The Blackburn Buccaneer was a British low-level strike aircraft with nuclear weapon capability serving with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force between 1962 and 1994, including service in the 1991 Gulf War. Designed and initially produced by Blackburn Aircraft it was later known as the Hawker Siddeley Buccaneer when Blackburn became a part of the Hawker Siddeley group.

The Buccaneer was a mid-wing, twin-engine monoplane with a crew of two seated in tandem under a sliding canopy. To meet the demands of the specification, the Buccaneer featured a number of advanced design features. The fuselage was area ruled; meaning it was designed to reduce drag at transonic speeds. This gives rise to the characteristic curvy "Coke bottle" shape. It featured a variable incidence tailplane that could be trimmed to suit the particular requirements of low-speed handling or high-speed flight. At the 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 was also useful in assisting ground-level access.

The small wing of the Buccaneer was suited to high-speed flight at low level. Such a wing, however, did not generate the lift that was essential for low-speed carrier operations. Therefore, the wing and horizontal stabiliser were "blown" by bleeding compressor gas from the engine through surface vents. A consequence of the blown wing was that the engines were required to run at high power for low-speed flight in order to generate sufficient compressor gas for blowing. Blackburn's solution to this situation was to provide a large air brake. The tail cone was formed from two leaves that could be hydraulically opened into the airstream to decelerate the aircraft. The nose cone and radar antenna could also be swung around by 180° to reduce the length of the aircraft in the carrier hangar. This feature was particularly important as contemporary British aircraft carriers were small.

Pictured here is a 1:72 scale replica of a Blackburn Buccaneer Strike Aircraft known as 'Miss Jolly Roger', which was attached to No.237 OCU, then participating in Operation Granby, during 1991. Sold Out!

Dimensions:
Wingspan: 7-1/4-inches
Length: 10-1/2-inches

Release Date: June 2016

Historical Account: "Operation Granby" - Even though it was in the twilight of its service career, the Buccaneer was called upon to take part in the 1991 Gulf War, but only at the eleventh hour. Tornado and Jaguar crews were carrying out low-level, interdiction strike missions against enemy targets, but the effectiveness of Iraqi anti-aircraft fire resulted in these sorties having to be carried out at a higher level, which reduced their effectiveness. The RAF needed to improve the standard of its precision bombing and the Buccaneer had the ability to laser target mark - twelve aircraft were rushed to the gulf. The 'Sky Pirates' were in the war and making a valuable contribution to the success of Operation Granby. Displaying the individual artwork associated with many RAF Gulf War aircraft, XW533 'Miss Jolly Roger' showed that sometimes, older aircraft can show the new boys how the job should be done.