As the original poster, maybe I should attempt to right a few wrongs in some of the posts above:
1. Beagle:
one pilot became disorientated during a night toss attack at Wainfleet and pulled well over +11g during recovery having first rolled wings level. The AAR probe was bent and both flaps fell off, but he got it back safely to Honington.
He was a first-tourist student on the OCU and I do not believe that it was at night. In fact he has just written an article on the incident for the Bucc Aircrew Association newsletter, in which he states: The 24th March 1975 was a beautiful Spring day and with the world wide-open under a cobalt blue sky, the OCU course got airborne en-masse for 'Weapons Fam 1' - essentially a 'look-see' at the Wash ranges and then off for some medium toss practice..................I don't know who sorted out the approach criteria for the Bucc, but it's a racing certainty that they would have assumed that whether selected up, down or otherwise, the flaps would have been physically attached to the airframe. Unfortunately, our two eagle-eyed stalwarts over there had rather omitted to notice that - together with our large underwing tanks, 2 practice-bomb carriers and an assortment of panels - our flaps were languishing at the bottom of the North Sea!
The g pulled was estimated at the time as 13 but nobody can be sure because the g-meter stopped reading at 10! The pilot went on to complete a very successful tour on Buccs at Laarbruch.
2. The accident to XV345 was caused primarily by fatigue cracks in the titanium 'spectacle' frame (Buccaneer guys will recognise this expression and know to which part of the fuselage it refers). Notwithstanding any high g manoeuvring before the wing came off on Red Flag, many of the RAF's fleet of aircraft (ex-RN in this case) had surpassed the fatigue specimen at Brough which it had not been realised was programmed for the benign over-the-water role for which the aircraft was originally designed - tragic consequences that resulted in many aircraft being chucked on the scrap heap and even more tragically resulted in the loss of Ken and Rusty!
3. The previous lengthy grounding followed the loss of XW526 on 12 July 1979, a 16 Sqn jet, over the North German Plain and the loss of Flt Lt Al Colvin and his navigator Sqn Ldr Dave Coupland (may they too Rest in Peace). On this occasion, fatigue in the wing-fold locking mechanism meant that the titanium bolt that locked the wings in the down position fell out and the wing folded in flight. Same result different circumstances!
Finally for Claire. It is good to hear from you and I realise looking at your profile that you may never have known your father. The Buccaneer fraternity is wide and active today despite the fact that the aircraft has been out of service for 20 years. There are many members of our association who will have known your father. Should you wish to be put in touch with anybody whom your mother might remember just PM me and we can do the necessary contact exchange off-line.
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