Blackburn Buccaneer

     Notes: This was one the first British jet carrier aircraft, and were designed specifically to oppose the Soviet Sverdlov class of light cruisers.  The Buccaneer’s first flight was in 1958, and it entered service with the Royal Naby in 1962. When the Buccaneer was designed, it was one of the very few strike aircraft able to attack in the clean configuration, due to its internal weapons bay. When Britain went to the smaller carriers with Harriers, the Buccaneers were relegated to land bases, usually as anti-ship planes, and then were eventually phased out.  They were also operated by South Africa, usually in the long-range strike role, but were also phased out by that country.  The Buccaneer has an internal bomb bay, unusual for an aircraft of its size; this bay can hold 1.81 tons or 2040 liters of fuel.  The aircraft has ejection seats and is capable of in-flight refueling. The Buccaneer is capable of nuclear weapons delivery. The Buccaneer’s aviators and crews affectionately call the Buccaneer the “Banana Jet” due to the type’s developmental name, the BANA (Blackburn Advanced Naval Aircraft).

     The Buccaneer is sort of wedge-shaped, with bulbous air intakes and large, round engine fairings. It has a T-tail and medium-length wings. The Buccaneer is designed for a supersonic low-level dash to its target (it is capable of Mach 1.2 at sea level), and a supersonic high flight if necessary. It did not see combat service in the Royal Navy but did with the Royal Air Force during the Gulf War, and had combat service as a strike and interdiction aircraft with the South African Air Force. Blackburn was not able to make weapon bay doors that were stable in the low-level high speed run up to the target that the designers envisioned, so Blackburn came up with a rotating bomb release mechanism which turned around the axis of the weapons bay and exposed the stores in the weapons bay to the slipstream, at which point they could be released, singly or all at once. (The original envisioned weapon to put in the bay was the 900-kilogram Red Beard 20-kiloton nuclear bomb.)

Buccaneer S.1/S.2

     The Buccaneer S.1 designation applied to the initial prototypes and a handful of production examples.  These were found wanting in their short service due to their underpowered de Havilland Gyron Junior engines, with the pair fitted to the S.1 developing 14,200 pounds thrust, much too low for the weight and requirements of the aircraft. To land on board an aircraft carrier, the Buccaneer was dependent on using blown flaps, and the lack of adequate engine power would make the blown flap system fail as the worst moment, leading to a sudden stall as it was about to set down on the deck. They were replaced quickly by the S.2, but eight S.1s saw continued service as Buccaneer aircrew training aircraft until 1970.

     The S.2 differs from the S.1 in being powered by an iteration of the Rolls Royce Spey turbofan, which has 40% more thrust and much less fuel consumption, due to the Spey being a turbofan and not a turbojet like the Gyron Junior.

The Buccaneers That Never Were…

     After Hawker Siddeley acquired Blackburn, they put forward some proposed updates and changes to the Buccaneer, largely by incorporating avionics from the cancelled TSR.2.  Two ideas were put forward: the upgraded S.2*, and the further-upgraded S.2**. (It is probable that if they had been adopted, they would have been designated the S.3 and possibly S.4.) Changes may be seen in the tables below. Hawker stated that they could supply an aircraft with the same capabilities as the F-111K but at half the cost.  In the end, however, neither the TSR.2, F-111K, nor the upgraded Buccaneers were proceeded with.

     Twilight 2000 v2.2 Notes: Buccaneers were also used against land targets in the Twilight War, though by that war they were largely replaced by Tornadoes and were operated only in a secondary role or to replace Tornado losses.  South Africa also used some of these aircraft in the Twilight War.

Hawker Hunter

     Notes: This jet is a mid-1960s relic that is still in wide use by Lebanon, though recently they have been looking at ex-US F-16Cs and Ds to replace them. Its low-power engine does not lend itself to speed, maneuverability, or lifting power, and its lack of an afterburner does not give it good acceleration.  However, it is a decent ground attack aircraft, and its four 30mm autocannons pack quite a punch.  The Hunter formed part of the air forces of 21 nations at one time, though as stated only Lebanon still flew them as late as 2014. Two seat advanced trainers remained in RAF service until the 1990s. The Hunter has seen combat service in conflicts ranging from the Suez Crisis of 1956 to assorted tangles in the Mideast as late as the 1990s. The Hunter has an ejection seat, but is not capable of inflight refueling.

     Though the aircraft has a lot of hardpoints, eight of these may only be used for rocket pods or single rockets, with a load limit of 100 kg per hardpoint; if these hardpoints are used, the two center wing hardpoints may not be used.  If the two center hardpoints are used, the eight rocket hardpoints may not be used. The other two fuselage and two wing hardpoints may be used normally. The Hunter has the rare ability to fire only half its cannons at a time, if desired, usually done to save ammunition when attacking soft targets or to load different guns with different types of ammunition. The initial P.1067 prototype was powered by a Rolls Royce Avon 103 turbojet developing 6500 pounds thrust; the second prototype was powered by an Avon 107 developing 7550 pounds thrust, and the third prototype was powered by an Armstrong Siddeley Sapphire 101 developing 8000 pounds of thrust. The first two engines tended to flameout if gun exhaust got into the air intakes in some situations; the Sapphire engine does not have this problem, but the Sapphire tended to wear fast and needed a lot of work to forestall engine failures in flight. Production F.1s use the Avon 107 engine, along with the F.4, while the F.2 and F.5 use the Sapphire engine. F.4s and F.5s had more and larger fuel tanks, including four flexible bag-type tanks for the wings. The F.4s and F.5s also have diverted gun exhaust to solve the engine flameout problems, and features a collection mechanism and space for the cannon armament links instead of the links being ejected overboard and striking the aircraft’s underside. (The links were collected to blisters under the cockpit, leading for the aircraft to be called “Sabrinas” by the crews, after a contemporary movie star.) F.1s and F.2s suffered from short legs, able to remain in flight for less than an hour, severely restricting their use.  F4s and F5s have much larger fuel tankage but are still restricted in flight duration.

     The F.6 was powered by an Avon 207 turbojet with an axial compressor, wringing more thrust out a small engine, to produce 10,145 pounds thrust. The F.6 could haul more ordnance and fly faster and climb faster, and some late versions were modified to carry AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missiles on the outboard wing hardpoints. The F.6 has leading edge dog-tooth extensions halfway down the wing, giving the aircraft better low-speed flight characteristics. When the BAe Lightning took over the interceptor role from the F.6, the F.6 was modified into the FGA.9 dedicated ground support aircraft, with a gunsight designed for ground attack and the addition of an IFF to help prevent fratricide, and avionics to increase pilot stick authority during ground attack maneuvers. The wings are also strengthened.

     The T.7 and T.8 are the trainer versions of the F.4 and F.5, respectively. These versions are heavier than their base aircraft, and the pilot and student sit side by side in a widened fuselage. The T.8 was used primarily as Blackburn Buccaneer conversion trainers, and were often equipped with pared-down versions of Buccaneer systems; the T.8B has the cannons and gun ranging-radar removed and replaced with TACAN and IFIS as well as a lesser variant of the Buccaneer’s avionics suite. The T.8 and T.8B are equipped with arresting hooks.

     Twilight 2000 Notes: The Hunter’s primary playground during the Twilight War was the Middle East; they were taken out of storage by several Middle Eastern countries during that war to replace aircraft losses.

     Merc 2000: Another non-descript aircraft used by mercs.

*See Notes Above

BAC Strikemaster

     Notes: This light strike aircraft was developed from a jet trainer known as the Jet Provost.  It is an unsophisticated aircraft for basic ground support missions, and is easy to maintain and inexpensive to operate.  The aircraft has ejection seats, but is not capable of in-flight refueling. The Strikemaster is advertised as a light attack aircraft, but most customers who bought the Strikemaster actually employed it as an advanced trainer that could also train aircrews on ground attack missions. The Strikemaster did see combat service in the air forces of Ecuador, Oman, and Yemen (though the status of Yemen’s Strikemasters is unknown at this time). The Strikemaster is or was flown by several African nations as well as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and New Zealand; a total of ten countries flew or still fly the Strikemaster.  Several Strikemasters were sold off to civilian concerns, and some of these are still flying. The Strikemaster is still in service in 2025, though sourcing spare parts is getting difficult since BAC does not make them anymore.

     The Strikemaster is powered by a single uprated Armstrong Siddeley Viper turbojet developing 3140 pounds of thrust. The wings are straight and the fuselage wide, with wider section for the cockpit.  The pilot and weapons officer sit side by side.  The wings each have two hardpoints; there are no fuselage hardpoints. In addition, each wingtip carries conformal fuel tanks with a capacity of 284 liters each. In the nose of the Strikemaster are a pair of machineguns; these are similar to the coaxial armament of some of the world’s tanks and AFVs, being modified MAG-58 machineguns. (The nose cone houses a G90 gun camera.)

     Twilight 2000 Notes: Generally used as a Sandy by NATO air forces, they were also adapted to operate from carriers, and often found themselves operating from US carriers. Many of their roles were taken over by Jaguar strike aircraft.