Thunder & Lightnings

Blackburn Buccaneer - Links, References & Credits

Links

References - Books

In Association with Amazon.co.uk

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Flying the Buccaneer - Britain's Cold War Warrior by Peter Caygill

ISBN 978-1-84415-669-6

Published by Pen and Sword Books Ltd, 2008

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The title says it all - this is all about what it was like to fly the beast, kicking off with a brief chapter on design and development before getting to the meat of the book, the flying. Detailed accounts of the flight test programme and initial carrier trials, the S.1 and its handling characteristics, same for the S.2 along with tactics for anti-shipping and overland strike missions. Finishes up with a chapter on accidents, and some "I was there" stuff from Buccaneer pilots. It is a frustrating book though, because if it had been produced in a fully illustrated format it would have been absolutely superb - alas it's an old fashioned production with a few inserts of black and white photos here and there, and the grand total of two line drawings (in one of the tactics chapters). Still, content is king and the content is fascinating so this is absolutely worth buying and is good value to boot.

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Buccaneer S.1 - From The Cockpit by Michael J. Doust

ISBN 978-1-946958-62-7

Published by Ad Hoc Publications

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A fascinating book full of recollections from those who flew and maintained the S.Mk.1, with lots of photos you won't see elsewhere - mostly black and white but some colour coverage. Gives a real feel for what life was like for those at the sharp end with the early Buccaneers - highly recommended. Makes a very good companion to Flying the Buccaneer, above.

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The Buccaneers by Air Commodore Graham Pitchfork

ISBN 1-85260-611-8

Published by PSL

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A great 'from the cockpit' type of book with development and service history interspersed with loads of recollections from those who flew the Bucc, and many previously unpublished photographs - mostly in colour. Well worth getting hold of though it is a bit tricky to get hold of now.

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Modern Combat Aircraft 7 - Buccaneer by Maurice Allward

ISBN 0 7110 1076 5

Published by Ian Allan

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A book from 1981, so obviously covering only the first 20 years or so of the Buccaneer, but still worth a look with a good development and service history and plenty of photos not seen elsewhere.

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Warpaint Series No.2 - Hawker Siddeley/Blackburn Buccaneer by Paul Jackson and Peter Foster

ISBN

Published by Hall Park Books Ltd.

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A 24-page monograph intended for modellers, including a good history, lots of pictures spanning the Bucc's service life, 1/72 scale plans, lots of colour side views. Particularly worth getting if you're building a model.

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From Spitfire to Eurofighter by Roy Boot

ISBN 1-85310-093-5

Published by Airlife

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Roy Boot was a Blackburn designer who did a lot of work on the Buccaneer, and this book is a must if you want to know more about the Buccaneer project. Very detailed with lots of interesting anecdotes from the development programme, and a number of diagrams too.

References - Magazines

Credits

This section would have been greatly the poorer without contributions from the following - so many thanks to (in alphabetical order):

Dave Allanson, Allan Barley, Kerry Bee, Mark Bewick, Andrew Brooks, Patrick Burke, the late Les Bywaters, Nick Challoner, John Eacott, Karl Eklund, Nigel Goodall, Michael Hall, Bill Harkness, Guy Hulme, Rick Kent, Garry Lakin, Bob Lawson, Ian Malcolm, the late Neil McGibbon, Colin Mears, Albino Panigari, Les Richards, Graham Salt, Les Taylor, Mervyn Thomas, Hugh Trevor, Louis Vosloo, Jack Wade and Neil Youngman.

Thanks also to the following organisations:

The Buccaneer Supporters Club, Incredible Adventures, Ministry of Defence (RAF), National Museum of Flight and Salvair.