Pitchfork - Buccaneer boys - true tales by those who flew the last all british-bomber

BY THE SAME AUTHOR

Men Behind the Medals

The Buccaneers

Men Behind the Medals A New Selection

Shot Down and on the Run

Shot Down and in the Drink

Royal Air Force Day by Day

The RAFs First Jet Squadron

The Battle of Britain Story

The Sowreys

Published by
Grub Street
4 Rainham Close
London
SW11 6SS

Copyright Grub Street 2013
Copyright text Air Commodore Graham Pitchfork 2013
Copyright foreword Sir michael knight 2013

A CIP record for this title is available from the British Library
ISBN-13: 9781909166110

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner.

Cover design by Sarah driver
Design by Sarah Driver
Edited by Sophie Campbell

Printed and bound by Berforts Group, Uk

Grub Street Publishing only uses
FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) paper for its books.

THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED TO
ALL WHO FLEW, MAINTAINED AND
SUPPORTED THE BUCCANEER,
REMEMBERING OUR COLLEAGUES
WHO FAILED TO RETURN.

AIR CHIEF MARSHAL SIR MICHAEL KNIGHT KCB, AFC, FRA E S

BOYS? I ask you! But we can still remember and dream of happy days long gone.

The Blackburn Buccaneer the last all-British bomber was, without doubt, one of the best. Indeed, most of those once young rips featured in this book would claim it was the best. Certainly in terms of capability, adaptability and any number of other -ilities one could mention, the old Bucc was up at the top.

Brilliantly designed for the job it could do so effectively ultra low-level maritime strike/attack for the Royal Navy it proved more than capable of adapting to the overland role with, firstly, the South African Air Force and, later, the Royal Air Force. Rugged, fast, manoeuvrable and at all times purposeful, it was a joy to fly, though beware anyone who took liberties. Like any aircraft (or, come to that, most of mankinds technological creations) the Buccaneer could bite if she felt she was being treated with less than due care and attention. But the limits were pretty generous; and it was certainly possible to stretch them a little from time to time. In this book there are one or two rather interesting illustrations of that.

All that said and allowing for the fact that it was the aircraft that brought us all together Buccaneer Boys is really about the people who operated and maintained her over a thirty-three-year period as a front-line combat aircraft with three air arms.

The Buccaneer first came into my own life in 1965 when, working for the, then, deputy Controller of Aircraft (RAF) in the old ministry of Aviation, we were heavily involved in picking up the pieces from the devastation of a new governments assault on the services procurement programmes. Our most immediate task was to find some means of replacing the cancelled TSR2; and, among several possibilities, was a so-called Buccaneer 2-star a much developed variant of the Fleet Air Arms prize front-line asset. As ever, cost was the decider; and its ever-present conspirator was compromise. Against a deal of opposition from many quarters, we eventually got the Buccaneer, though not the 2-star add-ons that would have made it an even better bet but which might well have called into question the need for MRCA/Tornado.

A few years after the aircraft had entered RAF service, and an exhilarating conversion to the aircraft, I found myself much closer to the action first as OC RAF Laarbruch (with XV and 16 Squadrons) and, later, as AOC 1 Group (with all the rest of the RAFs Buccaneer force). It proved relatively easy to exercise the Command function in those jobs; but Control was a much trickier business. Buccaneer aircrew tended to be and have remained to this day distinctly free spirits, up to every trick in the book while managing to stay, by and large, just the right side of the law. A wild bunch indeed, but great aviators; professional to their finger-tips and with a real passion for their jobs, but with more than their fair share of genuine characters who were determined to live life to the full. I believe Graham Pitchfork to have brought all that out in his selection of those whose stories are collected here.

This is a book about an aircraft that can have few equals in the affection in which it is held by all who knew her. Witness the quite remarkable history of the Buccaneer Aircrew Association probably the most active and best supported of all such bodies. As related here, it came into being immediately following the truly dramatic last hurrah of the Bucc force at RAF Lossiemouth in march 1994. An extremely social weekend had been preceded by one of the most engaging (not to say exciting) demonstrations of eight Buccaneers flying impeccable formation patterns before breaking away to give the airfield one of the most spectacular waxings to which it had ever been subjected. At one time I was not alone among the more senior witnesses to avert my gaze, lest I be later called to give an eyewitness account to a seemingly inevitable Board of inquiry. In the event, no untoward incident, and no B of i. Professional to the end and flown to the limits, the last of the Buccaneer Boys had staged a fitting climax to an era of great flying.

In reading this well-researched and well-presented volume, the blend of the serious is laced with more than the occasional shaft of sheer good humour; and that was and is the very essence of life as a Buccaneer Boy. Vividly presented in their own words, this is a book about military aviation by military aviators themselves. Sit back, and enjoy it.

This book would never have reached publication without the contributions and great support I have been given by my colleagues, the Buccaneer Boys. To those who have given away some of their trade secrets and provided the chapters that follow, I am especially grateful. Their names appear with their own chapter and I trust they will accept this as due recognition for their superb narratives.

There are others who have helped in various and valuable ways and I would not wish their contributions to go un-noticed so many thanks to Tim Cockerell, Johan Conradie, Barry Dove, Andy Evans, Ewan Fraser, Peter Gooding, John Harvey, Peter Huett, Steve Jarmain, Ben Laite, Ken Mackenzie, Tony Richardson and Norman Roberson.

Having received so much assistance from Buccaneer colleagues it is almost invidious to single out individuals but I want to thank our most senior Buccaneer Boy Sir michael knight for his eloquent Foreword and the support he gives to the Buccaneer Aircrew Association. My old friend Tom Eeles has been a great help with ideas, support and proof reading. Jan Guyt has been tremendously helpful as the linkman in South Africa. Finally, without the support of David Herriot this book would have been a very much more difficult project. He has, in effect, been my adjutant. He has encouraged and cajoled some of the Boys, acted as a superb liaison officer with our South African colleagues, he has proof read all the chapters, corrected errors, offered suggestions and additions, provided photographs and a superb chapter, and been a constant source of enthusiastic encouragement. Any credit that may accrue from the publication of this book is due in a large measure to his efforts.