Originally Posted by
Jackonicko
How many variants?
What - in proper UK service?
I make it 23 with their own 'variant designation', though there were others - like the Elint B2s used by 192 Squadron, the recce-modded B2s used on Op Robin, etc. the B2 and B6 samplers, etc.
T19 - Silent target conversion of T11 with radar replaced by 'Blue Circle'.
T22 - Conversion of
PR.Mk 7 with Buccaneer radar in extended nose. Intended as Buccaneer radar trainer for observers, but used as silent target.
So why the gap between Mark 19 (T.19) and Mark 22 (T.22) you may have thought?
These mark numbers were used for Australian production for the RAAF.
The
Mk 20 (sometimes referred to incorrectly as the B.20, even in my logbook!) was for the bomber variant of the B.2 from 1953 and B.6 from 1956.
- But was the Mk 20 a B.2 or a B.6? Actually both. First production 27 aircraft were essentially B.2s, with "Avon Mk 1" (RA.3) engines and initially no integral fuel tanks.
The later production 21 aircraft were B.6s, more powerful "Mk 109" (RA.7) engines, integral tanks and better avionics fit (Green Satin doppler and GPI, and eventually UHF and TACAN). It was these newer aircraft that were deployed to Vietnam operations over 1967-1971.
- These later aircraft had been considered for designation in about 1956 as the Mk 22, but this did not eventuate.
The
Mk 21 (similarly referred to as the T.21) was the trainer conversion of B.2s and Mk 20s, with no bang seats in the front, one in the back for the nav.
- The RAAF trainers retained the perspex bomber nose, not the solid T.4 nose.
- A pair of B.2s had been ferried from UK to act as pattern aircraft for Australian production, and these were subsequently converted to Mk 21 trainers in 1958.
- The very first Mk 20s too were subsequently converted to trainers over 1956/58.