Having moved from Bruntingthorpe in August 2020, The Buccaneer Aviation Group (TBAG) a not-for-profit organisation of volunteers are now firmly based at Cotswold Airport (formerly RAF Kemble), writes Rich Kelsey.
TBAG operate XX894 ‘Norma’ and XW544 on Fast-Taxi/Anti-Detector Runs to the public and take part in photographic night shoots with these aircraft. Also Buccaneer XW550, a restored cockpit section is used at various airshows in the UK to promote the group’s activities.
The preservation of these S.2B Buccaneers is to honour the service and dedication of the air and ground crews, the people who built them and the memories associated with the aircraft. In service it had exceptional low-altitude performance and was one of the most capable aircraft of its kind.
A triumph for Britain’s aviation industry, the subsonic strike jet was best known for being operated by the Royal Navy, and the RAF in Operation Desert Storm. Dave Lamb, Bill Westall and I watched a fast taxi run of XX894 ‘Norma’ to celebrate its 50th anniversary, so she was prepped and ready for a static run up of its x2 mighty 20,500 lbs of thrust Rolls-Royce Spey Engines to check for faults before a fast taxi spectacle.
Whilst the aircraft was repositioned for a photo shoot in the afternoon, we had a look around Kemble to see what was going on and chatted to the guys of the British Phantom Aviation Group.
We had the bonus of seeing Spitfire TE308 twin seater take off with its lucky passenger having his flight over Gloucestershire. The Spitfire originally was built as a single seat aircraft in 1945 at Castle Bromwich. T9 TE308 currently flies in homage to the striking designs carried by the 457 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force.
All the squadron’s Spitfires were painted with a shark’s mouth, giving them the nickname of the ‘Grey Nurse Squadron’ hence its name carried today. Other Cold War aircraft are on show around the public side of the airfield along with a Britania, also an ex-British Airways Boeing 747 is also on show and is available to hire as a venue.
We returned to the active side of the airfield for a Buccaneer photo shoot, and a chance to have a good close look the aircraft including XW544 in its prepped and ready for repaint guise that you can see in my photos.
Visitors, including Bill, had a chance to sit in XW550’s cockpit which rounded our TBAG day off quite nicely. We would like to give our thanks to the Buccaneer Group for making our visit a special and fascinating event as usual.
Words and pictures by Rich Kelsey
