Jim R
SMF Supporter
This will be my next build. An aeroplane which I have wanted to build for many years. The new Airfix kits have excellent reviews and so now seemed a good time. I have a personal connection to the Buccaneer as my father was one of the designers. My family moved to Brough, where the Blackburn factory was, from London in the mid 1950s. Dad was transferred there to work on the design team. The Buccaneers were built at Brough but the completed planes were taken to Holme-on-Spalding-Moor where the runway was more suitable. As children we would ride our bikes alongside, much to the annoyance of the escort!
Blackburn's chief test pilot was a guy called Derek Whitehead, a very flamboyant character. As a young lad he was my hero and once he let me sit in the pilot's seat of a Buccaneer
I have chosen plane XV336, no 800 Naval Air Squadron, stationed on HMS Eagle during the summer of 1971. At that time HMS Eagle had 14 Buccaneers on board. HMS Eagle, the sister ship to HMS Ark Royal, was an Audacious class aircraft carrier built by Harland and Wolff in Belfast. The keel was laid down in 1942, she was launched by Princess Elizabeth in 1946 and completed in 1951. She was originally built to take 60 aircraft but by 1971 she carried only 39. She was one of the last "big carriers" and was decommissioned in 1972 and her Buccaneers were transferred to the RAF.
My plan is to show the plane on a section of flight deck, all "folded up", wings, air brakes and nose cone.
The kit and some aftermarket stuff.
I got the kit cheap, second hand, and strangely there were two lower bodies??
Canopy masks
Quinta 3D decals
I bought two sets of FOD covers, one PE and one resin. The resin will probably be easier to work with but I wanted the ladders in the PE set.
Anyway that's my plan. I hope some of you will join me on what will undoubtedly be a slow build - as mine always are
Blackburn's chief test pilot was a guy called Derek Whitehead, a very flamboyant character. As a young lad he was my hero and once he let me sit in the pilot's seat of a Buccaneer
I have chosen plane XV336, no 800 Naval Air Squadron, stationed on HMS Eagle during the summer of 1971. At that time HMS Eagle had 14 Buccaneers on board. HMS Eagle, the sister ship to HMS Ark Royal, was an Audacious class aircraft carrier built by Harland and Wolff in Belfast. The keel was laid down in 1942, she was launched by Princess Elizabeth in 1946 and completed in 1951. She was originally built to take 60 aircraft but by 1971 she carried only 39. She was one of the last "big carriers" and was decommissioned in 1972 and her Buccaneers were transferred to the RAF.
My plan is to show the plane on a section of flight deck, all "folded up", wings, air brakes and nose cone.
The kit and some aftermarket stuff.
I got the kit cheap, second hand, and strangely there were two lower bodies??
Canopy masks
Quinta 3D decals
I bought two sets of FOD covers, one PE and one resin. The resin will probably be easier to work with but I wanted the ladders in the PE set.
Anyway that's my plan. I hope some of you will join me on what will undoubtedly be a slow build - as mine always are
Coming from Plymouth, with it's strong Navy connections, the likes of Ark Royal,Eagle etc bring back strong, boyhood memories
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