Blackburn Buccaneer
| Blackburn Buccaneer | |
|---|---|
 Buccaneer S.2B of the Royal Air Force , 1988 |
|
| Type: | bomber |
| Design country: | |
| Manufacturer: | |
| First flight: |
April 30, 1958 |
| Commissioning: |
17th July 1962 |
| Production time: |
1961 to 1977 |
| Number of pieces: |
206 |
The Blackburn Buccaneer was a twin-engine fighter aircraft of the time of the Cold War, from British production. It was developed as "Model B-103" by Blackburn Aircraft ; after the company was taken over by Hawker Siddeley , it was often referred to as the Hawker Siddeley Buccaneer . The aircraft was used by the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force and intended for low-level attacks.
history
development
When the Soviet Navy put the Sverdlov-class light cruisers into service in the early 1950s , the Royal Navy requested a special low- attack aircraft to defend the Atlantic convoy routes with conventional and nuclear weapons . In June 1952, the Naval Staff Requirement NA.39 was issued. It required an aircraft with folding wings and a two-man crew that could be used on aircraft carriers and that should reach Mach 0.85 at a height of 60 m. The range should be 400 NM (740 km). Nuclear weapons in a bomb bay were required as armament. The British Ministry of Supply then issued the M.148T tender of the same name in August 1952 .
The winner of the tender was the "Project B-103" designed by the designer BP Laight. For reasons of secrecy, the aircraft was referred to as BNA (Blackburn Naval Aircraft = Blackburn naval aircraft) or BANA (Blackburn Advanced Naval Aircraft = advanced Blackburn naval aircraft), which led to the nickname "Banana Jet".
The first flight of the first prototype (RAF serial number XK486) took place in RAE Bedford , where it had been transported by road from the Blackburn plant in Brough , as the company's own runway in Holme-on-Spalding Moor (HoSM) was considered too short . From the second prototype, however, all further first flights were carried out from HoSM.
technology
The Buccaneer was designed as a middle-decker with two engines, with the two-man crew seated one behind the other. A special design feature was that the rear seat was separated from the pilot by its own windshield. The pulpit roof was one-piece and was pushed back over the back of the fuselage to open. The fuselage was constructed according to the latest aerodynamic findings at the time with a "wasp waist" according to the area rule . The horizontal stabilizer of the T-tail unit was designed to be fully movable as a pendulum rudder for easier trimming . To reduce the landing speed on aircraft carriers, the aircraft received inflated landing flaps . However, to generate the necessary bleed air, the engines also had to run at high power in slow flight. That is why the aircraft landed with the characteristic tail cone that was expanded as an air brake . The bomb bay was designed to rotate. Furthermore, the nose of the aircraft with the radar could be folded down 180 ° to the left, which should facilitate the accommodation in the hangars of the relatively small British aircraft carriers.
The first production version Buccaneer S.1 suffered from the weak de Havilland Gyron Junior Mk 101 engines, which meant that the machines could not start with a full tank and armed. They made do with the fact that the planes took off fully armed and were refueled in the air by Supermarine Scimitar . The Buccaneer S.2 was therefore equipped with Rolls-Royce-Spey engines, which delivered 40% more thrust while at the same time greatly reducing fuel consumption. The S.1 were therefore retired in November 1966.
As early as January 1963, South Africa ordered 16 pages 2 with Bristol-Siddeley BS.605 start-up kits in order to be able to start better from the high-altitude and hot bases in South Africa. The 16 aircraft were delivered as "S.50", but one crashed before handing over to the South African Air Force.
In November 1968, the Buccaneer was also ordered for the Royal Air Force to replace the English Electric Canberra , although the RAF had originally rejected the aircraft. The reason was the deletion of the originally intended BAC TSR-2 or the General Dynamics F-111K . The RAF then received 46 S.2B . These had avionics equipment from the RAF, an enlarged bomb bay to accommodate an additional tank and could be equipped with AS.37 Martel air-to-ground missiles.
variants
The following series were developed for the armed forces of the United Kingdom. (For the series designations, see the information on the designation system of British aircraft ).
- Blackburn NA.39
- Pre-production aircraft, 20 built.
- Buccaneer p.1
- Production version of the Royal Navy (RN) with de Havilland Gyron Junior engine, 40 built.
- Buccaneer p.2
- S.1 with Rolls-Royce-Spey engine, built 84.
- Buccaneer S.2A
- Designation of the Royal Air Force (RAF) for S.2, 62 pieces taken over from the RN
- Buccaneer S.2B
- Version with avionics equipment of the RAF, enlarged bomb bay to accommodate an additional tank, armament with AS.37 Martel air-to-ground missiles. 46 built from 1973 to 1977 (as well as three converted S.2A).
- Buccaneer S.2C
- S.2 with improved avionics, nine rebuilt
- Buccaneer S.2D
- 1975 modified S.2 of the Royal Navy, which could be equipped with AS.37 Martel air-to-ground missiles, 15 rebuilt
The following version was the designation for export to South Africa
- Buccaneer p.50
- manual operation of the folding wings, equipment with jump starters, 16 built.
- Since there was no trainer version of the Buccaneer , Hawker Hunter T.8 were provided with cockpit equipment similar to the Buccaneer for retraining .
- The RAF received a total of 62 S.2 / C / D from the Royal Navy and modified them to "S.2B". Many RAF Buccaneers have also been modified.
- When a Buccaneer S.2B broke apart during a Red Flag low-level flight exercise in the USA in February 1980, the planes were banned from starting. With the exception of the aircraft used for anti-naval operations, the airframe was severely fatigued as a result of the low-level flight operations. As a result, the cell was reinforced on 60 machines.
Technical specifications
| Parameter | Blackburn Buccaneer p.1 | Blackburn Buccaneer p.2B |
|---|---|---|
| crew | 2 | 2 |
| length | 19.33 m | 19.33 m |
| span | 12.90 m | 13.41 m |
| Total mass | 20,866 kg | 28,000 kg |
| Top speed | 1038 km / h at sea level | 1074 km / h |
| normal range | approx. 1600 km | 3700 km |
| Engines | two jet engines Bristol-Siddeley Gyron Junior Mk-101 each with 3221 kp static thrust | two Rolls-Royce Spey engines with 49 kN thrust each |
Armament
Internal weapon bay
- Weapons loaded up to 1814 kg of weapons, whereby with full armament only little fuel could be taken due to the weak engines and therefore an aerial refueling had to take place shortly afterwards,
- Unguided bombs
- 4 × Royal Ordnance MC / GP Mk.10 (1000 lb / 454 kg free-fall bomb )
- 4 × Royal Ordnance MC / GP Mk.20 (540 lb / 245 kg free-fall bomb)
- 1 × Red Beard (25 kt nuclear bomb)
- 1 × WE.177 (parachute-delayed 10 kt nuclear bomb)
- Additional container
- 1 × bulged additional tank instead of the bomb bay for 2000 liters of kerosene
At external load stations
- Gun loading up to 5364 kg at four external load stations
- Air-to-air guided missile
- 2 × LAU-7 / A start rails for one Raytheon AIM-9G / L "Sidewinder" each (infrared-guided for short distances)
- Air-to-surface guided missile
- 4 × Hawker Siddeley (BAe) & Matra AS.37 "Martel" , anti-radar guided missile with rocket propulsion
- 3 × Hawker Siddeley (BAe) & Matra AJ.168 "Martel", TV-controlled
- 2 × Aérospatiale AS.30 , optical radio-controlled (MCLOS) 520 kg guided missile with rocket propulsion
- 4 × BAe Dynamics P3T "Sea Eagle" , radar-guided anti -ship missile
- Unguided air-to-surface missiles
- 4 × MATRA 155 rocket tube launch containers (for 18 × unguided SNEB air-to-surface rockets, caliber 68 mm)
- 4 × rocket tube launch containers (for 36 × unguided air-to-surface rockets, caliber 50 mm)
- Guided bombs
- 1 × Mk.13 / 18 "Paveway II" (laser-guided glide bomb 450 kg / 1000 lb analogous to the GBU-16C / B)
- Unguided bombs
- 5 × Hunting BL755 (264 kg anti-tank cluster bomb)
- 5 × Royal Ordnance MC / GP Mk.10 (1000 lb / 454 kg free fall bomb )
- 4 × BRU-42 TER bomb carrier racks, each with 3 × Royal Ordnance MC / GP Mk.20 (540 lb / 245 kg free-fall bomb)
- 2 × Lepus (80 kg light bomb, lighting using magnesium, fall delayed by a parachute)
- 1 × Red Beard (20 kt nuclear bomb )
- 2 × WE.177 (parachute-delayed 10 kt nuclear bomb)
- Additional container
- 2 × permanently mounted additional tanks for 1,136 liters / 300 US gallons of kerosene
- 2 × drop-off additional tanks for 1628 liters / 430 US gallons of kerosene (only page 50 version)
- 1 × AN / ALQ-101 (V) -10 electronic jam container
- 1 × laser target illumination container Westinghouse AN / ASQ-153 \ AN / AVQ-23E "Pave Spike"
- 1 × air refueling container flight Refueling Ltd M20 with hose (buddy refueling) for 636 liters of kerosene
- 1 × photo reconnaissance container with six cameras with a flash
- 1 × data transmission container for Martel
Self defense
- Active measures
- 2 × flare launcher Tracor AN / ALE-40 each with 15 flare cartridges (e.g. MJU-7A / B heat flares ) with 38 mm width and length or 30 RR-170 flare cartridges with 25 mm width and length
- Passive action
- 4 × ARI.18228 radar warning receiver in the rudder unit and on the wings
- 4 × Sky Guardian 200 radar warning receiver as a retrofit before the Gulf War
Users
User states
-
South Africa
-
South African Air Force
- No. 24 Squadron
- Thunder City , a private company
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-
United Kingdom
-
Royal Air Force
- No. 12 Squadron
- No. XV Squadron
- No. 16 Squadron
- No. 208 Squadron
- No. 216 Squadron
- No. 237 Operational Conversion Unit
-
Royal Navy , Fleet Air Arm
- 700Z / 700B Naval Air Squadron (training squadron)
- 736 Naval Air Squadron (training squadron)
- 800 Naval Air Squadron
- 801 Naval Air Squadron
- 803 Naval Air Squadron
- 809 Naval Air Squadron
Station locations in Germany
-
Royal Air Force Germany
- RAF Laarbruch , January 1971 to February 1984, Buccaneer S.2B ( 15th and 16th Squadron )
commitment
From 1962 the Royal Navy used the Buccaneer . A total of six squadrons flew the aircraft, four of them from the aircraft carriers Victorious , Eagle , Ark Royal and Hermes .
The Buccaneer was used by the British in the trouble spots of the 1960s, for example on the "Beira Patrol" after Southern Rhodesia declared independence in 1964 or the British withdrawal from Aden in 1967. However, there were no combat missions.
In 1967 Buccaneers "sank" the tanker Torrey Canyon , which had run aground off Lands End , with high-explosive bombs; the task was also to ignite the crude oil, for which various planes dropped napalm and kerosene. Never before had such a large ship been sunk by an airplane.
In 1972, two Buccaneers showed presence over Belize when there was a threat that Guatemala would occupy what it considered to be a province of its own colony. The six-hour flight, carried out with two additional Buccanneer tankers, was the longest deployment by Buccaneers and may have kept the Guatemalan Armed Forces, equipped only with P-51 Mustang , from deploying long enough for the aircraft carrier to actually be in range.
With the decommissioning of the aircraft carrier Ark Royal in 1978, the use of the Buccaneer in the Royal Navy ended.
Royal Air Force
A total of six squadrons of the Royal Air Force flew the Buccaneer . The two squadrons of RAF Germany ( RAF Laarbruch , January 1971 to February 1984, 15th and 16th Squadron ), like the 12th Squadron of the Strike Command, specialized in low-level flight missions. The 208th and 216th Squadron, however, specialized in anti-ship combat after the Royal Navy's large aircraft carriers had been decommissioned in the 1970s, later the 12th Squadron took over this role from the 216th Squadron, which the Buccaneers no longer used .
After the start of the Second Gulf War in January 1991, six British Tornado GR1s were lost in low-level attacks. It was therefore decided to fly the attacks from altitudes above 5000 to 6000 m, where the tornadoes were relatively safe from the Iraqi air defense. However, they could only "blindly" drop their bombs from this height. Therefore, you needed an aircraft that could mark the targets for laser-guided bombs. The only aircraft available was the Buccaneer . The first planes were on their way to Bahrain within just three days . A total of twelve aircraft were used, which flew 250 sorties between January 26 and February 27, 1991. They marked the targets for 169 GBU-16B / B- Paveway-II bombs from the tornadoes and dropped 48 themselves. On March 17, 1991, all aircraft returned to their RAF Lossiemouth base in Scotland.
In March 1994, the last of the Royal Air Force Buccaneers joined the No. 208 Squadron decommissioned.
South Africa
The South African Air Force used the 15 Buccaneer S.50 from the Waterkloof military airfield near Pretoria from 1965 to 1991. Three airworthy copies were later available from the civil operator “Thunder City” at Cape Town International Airport, which had organized flights.
Trivia
This airplane plays an important role in Frederick Forsyth's novel Cobra .
See also
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original from March 13, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Denis J. Calvert, David Donald: Blackburn Buccaneer . In: Wings of Fame Volume 14, 1999, pp. 36, 39
- ↑ http://www.blackburn-buccaneer.co.uk/Pages1_files/History_Index.html
- ↑ http://www.blackburn-buccaneer.co.uk/Pages1_files/Squadrons_Index.html
- ↑ Jets bomb tanker Torrey Canyon published 05/19/2013; see also: Blackburn Buccaneer: The Last British Bomber (Planes of Fame)
- ↑ http://www.blackburn-buccaneer.co.uk/0_Gulf-missions.html
- ↑ CG Jefford: RAF Squadrons. Airlife Publishing, 2nd Edition, Shrewsbury 2001, ISBN 1-84037-141-2 .
