Online dictionary - Blackburn Buccaneer

Blackburn Buccaneer
Image caption
Description
Role	Strike aircraft
Crew	2
First Flight	30 April 1958
Entered Service
Manufacturer	Blackburn Aircraft Company
Dimensions
Length	63 ft 5 in	19.33 m
Wingspan	44 ft 0 in	13.41 m
Height	16 ft 3 in	4.97 m
Wing area	ft²	m²
Weights
Empty	lb	kg
Loaded	62,000 lb	28,120 kg
Maximum takeoff	lb	kg
Capacity
Powerplant
Engines	2 x Rolls-Royce Spey Mk 101 turbofans
Thrust	2 x 11,255 lbf	2 x 50 kN
Performance
Maximum speed	646 mph at 200 ft	1040 km/h at 60 m
Combat range	miles	km
Ferry range	2300 miles	3700 km
Service ceiling	40,000 ft	12,200 m
Rate of climb	ft/min	m/min
Wing loading	lb/ft²	kg/m²
Thrust/Weight
Power/Mass	hp/lb	kW/kg
Avionics
Avionics
Armament
Guns
Bombs	4 x 1,000 lb (45 kg) bombs in bomb bay
Missiles
Rockets
Other	12,000 lb (5,400 kg) of ordnance on hardpoints

The Blackburn Buccaneer was a British attack aircraft. It saw service with the Royal Air Force and the Fleet Air Arm. It was widely regarded as one of the finest low level strike aircraft of its day. It saw war service during the 1991 Gulf War when examples were rushed to the area to provide a laser designation capability for British aircraft. It left FAA service with the decommissioning of HMS Ark Royal in 1978, with the remaining examples being transferred to the RAF. The last squadrons were disbanded in 1993.

South Africa was the only country other than Britain to operate the Buccaneer, where it was in service with the South African Air Force from 1965 to 1991.

Contents

1 Variants

2 Units Using the Buccaneer

2.1 Royal Air Force
2.2 Fleet Air Arm
2.3 South African Air Force

Variants

S.1
S.2
S.50 (A special South Africa-only version of the naval S.2, complete with folding wings. An important change from the British version was the addition of a single-stage rocket to assist take-off from hot-and-high airfields like that of AFB Waterkloof in Pretoria, where the type was mostly based.