Oh well, I had a go anyway. But this does show the limitataions of Paint as opposed to photoshop:

Thanks for that Obi Wan. What an addition to a carrier air group this a/c would have been, Tornado avionics at sea without having to develop a complete new airframe. In the opinion of quite a few people the Buccaneer was a better aircraft than its replacement!
In the long run a refitted Eagle with Phantoms and an upgraded Buccaneer would have been a lot cheaper than building the three harrier carriers. I don’t think the Argentine would have even thought of an invasion of the Falklands had we had such a strike capability. Think of the lives saved not to mention the money the campaign to re-capture cost!

One of the last three Buccs delivered in 77 which went to the MOD(PE) for trials work was fitted with the Tornado GR1 nose and avionics. this may give some idea of what could be achieved. The pseudo naval colour scheme is harder to explain, as the Navy had switched to all over dark sea grey ten years before this aircraft was built, and no naval aircraft had fin flashes either

Obi Wan,Your Bucc, with the Tornado nose and avionics got me thinking how if things were different a mark 3 might have looked in Navy squadron service. Could you doctor the image to look like an 800 or 801 cab with “E” or “V” code? Your phantonised carriers were a real treat!
Back in the mid 70s when we sailed out of Devonport on Ark Royal we would pass the mighty Eagle laid up in Plymouth sound. As I looked over her empty flight deck I would imagine what might have been, her air wing on board…899 Phantoms with the flying fist on the fin and 800 Buccaneers etc. However she had now taken on a stillness. Where her jets once thundered, now nothing but silence… eerie but still a sense of awe about her.

Obi Wan, your remark about the Buccs coming out of maintenance having a six in one chance of going back to the RN. Have you taken into account the following two points.
No airframe with a serial after XV869 ever served with the Navy!
No aircraft equipped with a bomb door tank ever served with the Navy!
I think all the S2B aircraft were fitted with this mod. The S2C/S2D aircraft never had this fitted. We had great fun on 809 removing and installing the bomb bay tank when a change of roll was required! You would normally end up soaked in and stinking of avcat.
Incidentally Buccaneer XV333 an aircraft I worked on in 1976 (809) is now in the fleet air arm museum, in the colours of 801 squadron which it wore 1969. However it has a bomb door tank fitted! This would have been installed sometime after 1978 when the aircraft was converted from an S2D to an S2B for RAF service.

237OCU handled all Buccaneer training from 72 onwards, taking over from 736NAS. All buccs were built for carrier ops, though RAF examples simply had the catapult spools ‘unbolted’ in service. converting them back wouldn’t have been a big job, probably a few hours work. 237OCU operated a small pool of Navy configured Buccs not only to provide training for FAA crews but to act as rapid replacements for any aircraft lost by 809NAS in service, hence the 809 painted example mentioned above (the aforementioned PTF served a similar funtion for 892, and 849HQ flight operated three AEW3 Gannets in the seventies for B flight’s benefit). The Buccs pictured here are painted in 809 colours, but the lack of side numbers on the nose indicates they are on the strength of 237 as reserve aircraft for 809. I have a picture (not on my computer sadly) of a 237 aircraft in RAF camo on the static steam catapult at RAE Bedford so some of the S2A/S2Bs also had catapult points.

Obi Wan, As you point out the Bucc’s in your photos are reserve a/c for 809. They must have come out of storage for the air show(s) they are attending. The lack of under wing pylons and slipper tanks also points to this. I can identify them as S2C/D (the earlier S2 prior to 1973 can be visually identified by having two aerials of the same size on the spine) aircraft by the larger front aerial on the spine. Wonder why the letter “R” (Ark Royal code letter) has been left off the tail fin? It’s not as if 809 could deploy to another carrier post ’73!

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Obi wan, your knowledge and photo records are superb! I think the mods (removal of cat hooks and hold back gear… etc) to the ex navy bucc’s on the RN unit were carried out at Belfast. New fairings were added where the hold back was removed and the cat hook doors were removed and paneled over. One cab I worked on when on 809 squadron XV333 call sign 030 started off as a Navy cab then to the RAF and back to the Navy on 809. The only explanation I can think of is the RAF took over too many a/c and in the end had to give some back!

To keep this thread on track I thought it would be a good idea to attach these photos of the Vic during rebuild in the ’50s.

Thanks again for your very comprehensive answer. I had seen the photo of the RAF cam’ed 766 phantom somewhere before, however I never knew the explanation.

I have also seen a photo of a RAF Cam’ed Buccaneer on Ark’s waist cat, serial partly visible XV…… Any ideas on that?

Thanks for your reply Obi Wan!

Makes you wonder why Eagle didn’t get the Phantom refit in ’66 instead of Ark which had considerable more work needed to bring her up to date. Would it not have cost less to operate the F4s from a refitted Eagle?