and a lot of car alarms.

I also rememner a pilot John Myers, amazing pilot, I used to have a photo of him flying the Bucc towards the camera head on, but sadly now I have no ground crew or other photos of my military service.

If you ever see the book by Bill Gunston its a good buy.
Where were you at Honington?
Best Regards
TimGoz

[LOMCEVAK]

Oh yes! 71 course on the OCU the 208 until it moved to Lossie. Remember JM well but haven't seen him since he retired from FRA.

DS

[the_boy_syrup]

Youtube is a good hunting ground

Ark Royal

YouTube - Sailor series. HMS Ark Royal. Buccaneer landings and bolters (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bW7tjy7AOk)

YouTube - SAILOR 1976 TV SERIES ARK ROYAL Vieques, Puerto Rico Bombing Range (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4Lb5CpqIj4)

12 Sqn

YouTube - RAF Buccaneer - NATO Opengate - Low Level Anti-Ship (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4vkBWLmnZA)

Red Flag

YouTube - RAF Buccaneer S2 Exercise RED FLAG (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuYwOEF5xag)

12 & 208 Sqns

YouTube - Pirates of the Mediterranean - a Buccaneer special (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0-xnaRSL6g)