Blackburn Buccaneer - Survivor XT284
S.2A XT284 - Glenn Cattermole, Felixstowe, Suffolk
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Buccaneer S.2A XT284 at Felixstowe, 13th May 2023; Jake Wallace
XT284 first took to the air in November 1965 being delivered to the Royal Navy. In the early 1980s, the airframe was transferred to the Royal Air Force, with the Buccaneers filling the void after the cancellation of the TSR2. XT284 made her final flight into Abingdon in 1985, being used as an instructional airframe for several years.
In 1998, XT284 was sadly disposed of and scrapped by Haningfield Metals, where her cockpit section was thankfully saved by Glenn Cattermole. Unfortunately, during the scrapping progress, the intakes and fuselage sides received some damage, making the back end a bit of a sorry sight.
Glenn relocated the nose section to his place within Felixstowe, where she still remains today. After being pushed down a small lane and getting stuck, she finally made it into his garden, where the fun of restoring her began! Throughout the last 2+ decades, Glenn has collected many instruments and panels, slowly filling the cockpits back up, and today is pretty much fully complete. He has also reskinned a part of the port side next to the intermediate section that was missing on arrival, presumably from when it was used as an instructional aircraft. This also meant Glenn had to work out roughly where the two external panels were located too - looking at it today, you'd never have guessed that it wasn't original.
Although the appearance of XT284 is beginning to show its age, Glenn has tried to preserve the cockpit in its original paintwork with the odd touch-up here and there where repairs have been carried out.
XT284 is at a private location and is only viewable by invitation only.
In 1998, XT284 was sadly disposed of and scrapped by Haningfield Metals, where her cockpit section was thankfully saved by Glenn Cattermole. Unfortunately, during the scrapping progress, the intakes and fuselage sides received some damage, making the back end a bit of a sorry sight.
Glenn relocated the nose section to his place within Felixstowe, where she still remains today. After being pushed down a small lane and getting stuck, she finally made it into his garden, where the fun of restoring her began! Throughout the last 2+ decades, Glenn has collected many instruments and panels, slowly filling the cockpits back up, and today is pretty much fully complete. He has also reskinned a part of the port side next to the intermediate section that was missing on arrival, presumably from when it was used as an instructional aircraft. This also meant Glenn had to work out roughly where the two external panels were located too - looking at it today, you'd never have guessed that it wasn't original.
Although the appearance of XT284 is beginning to show its age, Glenn has tried to preserve the cockpit in its original paintwork with the odd touch-up here and there where repairs have been carried out.
XT284 is at a private location and is only viewable by invitation only.
Information on this page current as of 05/06/2023, last updated by Jake |
Find other photos of XT284 on the following sites:
Air-Britain - Airliners.net - Airplane-Pictures.net - flickr.com - WorldAirPics.com - JetPhotos.net - PlanePictures.net