Fleet defence duo - Royal Navy's Buccaneer ADV & AEW

[CammNut]

Not your usual dogfight double.



In the early 1960s, the Royal Navy was told that its budget for naval aviation was being cut. The Admiralty was given discretion over how and where to make the cuts, and decided it could save money by reducing the number of different aircraft types on the decks of its carriers.
The Royal Navy's purchase of McDonnell Douglas F-4K Phantoms was cancelled and instead an order was placed for two new versions of the in-service Buccaneer, an air defence variant (the real-world Blackburn B.112 project) and an airborne early warning variant (the real-world P.139/9 project).
The Mach 1.5 ADV, designated Buccaneer FAW.3, took over fleet air defense duties from the de Havilland Sea Vixen while the AEW, actually intended to be a mission kit that could be installed in the bomb bay of any basic Buccaneer S.2, was designated the Buccaneer AEW.4 and replaced the Fairey Gannet AEW.3.
Both aircraft saw service as part of a revised carrier air wing that comprised a combination of Buccaneer S.2 and FAW.3 squadrons supported by a flight of AEW.4s, with the S.2 also performing the buddy aerial refueling roles. Any savings that accrued helped the Royal Navy soldier (sailor?) on for a few more years before the inevitable axe fell on its large-deck carriers.



Both of these are based on the older Airfix 1/72 Buccaneer kits. The FAW.3 looks fairly straightforward, but in fact involves the merging together of the rear fuselage from a 1960-vintage S.1 kit with the forward fuselage of a 1986-vintage S.2 kit. Despite being different moulds decades apart they fitted quite well.



I then splayed out the S.1 jetpipes to accommodate the reheated Spey nozzles from the new Airfix 1/72 Phantom. I added a longer radome (aligning it was a challenge as there are no straight lines on a Buccaneer) and well as fuselage and wing pylons and missiles - and decided to fit the belly tank as I could not use the slipper tanks.


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The AEW.3 is an S.2 kit with the Freightdog airframe correction set (radome, tailplane and wing antennas, I think). I then added the Freightdog P.139/9 conversion set, which is the pair of side-looking radar arrays under the fuselage. These can be mounted lowered, as here, or raised for landing.



Colours and markings are based on Royal Navy Phantom and Buccaneer schemes, using decals from the spares box and various Royal Navy decal sheets I have acquired. The black and yellow stripes on the AEW's slipper tanks tell the deck crew that the incoming Buccaneer is a "heavy" with radar installed.

[Wardukw]

Oh one has big engines which I like alot ..the has smaller engines which I like slightly less   
Beautifully done mate..they nothing look awesome 👌   

[comrade harps]

They're beautiful 

[kerick]

A great idea and logical RW move. Much too logical to have actually happened.
Nice work on the builds.

[PR19_Kit]

I like the whole idea a LOT! Oh yes!   

[AeroplaneDriver]

Excellent Whiffery!!

[Vulcan7]

Beautifully made Buccaneers       

[The Rat]

What a lovely pair! 

[Pellson]

Very, very nice indeed! 

[Devilfish]

Brilliant idea and execution!

[McColm]

Good job
As the aircraft would be flown by the Fleet Air Arm they would be manned by aircrew/airmen.

[Freightdog862]

Both great builds, nice!

Colin

[zenrat]

 

[Rheged]

Excellent build quality and a first rate backstory.   I like it a lot!

[CammNut]

Thanks for the kind words folks