Hawker Siddeley Buccaneer
The Hawker Siddeley (originally Blackburn) Buccaneer was built for extremely fast, low-level strike missions beneath enemy radar coverage, with a distinctive area-ruled 'wasp waist' fuselage that reduced drag at high transonic speed. Its bomb bay door rotates rather than swinging open, a design chosen to avoid disrupting airflow around the fuselage at the very high speeds it was built to fly. Designed originally for the Royal Navy's aircraft carriers, it later served the Royal Air Force in the low-level strike role for decades after Britain's carrier fleet was reduced. South Africa also flew the type extensively, and a number of preserved examples remain on static and occasional taxi display today.
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Did you know?
The Buccaneer's rotating bomb-bay door, rather than one that swings open, kept airflow clean around its area-ruled 'wasp waist' fuselage at high transonic speed.
Specifications
| Length | 19.3 m (63 ft) |
|---|---|
| Wingspan | 13.4 m (44 ft) |
| Height | 5 m (16 ft) |
| Persons on board | 2 |
| Crew | 2 |
| Maximum take-off weight | 28 t |
| Range | 2,300 NM (4,260 km) |
| Maximum speed | 580 kt (1,074 km/h) |
| Service ceiling | 40,000 ft (12,192 m) |
| Optimum ceiling | 36,000 ft (10,973 m) |
| Take-off distance | 1,091 m (3,579 ft) |
| Engines | 2x Rolls-Royce Spey |
| Units built | 211 |
Curated by CatchFlights from manufacturer documents, ICAO Doc 8643 and reference works; values are left out where no source could confirm them. Sources are listed on our credits page.
In CatchFlights
In CatchFlights the Hawker Siddeley Buccaneer starts as a Legendary catch. The tier is an editorial judgement of how special a sighting of this type is. The more often you catch it, the closer it moves to Common for you. The first catch of a legendary type pays a bonus of its own.
A catch counts for the manufacturer Hawker Siddeley, the Buccaneer family and the model in your collection, and the daily Type Rating quiz asks about the types of each family.
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