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.”