EDUARD #48132 BRASS PHOTOETCH DETAIL SET HS BUCCANEER S2B INTERIOR for AIRFIX kit RN FAA RAF JET ATTACK PLANE

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Additional Information from Internet Encyclopedia

The Blackburn Buccaneer originated in the early 1950s as a design for a carrier-borne attack aircraft able to carry a nuclear bomb below radar coverage. It was a British low-level subsonic strike aircraft that served with the Royal Navy (RN) and later the Royal Air Force (RAF), retiring from service in 1994. Designed and initially produced by Blackburn Aircraft at Brough, it was later known as the Hawker Siddeley Buccaneer when Blackburn became a part of the Hawker Siddeley group.

The Royal Navy originally procured the Buccaneer as a naval strike aircraft capable of operating from their aircraft carriers, introducing the type to service in 1962 to counterbalance advances made in the Soviet Navy. The Buccaneer was capable of delivering nuclear weapons as well as conventional weapons for anti-shipping warfare, and was typically active in the North Sea area during its service. Early on the initial production aircraft suffered a series of accidents due to insufficient engine power, thus the Buccaneer S.2, equipped with more powerful Rolls-Royce Spey engines, was soon introduced.

Although they originally rejected it in favour of the supersonic BAC TSR-2, the RAF later procured the Buccaneer as a substitute following the cancellation of both the TSR-2 and its planned replacement, the F-111K. When the RN retired the last of its large aircraft carriers, its Buccaneers were transferred to the RAF. The South African Air Force also procured the type. Buccaneers saw combat action in the Gulf War and the South African Border War. In RN service, the Buccaneer was replaced with the V/STOL British Aerospace Sea Harrier. In RAF service, it was replaced by the Panavia Tornado.

The Buccaneer was a mid-wing, twin-engine monoplane with a crew of two in a tandem seat arrangement. In service, the Buccaneer was required to regularly fly at sea level in order to avoid radar and enemy air defence systems, often flying long range missions from both aircraft carriers and shore bases. The aircraft had an all-weather flight capability due to the extensive electronics used on the type for navigation and fire-control functions; these systems also greatly assisted the crew during low level flight operations. The Buccaneer was one of the largest aircraft to operate from British aircraft carriers, and continued operating from them until the last conventional carrier was withdrawn in 1978. During its service, the Buccaneer was the backbone of the Navy's ground strike operations, including the critically important nuclear strike mission.

In order to enable the aircraft to perform effectively in the crucial low level flight conditions it was operated under, several major design features were integrated into the Buccaneer. The then-new technology of boundary layer control (BLC) was studied extensively and a fully 'blown' wing was adopted, significantly improving low-speed performance crucial to effective carrier operations. The Buccaneer featured a large internal bomb bay, in which a wide range of conventional and nuclear armaments could be housed, in addition to external weapons mounting points. The fuselage of the aircraft was designed for exceptional strength and durability, and to resist the phenomenon of metal fatigue exacerbated by prolonged flight operations at low altitude.

The majority of the rear fuselage's internal area was used to house electronics, such as elements of the radio, equipment supporting the aircraft's radar functionality, and the crew's liquid oxygen life support system; the whole compartment was actively cooled by ram air drawn from the tailfin. For redundancy, the Buccaneer featured dual busbars for electrical systems and three independent hydraulic systems. The aircraft was made easier to control and land via an integrated flight control computer that performed auto-stabilisation and auto pilot functions.

The Buccaneer had been designed specifically as a maritime nuclear strike aircraft. Its intended weapon was a nuclear air-to-surface missile codenamed Green Cheese, but this weapon's development was cancelled, and in its place was the unguided 2,000 lb (907 kg) Red Beard, which had been developed for the Canberra. Red Beard had an explosive yield in the 10 to 20 kiloton range; and was mounted on a special bomb bay door into which it nested neatly to reduce aerodynamic buffet on the launch aircraft. At low levels and high speeds, traditional bomb bay doors could not be opened safely into the air stream; therefore, doors were developed that rotated into the fuselage to expose the payload; this feature also proved convenient in providing ground-level access.

The bomb bay could also accommodate a 2,000 l (440 imp gal; 528 US gal) ferry tank, a photo-reconnaissance "crate" or a cargo container. The reconnaissance package featured an assortment of six cameras, each at different angles or having different imaging properties, and was only mounted on missions specifically involving reconnaissance activities. The Buccaneer also featured four underwing hard points capable of mounting 1,000 lb (454 kg) bombs, missiles, fuel tanks, or other equipment such as flares; later developments saw the adoption of wing-mounted electronic warfare and laser designator pods. Upon its entry into service, the Buccaneer was capable of carrying practically all munitions then in use by Royal Navy aircraft. It was intended for a pack with twin Aden 30 mm cannons to be developed for the Buccaneer, however the effort was abandoned and the type never carried a cannon armament.

Early on in the Buccaneer's career, conventional anti-ship missions would have employed a mix of iron bombs and rockets at close range. This tactic became increasingly impractical in the face of Soviet anti-aircraft missile advances, thus later Buccaneers were adapted to make use of several missiles capable of striking enemy ships from a distance. The Anglo-French Martel missile was introduced upon the Buccaneer, but its operational experience was described as having been "very temperamental" and its deployment required an attacking Buccaneer to increase its altitude and thus its vulnerability to being attacked itself. An extensive upgrade program undertaken in the 1980s enabled compatibility with several new pieces of equipment, including the Sea Eagle missile. The Sea Eagle was a self-guiding 'fire-and-forget' missile capable of striking targets at a range of 60 miles, four times greater than that of the Martel and also being significantly more powerful.

The first production Buccaneer model, the Buccaneer S.1, entered squadron service with the Fleet Air Arm in January 1963. It was powered by a pair of de Havilland Gyron Junior turbojets producing 7,100 pounds-force (32 kN) of thrust. This mark was somewhat underpowered and as a consequence could not take off fully laden with both fuel and armament. A temporary solution to this problem was the "buddy" system; aircraft took off with a full load of weaponry and minimal fuel and would sortie with a Supermarine Scimitar that would deliver the full load of fuel by aerial refuelling. The lack of power meant, however, that the loss of an engine during take-off or landing at full load, when the aircraft was dependent on flap blowing, could be catastrophic.

The long-term solution to the underpowered S.1 was the development of the Buccaneer S.2, fitted with the Rolls-Royce Spey turbofan engine, which provided 40% more thrust. The Spey had other advantages: greatly reducing the aircraft's fuel consumption provided more range. The engine nacelles had to be enlarged to accommodate the Spey, and the wing required minor aerodynamic modifications as a result. Hawker Siddeley announced the production order for the S.2 in January 1962. All Royal Navy squadrons had converted to the improved S.2 by the end of 1966.

The Buccaneer also participated in regular patrols and exercises in the North Sea, practicing the type's role if war had broken out with the Soviet Union. During the 1960s and 1970s, the Royal Navy standardised the air wings operating from their carriers around the Phantom, Buccaneer, and the Fairey Gannet aircraft. A total of six FAA squadrons were equipped with the Buccaneer: 700B/700Z (Intensive Flying Trials Unit), 736 (training), 800, 801, 803 and 809 Naval Air Squadrons. Buccaneers were embarked on HMS Victorious, Eagle, Ark Royal and Hermes.

The Buccaneer was retired from Fleet Air Arm service with the decommissioning in 1978 of the Ark Royal, the last of the navy's fleet carriers. Their retirement was part of a larger foreign policy agenda that was implemented throughout the 1970s. Measures such as the withdrawal of most British military forces stationed East of Suez were viewed as reducing the need for aircraft carriers and fixed-wing naval aviation in general. The decision was highly controversial, particularly to those within the Fleet Air Arm. The Royal Navy would replace the naval strike capability of the Buccaneer with the smaller V/STOL-capable British Aerospace Sea Harrier, which were operated from their Invincible class aircraft carriers

 In October 1962, 16 aircraft were ordered by the South African Air Force, as the Buccaneer S.50. These were S.2 aircraft with the addition of Bristol Siddeley BS.605 rocket engines to provide additional thrust for the "hot and high" African airfields. The S.50 was also equipped with strengthened undercarriage and higher capacity wheel brakes, and had manually folded wings. They were equipped to use the AS-30 command guided air-to-surface missiles. In-flight refuelling was also specified and due to the vast coastline, longer range 430 US gallons (1,628 l; 358 imp gal) underwing tanks. Once in service, the extra thrust of the BS.605 rocket engines proved to be unnecessary and thus the rockets were very rarely operated and were eventually removed from all aircraft. South Africa later sought to procure further Buccaneers, but the British Government blocked further orders due to an imposition of a United Nations embargo of South Africa.  SAAF Buccaneers saw active service during the South Africa Border War, frequently flying over Angola and Namibia and launching attacks upon SWAPO guerilla camps in the 1970s and 1980s. During a ground offensive, Buccaneers would often fly close air support (CAS) missions armed with anti-personnel rockets, as well as performing bombardment operations. Buccaneers played a major role in the Battle of Cassinga in 1978, being employed in repeated strikes upon armoured vehicles, including enemy tanks, and to cover the withdrawal of friendly ground forces from the combat zone. The Buccaneer was capable of carrying heavy load outs over a long range and could remain in theatre for longer than other aircraft, making it attractive for the CAS role. Only five aircraft remained by the time the Buccaneer was retired from service in 1991.

After the cancellation of the TSR-2 and then the substitute American General Dynamics F-111K, the Royal Air Force still required a replacement for its Canberras in the low-level strike role, while the planned retirement for the Royal Navy's aircraft carriers meant that the RAF would also need to add a maritime strike capability. It was therefore decided in 1968 that the RAF would adopt the Buccaneer, both by the purchase of new-build aircraft, and by taking over the Fleet Air Arm's Buccaneers as the carriers were retired. A total of 46 new-build aircraft for the RAF were built by Blackburn's successor, Hawker Siddeley, designated S.2B. These had RAF-type communications and avionics equipment, Martel air-to-surface missile capability, and could be equipped with a bulged bomb-bay door containing an extra fuel tank.

Some Fleet Air Arm Buccaneers were modified in-service to also carry the Martel anti-ship missile. Martel-capable FAA aircraft were later redesignated S.2D. The remaining aircraft became S.2C. RAF aircraft were given various upgrades. Self-defence was improved by the addition of the AN/ALQ-101 ECM pod (also found on RAF's SEPECAT Jaguar GR.3), chaff / flare dispensers and AIM-9 Sidewinder capability. RAF low-level strike Buccaneers could carry out what was known as "retard defence"; four 1,000 lb (454 kg) retarded bombs carried internally could be dropped to provide an effective deterrent against any following aircraft. In 1979, the RAF obtained the American AN/AVQ-23E Pave Spike laser designator pod for Paveway II guided bombs; allowing the aircraft to act as target designators for other Buccaneers, Jaguars, and other strike aircraft. From 1986, No. 208 Squadron RAF then No. 12 (B) Sqn replaced the Martel ASM with the Sea Eagle missile.

The Buccaneer took part in combat operations during the 1991 Gulf War. It had been anticipated that Buccaneers might need to perform in the target designation role, although early on this had been thought to be "unlikely". Following a short-notice decision to deploy, the first batch of six aircraft were readied to deploy in under 72 hours, including the adoption of desert camouflage and additional equipment, and departed from Lossiemouth for the Middle Eastern theatre early on 26 January 1991. In theatre, it became common for each attack formation to comprise four Tornados and two Buccaneers; each Buccaneer carried a single laser designator pod and acted as backup to the other in the event of an equipment malfunction. The first combat mission took place on 2 February, operating at a medium altitude of roughly 18,000 feet, and successfully attacked the As Suwaira Road Bridge.