AIR08100 - Airfix 1/48 H.S. Buccaneer S2B - WWWEB10114422

AIR08100 - Airfix 1/48 H.S. Buccaneer S2B - WWWEB10114422

Preowned, resealed, mint

The Blackburn Buccaneer was designed to meet a 1952 Royal Navy requirement for a carrier-based strike aircraft. It needed to fly very low and very fast under enemy radar to attack Soviet warships. The NA.39 prototype first flew on April 30, 1958, and the Buccaneer entered Fleet Air Arm service in 1962. Its features included an area-ruled fuselage, boundary-layer blowing over the wings and a rotating bomb-bay door. The S.2 added more powerful Rolls-Royce Spey turbofans, and the RAF adopted the type from 1969, with the S2B built specifically for the RAF. In 1991, during Operation Desert Storm, Buccaneers from RAF Lossiemouth flew to the Gulf at short notice. There they used Pave Spike pods to designate targets for the laser-guided bombs of RAF Tornados. The Buccaneer retired in 1994. This Airfix kit, made in France, builds an S2B in either 1988 squadron markings or Gulf War colours.

• Grey injection-moulded plastic parts in the sealed bag (122 parts)
• Clear canopy parts
• Sea Eagle anti-ship missiles, AIM-9L Sidewinders, AN/ALQ-101 ECM pod, AN/AVQ-23E Pave Spike designator pod and fuel tanks
• Large decal sheet with full stencils, cockpit instrument decals and weapon markings for 2 aircraft:
  • No. 12 Squadron RAF, XW530, RAF Lossiemouth, UK, 1988, with fox’s head squadron badges
  • XX900 “Longmorn”, RAF Lossiemouth Gulf Detachment, Operation Desert Storm, Muharraq, Bahrain, March 1991, with “Sky Pirates” Jolly Roger nose art and mission markings
• Illustrated instruction “Note Book”