Luftwaffe Blackburn Buccaneer, Carrier Graf Zeppelin, July 1968

[nönöbär]

Blackburn Buccaneer

The Plane:

When the German aircraft carrier Graf Zeppelin was recommissioned after its major reconstruction in spring of 1960, a more capapble attack aircreaft was looked for.
Since then, the carrier only had licht attack aircraft, but now a heaver alternative was preferred. In late 1961 it was decided to introduce the British Blackburn Buccaneer. With its low-evel attack capabilites, two men crew and two jet engines, the plane opened much more operational optins than before.

As the Buccaneer was a much bigger plane then the F9F Panthers and Seahawks which operated on the ship before the reconstruction, only 10 of then could be carried simultaniously.
With the introduction of US build carrier aircraft in the early 1970s, the Buccaneer were put ashore with their main focus on the Baltic Sea.

The model shows a Blackburn Buccaneer on the Graf Zeppelin in July 1968 during the NATO exercise "Barcadi Feeling" in the Caribbean.   
 







The Model:

Its a 1/72 scale Matchbox kit, build OOB. As for most old Matchbox kits, its quite easy to build. Despite the box art, the kit contains no weapons at all and I did not find anything good in the spare parts box. Painted with Revell Aqua Colors in a typical German Marineflieger scheme. Decals are a Paddinghaus decal set for a Marineflieger F104.

[Hobbes]

Excellent!
It's amazing how different the Matchbox kit looks, compared to the Airfix kit with its raised panel lines...

[zenrat]

 

[Librarian]

Very, very nice . Buccaneers....goosebumps. I signed up with the RAF with the specific intention of flying them (or C-130s) but decided (more specifically, they decided) I just couldn't stand all that "yes sir, no sir" cr+p. They were retired the year or so after I would have gone operational, so no loss there .

Looks really good in those markings .

[Weaver]

Nice one: I've always liked the idea of German Buccs.

You can get aftermarket Kormorans: the Airfix hi-tech weapons set (OOP, but findable on ebay) has some.

Librarian: snap! There was a fair bit of disbelief when I decided as a teenager that I didn't want to go into the RAF or the FAA, but I'd realised I'd never put up with the "Yes Sir, No Sir" either...

[NARSES2]

She looks really at home in those colours, well done 

I must admit I never considered the services but have often wondered how my 18 year old personality would have dealt with National Service ?

[PR19_Kit]

Super job there, including the carrier deck. Where did that come from please? I love the JBDs and the little deck hatch. 

[Army of One]

Great finish.......i was also dissapointed, years ago, when i bought the kit on the strength of the box artwork.......to find none of the armament inside.......some ASM's on it would finish it off......love it......Kit, i have a deck peice and it looks the same, mine was verlinden......

[nönöbär]

Super job there, including the carrier deck. Where did that come from please? I love the JBDs and the little deck hatch. 

Thanks 

The flight deck is an Italieri kit, see here: http://www.italeri.com/scheda.asp?idProdotto=2163&idCategoria=5&idSottocategoria=29. Not really cheap (about 23€, with some luck, you get it for about 20€).

[Captain Canada]

Gorgeous. That is so clean it looks perfect. Nice work ! Love the carrier section as well.

[b29r]

Great concept and build!  Your Bucc looks very much at home in that livery. . . love the deck unit also, very cool.

Best regards,
Kem