Well …. Let's see what I can remember …
The retractable AAR probe very cleverly designed into the S1 proved to be too short for safe flight refuelling. That is to say, by the time you were just about to engage, the airflow over the radome had started to deflect the basket slowly and surreptitiously north east. After a bit of stable deflection it then whipped back on you. Over the top and the chaps might get rapped on the canopy. Underways and it might rap the fuselage just ahead of the nosewheel door - in the vicinity of the
crash strips. That realisation brought 801 Squadron re-fuelling trials (in 1963, with 899 Vixens ISTR) to an abrupt halt. Hence the later addition of the much longer, fixed probe which about doubled the distance of the nozzle from the radome.
There was no 'getting airborne and tanking' on the Vic because tho' the embarked Vixens could play tanker, 801 Mk 1s didn't get the fixed probe until some time after late '64 and the retractable probe presented unacceptable risk. Every production machine delivered to 801 (probably 20 airframes up to late '64 at least) had a functioning retractable probe. You couldn't tank, but it looked good cycling. I can't speak for 809 HQ Squadron or 800 - the second frontline Mk 1 mob.
Payload ** – Ashore, it depended on runway length - you loaded it up and let the beast have its head. For deck work, you needed graphs to work out the max catapult weight – that was done upstairs. Depending on wind over the deck which would be 'ships speed only' if it were calm - max weight was based on acceleration after launch – you loaded it up (or unloaded it) until the graph got down (or up) to one knot per second. Tail down, ‘hands-off-stick’ launch and clean up on schedule. I don’t think anyone relied on the cunning ‘select undercarriage up (after tensioning) before launch’ facility but your left hand was holding the throttles open so the undercarriage button was quite close to finger. Bear in mind you came off the end at about 50 ft and 130 kts and single engine safety was 200 ft and 150 kts.
The Mk 2’s regular acceleration after launch was said to be in the region of seven kts per second, which gave rise to an altogether different set of problems.
I claim to have once seen the makers glossy brochure for the Mk 1. I think the Mk 2 probably came somewhere close to Blackburn’s original claims for the Mk 1.
Highly recommend ‘From the Cockpit No 6 - Buccaneer S.1’ by the very recently departed Commander Mike ‘Punchy’ Doust. There’s a photo of the retractable probe on page 18 - part reproduced below. There's about a dozen other good books available including 'Buccaneer Boys' and 'A Passion for Flying.' Both authors spent many years on both Mks.
** The pay wasn’t much either, about £3 4s 8d a day including flying pay, IIRC, but it were grand fun at the time. LFH
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