WWW.SAMPUBLICATIONS.COM 48 SKY PIRATES COMBAT-ZONE Sky Pirates Andy Evans looks at the role of the RAF Buccaneers in the 1991 Gulf War Fully armed XV863 gets airborne from Muharraq hen Iraq invaded Kuwait in Flare Dispensers and left for the Gulf under the 1990, few could have foreseen aegis of the ‘Sky Pirates’. A further six Buccaneers the emergence of the RAF’s left soon after to join their compatriots at Buccaneer force, then on the Muharraq. Two other aircraft, XV332 and XX893 verge of retirement, being thrust were fully prepared, but stayed at Lossiemouth. Winto service in the Gulf as part of Operation A total of eighteen Buccaneer crews were chosen ‘Granby’. At the onset of Operation Desert Storm’ for ‘Operation Granby’, taken from Nos.12 and in February 1991, the RAF’s Tornado GR.1 force 208 Squadrons, plus crews from 237 OCU. began flying with low-level attack missions, The Operation ‘Granby’ Buccaneers all wore however, following the loss of aircraft and the the Desert Sand ARTF scheme, retaining a natural intensity of the Iraqi ant-aircraft munitions, metal ring around the engine intakes and the a rethink by the defence staff ordered that wing and tail plane leading edges, and their subsequent Tornado sorties be carried out RHWR bullet fairings retained their buff colour. at medium level using laser guided bombs. Markings were sparse, two white ejection seat However, the only laser designator equipment triangles were carried either side of the cockpit, deployed by the RAF was a pair of experimental and a white ‘Rescue’ arrow on the lower front TIALD pods carried by the Tornado force, and fuselage. The aircraft had small white serial clearly inadequate for the task ahead. The only numbers on the rear fuselage with a single solution it seemed was to hurriedly despatch a identifying code letter approximately twelve- detachment of Buccaneers, complete with their inches high either side of the tail fin. For the AN/AVQ 23E ‘Pave Spike’ designator pods to the outward journey to the Gulf, the aircraft carried combat zone. on Saturday 26th January 1991 a single Buccaneer-style slipper tank, however, six Buccaneer S.2Bs departed on their non-stop these were not carried on combat missions. For nine-hour flight to Muharraq Air Base in Bahrain, their role as designators, the Buccaneers carried a in the company of a TriStar KC1 Tanker. These Westinghouse AN/ALQ-101 jamming pod on the aircraft had been painted in Desert Sand AFTF, starboard outer wing pylon, with the starboard and were fitted with Mk.XII Mode 4 IFF, Have inner wing pylon empty. The Pave Spike pod was Post war, you can see the discolouration of the ARTF paint Quick II secure radios and AN/ALE-40 Chaff and carried on the port inner wing pylon and a single 48-51-Combat-Zone-Sky-Pirates-MA-1217 copy.indd 48 13/11/2017 14:36 MODEL AIRCRAFT DECEMBER 2017 49 ‘Sky Pirates’ Buccaneers COMBAT-ZONE Check List XX899 P Laser Lips Laura Linkwood XX892 I Glen Lossie XW547 R Guinness Girl/Pauline The Macallan XW533 A Miss Jolly Roger/Fiona Glenfarclas XX889 T Longmorn XW530 E Glenmorangie XV863 S Sea Witch/Debbie Tamnavoulin XX885 L Hello Sailor/Caroline Famous Grouse XX352 O Aberlour XX352 U Tamdhu XX901 N The Fling Mermaid/Kathryn Glen Elgin XX895 G Jaws/Lynn Glenfiddich Here you can see the Pave Spike pod and AIM-9 Sidewinder fit AIM-9 Sidewinder missile on the outer wing Two Buccaneers, crewed by Wing Commander rather dated, as the navigator had to target the pylon. These fits were in addition to the wing Bill Cope and Flt Lt Carl Wilson and Flt Lt Glen bombs using a roller ball for the forty-seconds leading-edge mounted ARII 18228 RWR fairings, Mason with Squadron Leader Norman Browne, between release and impact the success rate was and from photographs taken of Buccaneers in flew with four Tornadoes, on a route that was most acceptable. A lesson quickly learnt though the Gulf, it would appear that Tracor AN/ALE-40 to become very familiar and popularly called was that the two sets of bombs had to detonate Chaff and Flare dispensers were relocated from ‘Olive Trail’, where they took some fuel on board simultaneously; otherwise the second set of their more usual position on the underside of the from a tanker before heading towards the As bombs would be blown off target by the first engine nacelles to the inner faces of the outboard Suwaira road bridge. The format of this first detonation. These initial strikes were designed wing pylons. As with all the RAF aircraft that wore mission was to become the template for all future to disrupt the movement of Iraqi forces, however the temporary Desert Sand colour scheme, their attacks. The Buccaneers would operate in pairs from the 15th of February attention switched to paintwork soon became lubricant and exhaust in the company of four Tornado GR.1’s, and this Hardened Aircraft Shelters sites, then to airfield stained, and began to look like a patchwork of would ensure that should one aircraft become targets, and when Allied Coalition gained full ‘Air colours, particularly along the line of the engine unserviceable, the other could take on the Superiority’, the decision was taken to remove intakes and behind the jet exhausts and under designation task for the ‘cell’. Buccaneers XW547 the AIM-9L Sidewinders from the Buccaneers. the fuselage. and XX899 were chosen for this first attack, which From the 21st February 1991 onwards, the Following arrival, a rapid work-up was was to be on the bridge crossing the Euphrates Buccaneers were armed with laser-guided carried out over the Saudi Arabian desert in river at As Samawah. In typical fashion the bombs, and having supported Tornado attacks, conjunction with RAF Tornado GR.1’s, and on the bridge was destroyed by six ‘Paveway II’ LGBs, the aircraft were then free to loiter over the 2nd February 1991 the first mission was taken. and although the Buccaneers equipment was area, and attack any targets of opportunity. Post war, you can see the discolouration of the ARTF paint 48-51-Combat-Zone-Sky-Pirates-MA-1217 copy.indd 49 13/11/2017 14:36 WWW.SAMPUBLICATIONS.COM 50 SKY PIRATES Close in on the Pave Spike pod with seeker head covered XX885 Hello Sailor/Caroline Typically, and attack would see a Buccaneers drop in from around 28,000ft into a forty- degree dive, with the weapon being released around 19/20,000ft. Because ‘sighting basket’ of the ‘Pave Spike’ Pod was restricted to about forty-five degrees, the pilot would usually try to the aim the Buccaneer onto the chosen target, and the Navigator would then use the ‘Pave Spike’ video display to mark the target until the LGB’s hit. Major strikes were also carried out by the Buccaneers on the 27th February 1991 against three Iraqi airfields: Al Taqaddum Airfield, Habbaniyah Airfield and Shayka Mazhar Airfield, latter becoming infamous for the destruction of two Iraqi Antonov An-12 ‘Cub’ Transport aircraft on the ground at Shayka Mazhar Airfield with self-designated LGB’s. Following a successful Tornado attack XX901 spotted several Iraqi aircraft on the ground. Releasing a pair of LGBs from a steep dive, both hit but for some reason failed to explode, however, they did render the aircraft unserviceable. Post-war however, XV863 Sea Witch/Debbie it was discovered that this was in fact a Kuwaiti Hercules captured by the Iraqis! It was then the destroyed the aircraft, as ‘kill markings’ were Model Aircraft Choice turn of the second Buccaneer, XX894 to attack its apparently applied to the wrong jet. The ground target, another Iraqi Air Force Antonov collective belief was that it was XX885 that had We Recommend An-12 ‘Cub’, and again using a pair of LGBs, both destroyed the ‘Cub’, due to the mission markings of which hit and destroyed their target. Some of a red silhouette of an ‘An-12’ seen when she then discrepancy arose as to which Buccaneer returned to RAF Lossiemouth, however, it was in For the full story of the Blackburn Buccaneer, MDF Scaled Down #6 is available for £14.99 from the SAM Store XX899 Laser Lips Laura 48-51-Combat-Zone-Sky-Pirates-MA-1217 copy.indd 50 13/11/2017 14:36 MODEL AIRCRAFT DECEMBER 2017 HAND PICKED HandFOR picked 2017 for 2016 Andrew Rawlinsom Andrew - Signed-off by: Date: Date: XW530’s mission symbols 1:32 (early version), fact XX894 which destroyed the ‘aircraft’. began to sport mission markings in the shape 03944 In keeping with the then Gulf tradition, full of black silhouettes of bombs, and these were P-51D-5NA Mustang colour nose artwork in the form of scantily- clad applied beneath the cockpit on the starboard females was added to seven of the aircraft, with side. The aircraft also dropped and designated such names as ‘Laser Lips Laura’, ‘Sea Witch’, and their own bombs later in the war, and where ‘Miss Jolly Roger’ becoming iconic symbols of this happened it was denoted by a red mission the Buccaneers exploits. All twelve aircraft were symbol. XV332, one of the two spares that also individually named after a brand of Scotch remained at Lossiemouth also managed to sport Whisky, such as ‘Glenfiddich’ or ‘Glenmorangie’. some nose art, being called ‘Dirty Harriet’. in In addition to the ‘ladies’, all aircraft were given attacks on target. By the end of the campaign, a black flag with a white skull and crossbones, the twelve Buccaneers had flow 250 sorties and which was carried on the port side of the nose, had designated 169 LGB’s for other aircraft as 4547 REVELL_SAM_Mustang_Mosq_Inv_Vert_65x290 .pdf 1 with at least one aircraft being noted with its well as dropping a total of forty-eight LGB’s of 23-10-17 skull wearing a red headscarf and another with their own, and no aircraft were lost during the 03923 D.H Mosquito B Mk.