The Buccaneer Aviation Group (TBAG)
Kemble (Cotswold Airport)
January 11, 2025
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| The Buccaneer Aviation Group (TBAG), is a UK-based not-for-profit organisation located at Cotswold Airport (formerly RAF Kemble). A fund raising evening/night photoshoot was run by Threshold, starting with an engine-run and short taxi in the mist. Followed by static shots and a wing folding exercise. |
| Buccaneer S.2B (XX894) in spurious Royal Navy colours, during a wing folding demonstration. |
Left to right: Hawker Siddeley Buccaneer S.2B (XX894 'R-020') was delivered to the RAF in 1975 and issued to 16 Squadron at RAF Laarbruch, the first of several squadrons it served with during its 19-year service. This is one of the most famous Buccaneers, as it was the only RAF aircraft to destroy an enemy aircraft during the first Gulf War.
In 1993, XX894 was repainted to represent '020' of 809 NAS aboard HMS Ark Royal in 1978. Retirement came in 1994 and the aircraft is now in the care of volunteers from The Buccaneer Aviation Group (TBAG), a group dedicated to preserving the Buccaneer in fast-taxi working order. |
| Left to right: Buccaneer S.2B (XX894 'R-020'). |
| Left to right: Buccaneer S.2B (XX894 'R-020'). |
| Left to right: Buccaneer S.2B (XX894 'R-020'). |
Left to right: Buccaneer S.2B (XW544 'O') was delivered to the Royal Air Force in June 1972, flying with XV and 16 Squadron before being grounded during 1983. After years in storage the plane was rescued from a scrap yard and brought to Bruntingthorpe in 2004. After four years of hard work, the first ground run took place in 2008 and in May 2011 the aircraft made its first public taxi run, restored in the colours of 16 Squadron.
From TBAGs website; In 2023, work got underway to give XW544 a full external restoration. This includes stripping back the paintwork to a nice even finish, treating any corrosion found along the and a general clean and degrease of the whole aircraft. On August 20, 2020 XW544 left Bruntingthorpe, its home for the previous 16 years, on a low-loader bound for Cotswold Airport.
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| Left to right: Buccaneer S.2B (XW544 'O'). |
| Buccaneer S.2B (XW544 'O' later 8857M) still looking good after its external paint restoration in an authentic camouflage green and 16 Squadron markings from the time it was retired in July 1983, re-applied over the winter of 2011/12. The refueling probe was only fitted after it ceased flying when it was with No.2 School of Technical Training (SoTT) at RAF Cosford.
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| Buccaneer S.2B (XX894 'R-020') in spurious Royal Navy colours re-painted in 2013/14. |
| Also at Kemble (Cotswold Airport) |
Left to right: Bristol Britannia C.1 (XM496) named 'Regulus' and the last Britannia to fly is in the care of the Bristol Britannia XM496 Preservation Society since October 1997.
Two images from 2020. |
