Blackburn Buccaneer S2 Cockpit Rig - XN979

19/10/2026

Wish we could be there, it's going to be a great event. Enjoy!

Saturday saw the team carry out some prep work on both aircraft, ready for our taxi event this coming weekend - don’t forget to go and grab your tickets via our website.

The team was kept busy diagnosing an issue with XX894's port flap, while others checked over XW544’s newly refurbished nose leg and reattached the nose undercarriage door. Further work was also carried out on our Houchin 20kW 28VDC servicing trolley to restore it to a fully usable condition!

13/10/2026

It's been fairly slow as I'm busy with college, but we have still made progress.

A special thanks to Francis of The Buccaneer Aviation Group for all of his help with the trim wheel which has been very stubborn. Mum succeeded in removing the wheel on Sunday - it definitely needs blasting with the corrosion you can see in the photo. That was after a battle to get the nut off, with a left hand thread.

She's also got the 2 split pins and castellated nuts off the friction bar. They were very awkward (it took a day and Naylan's expertise was needed in the end). The rest of the awkward switches and wiring looms have also been removed and kept as intact as possible. One switch was a casualty though, an easier one to replace than the awkward Honeywell ones. The unit is now empty of wiring🙂.

It was good to work with a local Air Training Corps squadron helping to wash and clean Vulcan XH558 and Canberra WK163. It was great to share our aviation interest and to encourage them. Lots of interesting questions kept us busy.

Thanks everyone.

08/10/2026

More good progress was made last week on the throttle unit.

The main challenge was to remove the wiring looms to be complete as possible as a template. We need to take it apart to bead blast as there's a fair bit of corrosion as you can see in the photos. Guy was helping Mum with removing the throttle levers and the looms. Graham has been perseering with the wiring diagrams to help us to work out what to do, and how to do it. Thank you very much for your hard work, and to Mum.

On Sunday we were back out for the day engine running with XH558 for the final VIP engine run of the season. That leaves the Halloween Howl open event to enjoy on 31st October, and there are still tickets available!

www.vulcantothesky.org/product/halloween-howl

29/09/2026

A belated post - we'll do what we can inbetween.

The big news is that we need something to do next/in the winter. The centre pedestal will go back in when the machining is done and a couple of other small items.

We've therefore spent some time applying penetrating oil to remove the armament panel below the throttle. It did fight back, as did the switches! However Naylan persuaded it out with the adjacent frame being removed. Thank you Naylan again.

You know the routine by now - we'll need to document and extract the wiring (there's a lot inside), dismantle anything required eg we know that we need at least one more spacer machining, bead blasting, degreasing, primer, paint and reassemble. It'll keep us busy through winter.

We were back working with Vulcan XH558 on Sunday for a public engine run day.

Thanks for your patience with our updates!

25/09/2026

Other matters have overtaken us recently.

We won't be at the Newark Aeroboot tomorrow sadly. We're still looking for Buccaneer and Vulcan parts and memorabilia- so please get in touch if you have, or know of, anything.

Enjoy the Aeroboot!

02/09/2026

We haven't done much on the cockpit recently as we had a break, but progress has still been made.

Just before we left we got primer and a coat of light grey on the steering arm for the trolley. It's much better but we'll do another coat when it's drier weather again.

Thanks to some amazing support from our ex Buccaneer friends we were so happy to come and back and see the wiring that's now in place on the centre pedestal. Thank you so much Graham, and Guy, we really appreciate it. Graham helped us to remove the cut wiring last Autumn and it needed replacing and future proofing. You can see the difference- well done! The cables will be attached to the control column base after the centre pedestal has been put back in the rig.

I have also started to wirelock and to do the replacement split pins in the pedestal.

As usual there was a break from the holiday for engine running. Thanks to Vulcan XH558 too.

20/08/2026

Carolyn here, some of you have been kind enough to ask how Marcus got on with his exams.

We're really pleased to say that he's passed his exams well and is enrolling at college now ready for A Levels. The next step towards an aircraft engineering career.

18/08/2026

We spent the weekend at Real Aeroplane Club for the G for George. The dual Spitfire display was outstanding and so many other aircraft. I spent the weekend as ground crew, which is always great.

We are also keeping busy with the cockpit. The modified steering arm now has a first coat of Royal Navy grey. We've trimmed the replacement gaiters and have progressively been finding missing, or replacing centre pedestal nuts and bolts.

Mum spent some time in the rig sanding, degreasing and the usual Jenolite before etch primer and paint. We want to ensure that the front end is ready for the pedestal going back in as it's pretty inaccessible after.

Generally we're trying to get red oxide or etch primer on all bare metal bolts now. Hours with a paintbrush and it's looking better all the time.

Last week we had a day at Vulcan XH558 working alongside the very keen to learn and enthusiastic Air Training Corps Cadets from the Kent Wing. They came to help with our routine maintenance and were brilliant.

We're going to take a break from work for the summer for a couple of weeks now but we're still planning in the background.

Hope you're all enjoying the summer.

06/08/2026

We'll be visiting Newark Air Museum on Saturday for the Aeroboot.

As always, we're especially keen to find some more Buccaneer parts for the rig, and tools and anything else you might have that's related. As usual Mum is keen for more Vulcan parts!

We're looking forward to catching up with friends before we dash back for more work. See you there.