S.2B XV333 at Yeovilton, 23rd September 2002; author	S.2B XV350 at East Midlands, 19th August 2001; author

Above is the Fleet Air Arm Museum's XV333, which is the first aircraft you see on exiting the helicopter to the Carrier exhibition. Still dripping oil after several years in the museum (the reason for the sand on the deck below her), and looking like she's just come out of an overhaul - makes you want to jump in and crank her up :-) XV333 served with the RAF after the FAA gave up its Buccaneers so it has very much 'come home' to Yeovilton. Information current as of 23/09/2002.

XV350 is possibly the only Buccaneer preserved in RAF colours with full-colour roundels. XV350 is in excellent condition, sat on concrete blocks with wheel chocks and generally with all vents etc. blanked off appropriately. The engines can still be run up and many of her systems are still live. Unfortunately the local council have put paid to any more engine runs, as it seems having an aircraft's engine running contravenes noise pollution regulations. This at an airport where airliners thunder into the sky every few minutes... Information current as of 19/08/2001.

S.2B XV359 at Topsham, 24th April 2005; Blackburn Buccaneer Society	S.2B XV863 at Weston, 26th August 2007; Joe McDermott

As you can see the sea air at Culdrose did no favours to an aircraft displayed out of doors! Just a few years ago this aircraft was immaculate, having been beautifully restored and put on display near the viewing area at HMS Seahawk. Having been put up for disposal in early 2005, in April of that year she was acquired by a private owner near Exeter and moved to his premises shortly afterwards. Information current as of 03/05/2005.

Above is RAF Lossiemouth's previous gate guard, a gulf veteran, complete with ALQ-101 (ECM) pod, LGB and Pave Spike pod. Removed from the gate and replaced by a Tornado, she has been acquired by a private buyer and was transported to Dublin in late August 2007. Now at Weston Aerodrome, she is being reassembled and rumour has it destined for a local museum. Information current as of 30/08/2007.

S.2B XV864 at Manston, December 2005; Francis Wallace/Buccaneer Society	S.2B XV865 at Duxford, 8th October 2007; author

XV864 has avoided actually being burnt at all despite being a fire crew training aid at Manston, and is instead used primarily for aircrew extraction training. Unfortunately this means the canopy is permanently open and as a result the cockpit is in pretty poor condition with much of the internals removed. The remainder of the airframe has also been fairly heavily spares-recovered. Information current as of 12/2005.

Kept for some years at RAF Coningsby after retirement, XV865 was officially used as an instructional airframe but it seems that it was rather better looked-after than most, and was often on display along with two Phantoms. In early 1999 the Imperial War Museum acquired the aircraft and it was transported to Duxford where she was reassembled after transport and put on display in the Superhangar, filling a noticeable gap in the collection at Duxford. Her condition was much better than you'd expect from an aircraft stored mostly out of doors for 6 years or so with only minor corrosion evident. A long-awaited repaint was carried out in late 2004/early 2005 and she then awaited positioning in the new Airspace exhibition hangar, being placed on permanent display there in late 2006. Information current as of 08/10/2006.

S.2B XW530 at Elgin, 3rd June 2002; Bob Lawson	S.2B XW544 at Bruntingthorpe, 30th April 2005; Blackburn Buccaneer Society

XW530 here saw service in the Gulf - and gained the Sky Pirates flag marking along with Glenmorangie as her tipple (many of the Gulf War Buccs were given not only names but also marked with the names of detachment personnel's wives or girlfriends and a particular drink). XW530 now indicates her history with a Sky Pirates flag and mission markings on her starboard nose. The shark mouths on the slipper tanks are a more recent addition! Incredibly 5 years after my visit Bob found her in just as good condition as ever - she's obviously well looked-after.

XW544 had spent some years in a yard near Shawbury, owned by Rob Goldstone but finally the long-laid plans to move her to Bruntingthorpe and begin the restoration to running condition kicked off in style, and she moved to Bruntingthorpe on 3rd October 2004. She's pictured above at Bruntingthorpe shortly after re-attachment of the port wing and radome. Work continues on getting her into ground-running condition, with the replacement of the first of her two scrap engines with a refurbished Spey in late July 2007. You can keep up to date with progress here. Information current as of 30/08/2007.

S.2B XW547 at Hendon, 8th March 2003; author	S.2B XX885 at Scampton, December 2003; HHA

XW547, the pink one here is the RAF's 'official' preserved Bucc. Finally they've relocated it to Hendon where it belongs rather than at Cosford with the exotic prototypes and captured enemy aircraft there. As for the the paint scheme - yes, you guessed it, a Gulf War veteran! XW547 is otherwise known as Guinness Girl or Pauline, and the tipple assigned to her was The Macallan. Now on display in the 'On Target' (aka Bomber Command) Hall at the museum, she is unfortunately now much more difficult to photograph than when she was on display at Cosford. Information current as of 08/03/2003.

XX885 is the subject of a serious attempt to return her to the air here in the UK (makes a change eh!). She's complete, has always been hangared, never dismantled and has no corrosion. A complete IRAN (Inspect & Repair as Necessary) was concluded by HHA engineers in 2003 on the entire airframe and all subsystems. Custodial maintenance and ground runs are carried out on a very regular basis as per the maintenance schedules. Airframe and engine hours are good, the AP library is complete, they have acquired and overhauled a complete set of Bucc GSE and also acquired, inspected, catalogued, overhauled and stored a considerable number of Bucc spares amongst which was the entire Bucc spares pack from RAE Bedford, an organisation which like HHA operated a single Bucc away from normal squadron support. These stores include at least 2 spare engines. HHA is well financed with adequate resources to see the project through; however they are always on the look out for more spares, GSE and any spare APs - also photos of the aircraft in service. The good in late 2005 was that the CAA had finally granted approval for HHA to operate this complex type in UK skies - however as of August 2007 she has yet to take to the air. Information current as of 30/08/2007.