Looking for memories of Buccaneer XN979
My son and I have recently commenced work on restoring the cockpit of Buccaneer S2 XN979. This will take some time given his junior age but it's an interesting challenge building on his passion for Buccaneers and engineering.
We'd be really gratefully for any memories of XN979 from anyone who had involvement with her from being built in 1964 to 801 NAS in 1966. This aircraft was lost on 9/6/1966 off The Lizard on takeoff from HMS Victorious. The pilot/nav ejected safely, but are no longer in the FAA BA. The cause was later shown to be trim and underwing stores related, it was not pilot error. The aircraft was recovered for investigation before going to Cranfield Institute of Technology as a training resource. It is now in Doncaster.
You can follow progress on Facebook if interested, just search for XN979 cockpit. However, if you can help with memories/contacts with any further personnel/photos we'd be very grateful if you could get in touch. Thank you kindly in advance.
Carolyn & Marcus