Blackburn Buccaneer 208 Squadron Red Flag Aviation Art Print by Artist Paul Couper GAvA

This painting was inspired by a story from ex-Buccaneer crewman Ken Norman. In the interview he recalls how the Blackburn Buccaneers would descend to ten feet but were leaving dust trails that gave their position away, hence they climbed up to twenty feet to alleviate the problem.

Such a story seems a stretch of the imagination, but such was the quality of both the aircraft and the crews involved.

The story of the Buccaneer is well told elsewhere on our site but its abilities during the Red Flag operations, held at Nellis AFB were especially  noteworthy. The image shows numerous Buccaneers from 208 Squadron taking part in the 1977 competition, the first time a British squadron had been involved. The aircraft and crews greatly impressed their American hosts and were more often than not able to hit their assigned targets. The tactics used and combination of excellent spotting by the crews and the RWR. The engineers and ground crew also deserve a special mention as all 10 aircraft remained airworthy for the whole competition.