Flying the Blackburn Buccaneer - Dave Southwood (Part 1)

[@10percenttrue]

Thanks for watching! If you enjoyed this video, please hit the thumbs up button and consider subscribing - your support is much appreciated!

[@tomarmstrong1281]

Map, compass and stopwatch, or dead reckoning as it is known, is a remarkably accurate method of navigation.

[@expat545]

I was a flight line mechanic on 12Sqn. 80-83.. Loved them. Especially the detachments.

[@matthewhalsall5743]

My grandfather worked on the Buccanneer at the Brough works, he was head of tool design for it and modified the design of the wings to improve low speed performance.

[@mycroft1905]

The deck handler at 11:00; smart lad, fab signals, great job.

[@bernardsmith1329]

I was part of a BAe CWP team at Honington and Lossie that fitted the new Tracor chaff and flare dispensers (AN/ALE40N) to Buccaneers prior to operation Pulsator. We had a do in our workshop after their return, naturally with lots of beer and 208 showed us the gun camera film taken at Beruit. It was stunning! It also showed flares being released whilst flying between tower blocks to counter any IR missile threat (Chaff was used but not visible) and, I guess, to also provide a display of intent should you lot misbehave! I am still proud of what those aircrews achieved and what our small team achieved in giving them a layer of protection not available to them in the past. I have no idea what happened to the footage, perhaps it's in 208 archives somewhere?

[@10percenttrue]

Would be great to get hold of that footage, Bernard. Out of interest, how did you find this video?

[@TheSkipjack95]

First heard about Dave on the BBC "Test Pilot" series. Highly recommended watch for any avnerd. It's even here on KZbin.

[@10percenttrue]

Indeed! Linked to in the description box of Part 2 of the interview :)

[@robo3915]

Fascinating! Had no idea about the Lebanon operations. These interviews are so interesting.!

[@10percenttrue]

Thanks, Robert. I confess to also being completely ignorant about Pulsator and had to feign familiarity with it when Dave suggested pre-interview that we discuss it. "Sure!", says I... followed by a very rapid Google search!

[@jameskirk578]

Lebanon. "Through not over" was the order of those days.

[@PhantomMark]

Excellent, look forward to part 2 , thanks :)

[@10percenttrue]

Thanks, Mark. Will be up in the next few days!

[@clewis5220]

I was a Bucc flight sims technician at 237 OCU Honington in late 70s early 80s so would love to know what he thought of our 2 full mission simulators, one was EX-RN and handling different to the RAF1 sim, both had 3 axis motion and visuals ( camera tracking over massive 3D maps!) Bruce Chapple didn’t like them much but we thought he was great, as is Dave!

[@davange77]

I was part of the attachment out on pulsator in Akrotiri as one of the weapons engineer ground crew

[@petebuck9889]

I went out about that time , all a bit of a blur really. I was an armourer too

[@militaryandemergencyservic3286]

My relative flew Buccaneers for the Navy in the 70's (or maybe 60's, I can't remember). He also flew Hunters (and said that the fastest he ever flew was in one of them - I think he said 700 or 800 mph). He said if you lost your way, you might look for a river to get your bearings. He said that 807 squadron was not as good as 801. He also mentioned that the RAF would apparently often accidentally use afterburner to taxi .

[@andypandy5613]

Neither the Buccaneer or Hunter had afterburner so wrong in that one. Taking off in a jet like the Phantom or Lightening which did have afterburner you engaged the afterburner to take off so I’m calling bullshit on that one

[@militaryandemergencyservic3286]

@@andypandy5613 Ha ha - so my Dad was right that RAF people don't have a sense of humour?! What RAF squadron were you in?! (and I never said the Buccaneer had afterburner by the way). That' afterburner for takeoff' was a common Navy joke, old boy!

[@Magic-Smoke]

Ah, Southweed. Long time no see!

[@10percenttrue]

Would love to have you as a guest on the channel, John...

[@paladin0654]

The guns in the Bekkaa valley were ultimately taken out by the USS New Jersey.

[@10percenttrue]

Naval bombardment?

[@AfroAviator626]

Alright

[@COIcultist]

I must confess to failing to understand. If the Buccaneer had so many aids to allow it to land relatively slowly, and it was intended to land on a carrier which is a limited amount of real estate how could it be so poor at slow speed?

[@FlyNAA]

It could be that it has the required (low) approach speed, but is poor in stability, control force, control harmony, lag, etc.

[@COIcultist]

@@FlyNAA Many Thanks. I'm still not sure if I got it, but thanks for your response.

[@Falcon-15]

One thing that made it sluggish was the boundary layer control. This allowed the aircraft to fly slower on approach. It was powered by bleed air from the engines. However to facilitate this the engines had to be at a high power setting. Because of this the engines are at power setting but not actually putting out as much power as they would be when not bleeding air. If on approach, the pilot required to accelerate he didn’t have the instant thrust available because of the bleed. He couldn’t chop the bleed air off until a certain speed was reached otherwise he’d stall. But the lack of instant power meant it was slow to accelerate. Hope that makes sense.

[@stevehilton4052]

I served on the Ark royal in the mid 70's till she paid off.ive had many conversations with buccaneer crews and ( deliberately hanging around the ACRB air crew refreshment bar listening to pilots chit chat) and the one thing everyone agreed to was that it is perfect for the job and couldn't be beaten at low level at speed.The basic point is that the speed and capabilities of hitting the target before it is detected far outweigh the difficulty at landing on a carrier.Ive looked eye to eye with a buccaneer pilot as he flew past whilst on the weather deck ( 4 decks below the flight deck)... On interesting thing about the buccaneer is that they can't fly at its lowest because it leaves a visible wash on the surface ( just like the gulf war when lower than 20 feet left a dust trail) Can you imagine being on a ship achieving a radar hit but by the time you get a radar lock it's too late.... she has already dropped the ordnance and on its way home... fantastic aircraft