Blackburn Buccaneer. Great Britain's Greatest Nuclear Bomber.

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The Blackburn Buccaneer was a British carrier-borne strike/attack aircraft designed in the 1950s for the Royal Navy (RN).
The Buccaneer was originally designed in response to the Soviet Union's massive Sverdlov-class cruiser construction programme. Instead of building a new fleet of its own, the Royal Navy could use the Buccaneer to attack these ships with relative impunity by approaching at low altitudes below the ship's radar horizon. The Buccaneer could attack using a nuclear bomb, or conventional weapons, in engagements lasting less than a minute, quickly flying out of range whilst its weapons struck. It was later upgraded to carry short-range anti-shipping missiles to further enhance its survivability against more modern ship-based anti-aircraft weapons.
The Buccaneer entered Royal Naval service in 1962. The initial production aircraft suffered a series of accidents due to insufficient engine power, which was quickly addressed in the Buccaneer S.2, equipped with more powerful Rolls-Royce Spey jet engines. The Buccaneer was also offered as an entrant into a new Royal Air Force (RAF) contest for a new attack aircraft. It was initially rejected in favour of the much more advanced supersonic BAC TSR-2, but the TSR-2 programme was controversially canceled, only to be followed by the cancellation of its selected replacement, the General Dynamics F-111K. The Buccaneer was finally purchased by the MoD for the Royal Air Force, entering service in 1969.
The Royal Navy retired the last of its large aircraft carriers in 1978, moving their fixed-wing capability to the British Aerospace Sea Harrier, and passing their Buccaneers to the Royal Air Force. After a crash in 1980 revealed metal fatigue problems, the RAF fleet was reduced to 60 aircraft, while the rest were scrapped.
The ending of the Cold War led to a reduction in strength of the Royal Air Force, and the accelerated retirement of the remaining fleet, with the last Buccaneers in RAF service being retired in 1994; in favour of the Panavia Tornado.
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From the MATV team, thank you for watching.

[@zenzen9131]

Worked on these as an RAF instrument tech in the early 70s. Everyone who worked on them or flew them rated them as the best aircraft ever !

[@militaryaviationtv]

The Buccaneer was a tremendous aircraft, and would have probably served with the US Navy if politics hadn't got in the way...

[@SilencedMi5]

Outstanding documentary in the best fashion of the old school - much like the aircraft it is documenting! Thank you for uploading this gem!

[@ianbell5611]

Great video. Thank You👍👍

[@chrissearle6176]

One of the gents In my village(25 miles from hull) saw it go down & was 1st on the seen but no one believed him

[@jonallen6349]

i remember vividly walking along the sea defenses at sutton on sea lincolnshire aged about ten and a buccaneer flew over so low literally 60 foot above my head and headed out full chat over the north sea that memory has stuck with me for nearly forty years i still think they are epic and so was the british aviation industry at that time tsr2 decisions aside (mistake) goose bump moment can picture it like yesterday

[@paulm2467]

I love watching that amazing take off technique when the buccaneers appear to just raise their undercarriage and fly straight at about 20ft.

[@danielearley5062]

Raise undercarriage, descend to operating height.

[@4income4life]

Excellent documentary. Takes me back to my days as a cadet in the ATC in the late 50s. Our instructor enthused about the NA-39, as it was then, and how it used area rule in the design. Surprised this was not mentioned in the video, because it was a relatively new concept in aircraft construction..

[@militaryaviationtv]

We bet you have some great memories from your time in ATC? :]

[@thetreblerebel]

The buccaneer was a low level strike badass it competed against f-15s f16s and anything else the Americans in the world could throw at it and it always beat him at Red flag cuz British Pilots flying the buccaneer or fast low and very good at their job

[@allgood6760]

Awesome 👍🇳🇿

[@militaryaviationtv]

Thanks ✌️

[@thesceptic1018]

Remember these coming screaming in over the beach when I was at school near Lossie

[@militaryaviationtv]

Nothing flew lower! Bet you have great memories, @thesceptic1018?

[@richardbowden6068]

I will echo others on here and say what an excellent documentary. As an ex Fleet Air Arm engineer I'm always pleased to see Royal Navy aircraft on film.

[@militaryaviationtv]

Thank you Richard, we're glad you enjoyed it. Stay tuned to MATV as we're sure they might be one or two more FAA aircraft featured in the future. Don't forget to tell your friends about us here at MATV. :]

[@michaelmitchell5380]

I guess I was thinking about the VC-10 tanker conversion and the Nimrod reincarnation of the Comet. Also consider the long life of various versions of the F-5 fighter. Perhaps where there's a will, there's a way?

[@militaryaviationtv]

The Buccaneer had various upgrades over the years, but like a lot of aircraft from 50/60's they were fast becoming obsolete in the modern combat environment. In its day there was very few aircraft that could touch the 'Bucc'; just ask the 'Yanks' at Red Flag! :]

[@steveclarke1068]

@@militaryaviationtv Is there any footage of Red Flag around?

[@militaryaviationtv]

@@steveclarke1068 if you mean of the Buccaneer at Red Flag, then we are yet to find some. Obviousy we have current Red Flag videos on our channel.

[@rmcguire7033]

Having tried very, very, hard to find any video at all of the Buccaneer in action at Red Flag, I have found none. Perhaps the Yanks have suppressed it because it was so embarrassing The Yanks thought they were impenetrable, and the Buccaneer showed them how wrong they were....flying at 10 or 20 feet above the ground. That is True Skill.

[@lauriecroad3186]

Brilliant, thanks.

[@militaryaviationtv]

Glad you enjoyed it Laurie.

[@michaelmitchell5380]

This aircraft seems to have been stellar. Why, like so many proven aircraft, couldn't this aircraft been re-purposed or upgraded. Or do we have to go through more new unproven designs, at extreme tax-payer expense, just to come back where we began. I think the French said best "The more things change, the more they remain the same."

[@militaryaviationtv]

Michael the Buccaneer was a great aircraft. To be honest, when it was retired from service the airframes really were on their last legs.

[@myparceltape1169]

They never expected to use them for lazer target marking. But they hung around and kept the target illuminated.

[@chrissearle6176]

There was no longer deemed a need for this type to aircraft, they wanted an all in one fighter/bomber. Same with the vulcan which is a Shame really

[@dkoz8321]

Shore based catapult and training unit at 33:54. Where is that? If it still exists. I 'll take Google Earth Long/Lat or MGRS 8 digit grid for you RN and RNFAA veterans. Where does RNFAA train its plane handlers for new QE? Is there a QE outline on deck concrete somewhere? I want to build one in 3D for my DCS.

[@militaryaviationtv]

School of Flight Deck Operations-RNAS Culdrose, Cornwall is where all RNFAA deck crew are trained.