Buccaneer on the move

[TorqueOfTheDevil]

Yesterday I overtook a Buccaneer which was travelling up the M6 only 4 feet off the ground. This proved several things to me, namely that a Buccaneer still looks great at low level, and that a hire car really is the fastest car in the world. It did make me wonder, though, where it had come from (it had come on at the M5) and its destination, and the colour scheme was unusual too - all red tail, the front of it light grey and the middle bit white, with grey and white stripes just forward of the red bit. Any ideas?

[ORAC]

Dismantled at Hurn (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28132040@N07/7795102126/) and being shipped to Shannon.

[oldspool]

As it happens a colleague came into work yesterday morning saying that he had seen a 'colourful Bucc' on trailer at the services on the M27 (the ones close to the M3 juntion at Southampton). So maybe Bournemouth?

[Tupperware Pilot]

ORAC beat me to it....

slight thread drift, but anyone know whats happening with XX885...is it ready to fly?

[Not_a_boffin]

This appears to be the latest - don't hold your breath....

Buccaneer S.2 XX885 - Key Publishing Ltd Aviation Forums (http://forum.keypublishing.com/showthread.php?t=111193)

[hunterboy]

Wasn't this the one they hoped to use for the water speed record?

[tornadohotas]

I came across this very same Buccaneer at a roundabout shortly before Liverpool docks. I have to say it made my evening. I told Mrs Tornadohotas that the last time I saw a Buccaneer it wasn't much higher but she didn't seem too impressed.

[Evanelpus]

I told Mrs Tornadohotas that the last time I saw a Buccaneer it wasn't much higher but she didn't seem too impressed.

Huh, women. Is there nothing that impresses them?

[ORAC]

They're always impressed with large penetrators.

[sandiego89]

Huh, women. Is there nothing that impresses them?

--
And to most all those planes "look the same". Mrs. Sandiego89 frequently comments on my airplane magazines "wasn't that the same cover as last months?", sigggghhhhh

[Trim Stab]

And to most all those planes "look the same".


I used to fly as a (much needed) safety pilot for a female PPL who owned and flew a Cessna Mustang. One day we parked on the ramp next to another Cessna Mustang. She looked over the neighbouring aircraft for a few seconds, then asked me "what sort of plane is that?"

[TorqueOfTheDevil]

we parked on the ramp next to another Cessna Mustang. She looked over the neighbouring aircraft for a few seconds, then asked me "what sort of plane is that?"

But was it a different colour...?

Thanks for the replies to the initial query.

[NutLoose]

What you need is

Welcome (http://www.thebuccaneeraviationgroup.com/BuccaneerWebTest/Home.html)

Check out the pics section :ok:

[phantomstreaker]

Thanks Nutloose...

This Sunday 26th August 12 is the 2nd Cold War Jets open day at Bruntingthorpe Proving Ground in Leicestershire. All wellcome £15 per adult on the gate from 10am.

usual mix of fast taxi runs from Buccaneers, Lightnings, Canberra, Hunter, Nimrod, Victor tanker and JPs etc


If your over come and say Hi, just ask around for the Phantomstreaker..:)

[MSF]

The Bucc arrived in Shannon yesterday.
Hopefully the gopping European Air Charter scheme will make way for something a bit more tasteful, Raspberry ripple , hopefully!.
Still, it's an welcome addition to any growing collection, a shame it will probably never fly again.

[BBadanov]

Hopefully the gopping European Air Charter scheme will make way for something a bit more tasteful, Raspberry ripple , hopefully!.

No MSF, grey and green cam. :D

[foldingwings]

If that's its nose cone pointing skywards in the photo then it seems that the beast was once used for Tornado radar trials!

Foldie:E

PS. Raspberry Ripple - get a life!:=

[MSF]

Foldingwings, given the location and some of the local populations leanings, the ripple scheme may be more acceptable than a tactical scheme.

[sisemen]

Reminds me of the time when I was on OO at Honington and I had a query one summer's evening from the local press about a Bucc going down the A11.

"Muck fee" I thought, I know those buggers push the envelope but that's ridiculous. I muttered some sort of official sounding ****e and it was only after I put the phone down that it came to me that it probably was on the back of a truck and not flying.

Such was the mystique of Bucc operations!

[foldingwings]

sisemen,

Such was the mystique of Bucc operations!

There was no mystique - it was just bloody good fun!

MSF,

location and some of the local populations leanings

Maybe so but they must have asked for it and (like the Buccaneer Aircrew Association with XX901 at YAM) paid for it and its move so why else would they want it other than to depict it in its true colours! However, if it does have only a Tornado nose cone then somebody might have been duped by a clever salesman and raspberry ripple might be more appropriate!:ouch:

Foldie:hmm:

[Scruffy Fanny]

This aircraft NEVER flew in Ripple colours!!! I flew with it at RAE Bedford in 1990 ish - I think it was wite and grey with a bloody big black Ai24 radar
It was a pretty crap paint job

[Phalconphixer]

Twas indeed XX897. Saw it when it flew into Bournemouth after it was auctioned. Purchase price just £17000. I think it flew just once or twice after its arrival and then was left to corrode; it was out in the open with little or no protection for years... ...seem to recall it had ridiculously low airframe hours / cycles. Dreadful waste of an historic airframe type.
More details...
XX897 - S.Mk.2B Production (http://www.blackburn-buccaneer.co.uk/S2B_XX897_files/0_S2B_XX897.html)

[walbut]

If I remember rightly, XX897 was the aircraft in which we modified the fuel system to cool the test radar. I can't remember the details but effectively fuel recirculated from the fuel flow proportioners back into the tanks via a heat exchanger and the refuel gallery. I can remember doing all the calculations on flow rates, pressure drops, heat transfer and fuel temperature limits. Control of the system was not automatic and required some pilot monitoring and balancing of the individual tank contents by switching of the intertank transfer and cross feed valves.

Our boss at the time was a gentleman called Ray Gadd, who was the Chief Mechanical Systems Engineer at Brough. During the war he was a Halifax rear gunner and was shot down as a result of the aircraft losing both engines on one side of the aircraft and fuel from the other side. Had the pilot been able to manage the system and transfer the fuel across they could have made it back to England instead of ditching in the channel and spending several years as prisoners of war.

As a result of that experience Ray was absolutely fanatical about the Buccaneer fuel system control and if you wanted to make any changes to it, as we did on XX 897 you had to have a bloody good explanation of what you wanted to do. You had to be able to explain every detail of what would change and how and why, all the possible failure modes and whether the pilot would be able to manage it all. I remember my colleague Eric Lewis went down, I think to RRE Pershore, to do the tests of the modified system and, as an example of some of the bizzarre things you remember from way back, he said the pilot who was involved was a really little chap who looked as though his feet wouldn't reach the rudder pedals. However he was a really bright guy and very switched on in his understanding of the systems. I can't remember any subsequent feedback on the flight trials so I guess the fuel system changes worked.

[StripeyMiata]

Hi,

Lurker for many years, never been in the military and I'm not a pilot but been interested in aircraft since I was a wee lad.

What made me post was you chaps talking about the Buccaneer, on Saturday was lucky enough to see one on stands doing a demonstration of it's wings and undercarriage, thought I'd share the footage - Buccaneer S2B XV361 - YouTube (http://youtu.be/9k5Xk3efHmE)

Jonathan