I'll never forget operating with the Royal Navy back in the '70s. Buccaneers from the carrier 'Ark Royal' would make low passes at our ship (the John F. Kennedy) when one day the lookout spotted a Buccaneer coming in LOW. The lookout said he's Really low and then he excitedly shouted "He's UPSIDE DOWN! !" The plane passed down the length of the ship less than 50 feet off the water INVERTED the whole time. Crazy Brits!

"But the plane isn't armed" no shit mate there just gunna let you fly around Africa with a nuke 😂

They make it sound like this guy is doing free lance air strike missions.

I served with the Royal Air Force at Lossiemouth for four years, and if i ever felt depressed there was one thing which always lifted my spirits..and that was seeing a 12Sqn Buccaneer taking off/flying overhead...What a beautiful sight !!

The dramatization on this video, how many times have they mentioned nuclear bomber, it's not as if it's actually carrying a nuke

Greetings from brazil. Here one big fan from Buccaneer! I walk probably 5 km just to buy one single square picture from Buccaneer in one store. I had 12 years old ..and it was 1994. Head today, Buccaneer it's my favorite aircraft.

I think that there is too much emphasis here on the Buccaneer 's nuclear capability and not enough on the jet being a superb carrier aircraft.

My dad was the non-RAF chief electrician at RAF Honington when Buccs were based there in 208 Squadron. He worked for Hawker-Siddley at Brough just outside of Hull as a sparky building them & the RAF approached them when the squadron moved there in 1974 to be the man who knew how to rewire one of them quick. We relocated to Suffolk from Hull when I was about 4 so did all my schooling in Suffolk. My dad's respect at that base from pilots - they'd go to his hanger where he was based & tell him personaly rather than waste time reporting a fault & he'd get it fixed - to the RAF sparkies was something to be abused as a 9 year old so the fact is I've probably sat in about as many Bucc cockpits as a real pilot & had a go on the base flight simulator. Then they went & Tornado arrived. Sad to see them go, they used to fly over our house going back to Honington & the sound is still instantly recognisable. Thanks for this video man.

When you have a military jet of your own you can say you've reached total happiness

who the fuck writes the scripts for these documentaries, it is a documentary not an action movie! ffffff Nice plane though.

That bird is GORGEOUS!

I've seen a pair of these birds in formation at transonic speeds at 50' of altitude at CFB Shearwater Nova Scotia in the 1990s. It moved me. Simple beauty and raw British power.

Nuclear bomber sponsored by Shell? 😂😂😂 I thought from the thumbnail it was redbull, like what 😂

Well done Ian. We need guys like you to keep these wonderful aircraft flying. Enjoy.

Squadron commander was asked "where are your Buccaneers" to which he replied "under my Bucken hat".

Once had the incredible experience of looking DOWN on one of these aircraft from a picnic bench/table in the Welsh mountains, above Betws-y-Coed. Heard this whistling sound, then it appeared, following the valley down until it disappeared round a fold in the terrain. A few minutes later, the same or another one shot over our heads at high speed. That memory is burned into my brain, along with the sight of the Vulcan flying test-bed for the Concorde engines, standing on its tail and vanishing, almost vertically, into the clouds on that one engine and looking up the tail-pipe at the heat diamonds, it created. This time, at the famous Farnborough Air Show. We’ve certainly produced some fantastic aircraft in the UK.

He's putting too much emphasis on the fact that it can carry a nuclear bomb . It can do things other than that too.

6:16 Cliff hanger and a half right there.

A few comments about the Blackburn Buccaneer, not mine however I hope the authors will excuse my quoting them uncredited. “I noticed they were not flying above the trees, they were flying between the trees”. “The Buccaneer is a rather unique airplane, needing to retract its landing gear in order to descend to an operational altitude.” “I'm trying to recall the old saying about the take off procedure, something like "Rotate, Retract the undercarriage, descend to operational level.” “I recall working on a fishing boat North of the Ardnamurchan Peninsula in the 80s when a Bucc, trailing a rooster tail of water, passed at wheelhouse height about a wingspan or two away. It was like being at a two second long Motorhead concert. Fucking awesome.” “they were so low the U S jets couldn’t lock on to them. They could only spot them by the disturbed sea water trails”. “the first warning the U S ships had was the Bucc flying over then at below bridge height”. “On exercise with the RAF in Scotland in the late '70's, I was told by the crew of a Rapier battery that the Bucc was the only aircraft they couldn't score a kill on. The thing was just too low & too fast - they couldn't track it! “ “"At 500 feet, cows have legs. At 200 feet, sheep have legs. At 50 feet, dogs have legs. Any lower than that and you weren't looking at the animals anymore." “ “and how low those Bucks could fly he said the Americans ,couldn't detect them ,and many a time said .. Were the HELL/****ing hell did you come from..” 😉😄⚓

When they designed the Buccaneer it was built longer than the specified length which was restricted by the size of the lifts on the UK aircrraft carriers. However a couple of design features were introduced to shorten the aircraft to fit on the lifts. First the entire nose including the radar was on a hinge and could be rotated almost 180 degrees. Also the tail spike that is not only there for aerodynamic efficiency is also the air brake. This has a vertical split and the two sections rotate about 90 degrees to bioth act as an airbrake and to shorten the aircraft to fit into the lifts. Clever stuff - it allowed Blackburn to design a larger aircraft and more capapble aircraft than the competition. The Buccaneer is a suprisingly large aircraft when you get up close.

I have heard of a Rad Flag exercise that involved a Vulcan Bomber and two Buccaneers. They successfully 'attacked' the US base. The story goes that the Vulcan Bomber was coming in very low but there was no sign of the two Buccaneers. Apparently, they were underneath the Vulcan. Has anyone else heard of this?

*NUCLEAR* bomber... Lighten-up Francis, he isn't carrying a nuclear bomb.

A beautiful craft. More importantly it could still be in service now, awesome machine.

He's at least given it a nice paint job. Looks really nice.

Good on him, what a life scooting about in that! Wow ✈️🛩️

Wow!... who says money doesn't buy happiness? ... I wouldn't say no to a Buccaneer... HMS Eagle visited NZ in the early 70's and I fell in love with the Buccaneer ...thanks🇳🇿

That is one beautiful plane.

The Buccaneer in it's day the finest low level strike aircraft in the world, as the USAF discovered in Red Flag 1977 (I believe), the beast was stable at high speed right down to as low as 30 feet, nothing could catch it at that height, and radar couldn't track it , certainly technology moved, on the advent of look down, shoot down radar cancelled much of the aircraft's advantage, now sadly just another almost museum piece.

When the UK made its own gear, top notch. 👌

I visited HMS Ark Royal twice in the late 70s and I was quite impressed by this aircraft.

Great aircraft - lovely to see one still flying!

The Buccaneer was a very tough aircraft made from the best quality materials, no pressed steel bits only machined and heat-treated components, it needed to be tough to withstand the battering of flying just above sea level.

Saw the last fly past over BAE Brough, East Yorkshire England. 9 in diamond formation with a 10nth following. Awesome sight, sadly missed.

There's a famous story of a Buccanear landing after a low level flight over the North Sea and the pilot looking as white as a sheet, he was so low he'd basically flown straight through a wave. There's footage out there somewhere, would love to see it.

Their was a program during the Late 70's of the old HMS Ark Royal. In one of the those programs 2 of these passed the carrier below the hanger deck. and they were really going fast . Incredible video!

Wow Well done, Ian!!

This is just about the coolest thing ever! I'm at a loss for words. What a pilot!!!!!

growing up in SW Scotland I used to see a Buccaneer flying on trials everyday from RAE West Freugh, my dad was a cinetheodolite technician and filmed high speed bombing runs for the Ministry of Defence. The airbase used to have a Christmas party for the families of the employees and the kids were treated to a showing of some of these films, it was like watching a war movie but for real.

Love the colour scheme

The Blackburn Buccaneer - built from girders and boilerplating. A true aviation icon.

I both love and hate the aircraft. My Uncle died test flying it in the back seat when a NASA pilot did unauthorised manoeuvres. Brilliant plane, would have liked to have known my Uncle.... he died 6 days after I was born.

Brilliant well done matey

I joined The Royal Navy (Not The “BRITISH” RN)as a Radio/radar Mech, just 18 months after Ark Royal was decommissioned. The Buccaneer is still my favourite jet by a country mile. I’ve worked on Harriers, but I would have loved to done on this Icon. I worked with lots of guys who did and of course they loved it!

Its pretty cool that some of those fast jets from the 50's and 60's can still more than hold their own in performance terms against todays aircraft. Were they that good or just over engineered ? Perhaps both...perhaps both.

That jet is painfully pretty. So elegant.

I was in the USAF in West Germany in 1983. I worked as a refueler and serviced many Buccaneers.

These had a rotating bomb bay. At one Biggin airshow, the Fleet Air Arm flew one over, which tilted left 30 degrees and then rotated the bomb bay to show the crowd a set of powerful lights spelling "Fly Navy", just to poke the RAF in the eye on home turf.

Love the fact that youtube is recomending me this when warthunder said they are going to add the Buccaneer

that is the most beautiful thing Ive even seen

What a gorgeous plane!

I'm from England and just like to say good luck to ya Ian it's good that you chased your dreams and it must be amazing to own your own jet bomber well done my friend👍🇬🇧✌

Superior by a long way to the Tornado that replaced it. The RAF and RN should still be flying new build versions of this jet. Just because it dates from the mid 60s does not mean it is not the best at what it does. Imagine a new build Buccaneer with FADEC engine control, all digital electronics and you would once again have the worlds best strike jet, and it can fly from a carrier. Awesome.

loved the vid Ian served on HMS Victorious with Bucc's n Vixens Loved them all but my fav was the Fairy Gannet

Gorgeous aircraft!

My grandfather was the chief tool designer on the buccaneer. When he died my mother (his daughter) threw all the plans we found out and burnt them grief I suppose.

Cool looking bit of kit

Currently for sale. Along with two other Buccaneers, three Lightnings, and I believe four Hawker Hunters.

My Dad used to work on them and many other Aircraft. He always said you couldn't believe the height of one.

I saw a film where a Buccaneer was flying in war games in the American deserts. The woman who was commenting was more or less screaming as the aircraft was flying with it's wing in a wadi. I suppose that he was repremanded but everyone bought the beers after.

so do the ejection seats still work?

The Buccaneer, just a ball of beauty. 😍

Nice looking aircraft!

Looks beautiful...and built on the banks of the Humber near me in Hull...

It WAS a beast....but a beautiful one!

missed you at the Langebaan airshow last year😢

Fantastic

A very original aircraft.

The King of low level flying, there can only be One!

Believe the big airbrakes enable carrier touchdown with high power on. (In case you neeed it to go round).

fabulous Aeroplane and Ace name 😆😈

Which cam' s it ?

As someone who lives away from the rest of the world I didn’t even know that there were still flying examples of these flying around.

Beautiful plane for its era

Im not sure if its the same plane but i believe its parked at PE airport, does anyone have an info if the plane still flies? I would love to see it.

It's beautiful

My favorite fighter aircraft

War Thunder needs this "Burn" in their new update. :))

Love this jet

These were used in the first gulf war in 1991

That's a sharp aircraft....

Did they use the engines from the plane in the Thrust SSC?

That soundtrack sounded a lot like a Leftfield song. I wonder if it's a soundalike ripoff or the original source of the samples? MY grandad was an RAF pilot and I remember being on holiday in the highlands and him spotting a buccaneer flying low training probably. He told me about it and showed me how to recognise it from the T-tail. He sparked a passion for jets in me that continues to this day. I just watched the excellent history of the RAF on BBC1 and thought of Grandad a lot. Luv and Peace.

I still hope to see a buccaneer at Airport Weeze, which is former RAF Laarbruch, which operated buccaneers

There are at least five Blackburn test pilots who were civilians when they test flew the Buccaneer, that is without the Boscombe Downs civilian test pilots who must have flown the aircraft for military certification. Four of them can be found at www.ejection-history.org.uk/Aircraft_by_Type/Buccaneer.htm. Fantastic aircraft.

this dude could be a mercenary with this

30 to 50 feet I guess to avoid the enemy radars

Today he's packing his cheese sandwich no nuke. Happy flying!

It reminds me of the HP Victor, just smaller ::: fantastic aeroplane..

It's funny how they are making it out like it's got a nuke ready to go.

My god, you're gonna need deep pockets to own & fly something like that!

Aw man What’s more challenging then the Buccaneer?!!

Thats the guy who has a nice life!

I love the Buccaneer, bastards retired it to early.

Why does the back of this plane open outwards?

I Love it!

The day they decommissioned them they had an interview with some pilots. They talked about "delivering a bucketful of instant sunshine", and (IIRC) range limitations meaning that after "sunshine" they'd fly on, bail out and "settle down to live out your days with a nice Kazakh woman".😄

What sort of bomber was it again?

I saw them fly evade n escape chasing harriers n chased by jaguars over loch Lomond.beautiful noise.

Beauty of a jet

NICE plane