Interview with Ken Norman on the Buccaneer and Canberra
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- čas přidán 21. 08. 2024
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Ex RAF pilot Ken Norman tells us about his time flying the English Electric Canberra and the Blackburn Buccaneer.
He includes stories about training, squadrons and flying the Buccaneer at Red Flag at Nellis AFB.
Thanks to the team at Wingless Wonders and South Yorkshire Aircraft Museum.
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Ken. I loved this interview from start to finish, Thanks for sharing your life Mate.
Ken was a Monarch legend and always great fun to work with. I remember him recounting many tales over the years. I particularly recall Ken saying that young, single RAF pilots tended to fly the lowest. As life gradually and naturally introduced the responsibilities of family and kids, the altitude gradually tended to increase! Loved Ken's comment on a leaving poster for a fellow ex Buccaneer pilot, Mike Bush, on his retirement from Monarch. Tongue firmly in cheek, Ken's comment was...."To a pilot I always looked up to....when flying low level!"
I was lucky enough to fly with Ken at Monarch MAN 757... he was a very popular Captain ! Lovely man. Witty and trusted.
Even a night TFS or DLM was enjoyable in Ken’s company !
Ken was very coy about his low level flying -:) screeching along at 580 knots at 12 feet !! Awesome stuff
A braver man than me thats for sure!
Lovely guy to meet and Thankyou Ken for signing my Haynes Buccaneer book and my original Canberra pilots notes
Absolutely great interview- thanks. 550 knots at 20 feet, in a Blackburn Buccaneer! That is IMO airmanship and team work RAF style.
That Canberra backdrop is fantastic.
Hi Ken, great to listen to your story. We last flew together in June ‘96!
Wow, his low fast jet flying on the Buccaneer was at 20 feet! Correction, he was initially at 10 feet but it left dust trails. Incredible, that must have taken nerves of steel. Much like the night time refuelling that he talked about. What a great interview. Was also nice to hear him give his navigator so much recognition. I really enjoyed watching this. Thanks.
Them Bucc crews were crazy! Yeah it was great he gave the back seaters praise also but I am glad you enjoyed it Paul :)
They had boundary layer control which used bleed air from the engines blown over the leading edges of the wings to give them extra lift hence they could fly at ultra low level
@@petebuck9889 Hi Pete, I believe the "blown" parts were the leading edge, flaps and tail and they were blown primarily for low speed handling (take off and landing) rather than low level flight.
As an aside does anyone (everyone?) else remember seeing a SAM crew at Red Flag whooping excitedly and diving out of their cabin to watch the Bucks fly their attack at 20ft? Magic aircraft flow by brilliant aircrew.
All I know Francis Cooke is that I had the pleasure to work on these aircraft, 237OCU and witnessed on several occasions them doing low high speed passes at 30 feet
Francis Cook
Everyone with any Buccaneer knowledge remembers that clip shown on TV, but no-one seems to have a copy, the clip was broadcast on BBC TV, the programme Nationwide, probably one of the most sought after aviation videos.
Such an unassuming gentleman, but my God, what experiences to have had.
580 knots at ten feet over the desert floor, having to go up to twenty or thirty feet because of the dust trails left behind. Said like ten feet at 580 knots was no big deal.
I often wondered whether I might have had what it takes to fly fast jets in anger.
After listening to the standards routinely expected of RAF aircrews, the answer is no.
I've proved myself in other ways, in uniform and out, so I don't mind admitting it either.
Thanks. Brought back my days as an inspector on Buccaneers at Holme on Spalding Moor back in the 60s wonderful beasts including those for South Africa.
Absolutely brilliant , a great insight into the RAF operational and training process .
Loved this video first time round so watched it again. Great stills at the end BTW.
Cheers Bill
An inspirational channel with relatable down to earth pilots 👍
Really interesting to hear him talk my ear's pricked up when I heard him mention the name 'Nobby' Clark, My father worked on 13 SQN which had Canberra's PR7's and 9'S. We were posted to Luqa in Malta in 1974 and were there 3 years. I am pretty sure my father (C/Tech Peter Stanford) mentioned this name....
I was an air cadet and we had a field day at the Canberra OCU at Cottesmore in June 1970. They let us have a look at a B2 ( I think) and crawl around it...quite briefly. Then they sent us on an orienteering/map reading exercise off base that took most of the rest of the rather hot day. When we got back all hot and sweaty and unkempt we got a right dressing down from somebody who might have been the C.O. for looking a mess and he made us all smarten up. On the far side of the airfield four Vulcans were being scrapped. We asked if we could go and have a look at them.....NO !...they were dangerous and out of bounds. Nothing took off or landed that day, so we went home just a bit disenchanted as we got the distinct feeling nobody really wanted us there.
Another interesting story. Amazing to see how big the Buccaneer actually was, esp. for a carrier based machine!
thefrecklepuny I am always amazed by its size when I see them at museums.
Great to hear Ken talk about his flying ,very interesting .
Love the way Ken calmly says they "climbed" to 20 feet at 550 knots, which is incidentally just over 630 mph.
Things are happening very fast at such speeds and heights!
Thanks for posting. Its very interesting listening to these people. I wonder, did Ken ever know Chris Dark who also flew Canberras? I have a PPL and knew Chris in our flying group G-AXUK. (Jodel)
Again, another great video!!
I really liked the small intro. I believe you should implement this intro from now on!!
Great show and Channel! Keep on the good work!
Cheers Marcel. We will be keeping the little intro for all interviews now :)
Another great interview! Fantastic aeroplane the buccaneer!
Thanks again :)
500+ knots at 20'... I'm glad they were on our side!
It'd be interesting to hear about their flying careers post-RAF, as Ken described his time on 757's etc, if that's possible.
We are actually currently working on this interview, Darren.
I was lucky enough to fly with him on the 757 out of Manchester. Quite a privilege.
Nice one!.. we had Canberra planes with our RNZAF.👍🇳🇿
Hi Ken ! What a lovely surprise to find you on CZcams ! Your content is real time capsule stuff ! Reminds me of our chats in the flight deck ! I'm guessing you may be retired now ? Drop me a line, Id love to get back in touch ! All the best, Duncan
Hi Duncan, I shall pass on your message to Ken.
Fantastic jets. Great vid as well.
TechGaming45 thanks very much :)
I was flight deck crew on Ark Royal R09, are you going to interview any RN aircrew 809 (or) 892 (or) 849 squadron aircrew ?
I would love to hear about their opinions of flying from the mighty ark
Another great interview! Nice bloke.
Cheers. He certainly is.
Hi and thanks for all these great interviews....there is one area I wish you would recify - that of you NEVER being mic'd up. It is pretty annoying hearing you at a much lower voice level that your talent. With the cost of the new Rode Go radio mic at USD200 you could not go wrong. Otherwise, carry on Chapp!, its great.
Wonderful!
Thanks Michael.
Great video,great pilot
Simon Richardson cheers Simon
Very good. Would be interesting to know more about these guys' subsequent careers post RAF.
Peter Clark cheers. I may add that part in future interviews if people are interested.
I was lucky enough to fly with Ken at Monarch MAN 757... he was a very popular Captain ! Lovely man. Witty and trusted.
Never heard of the Gnat before listening to this interview. Can't believe how modern that aircraft looks for something designed in the 50's.
The Gnat was designed by W. E. W Petter who also designed the Westland Lysander & Whirlwind plus the English Electric Canberra and the Lightning ! Not bad for a man who started in the family firm building slow speed diesel engines.
I'm old enough to remember the reds flying Gnats before they switched to Hawks in 1980!
@@johnmurrell3175 quite a pedigree.
Great channel and a fascinating interview. Subbed :)
Cheers Daniel
Was that John McCrea at the end of the pilot's line up in the photo with the Buccaneer?
360 Sqn Zap under the nose!
20,25 mins in.
On a 100 Sqn aircraft. lol. inter Sqn rivalry.
I love your videos,thank you :-)
Simon Richardson Thanks very much Simon.
48:00 Navigators don't need the credit. They know that not getting lost is the only sign they need to know they are good. Pilot egos need much more maintenance.
Charlie Kilo. Tatty ton. 🎉🎉🎉🎉 worked on that. 😀
What’s the airline he mentions he flew for near the end? Is it Monarch Airlines, 757 and 767?
Yes that’s correct.
The airplane after the Chipmunk?
Gnat?
Makes you wonder how many British lives could have been saved if we had the Buccaneer available on a carrier during the Falklands War.
I'm not sure it would have made a huge difference to be honest.
A lot of the time, the sea conditions in the Falklands would have prohibited the old Ark Royal from launching and recovering its Phantoms or Buccaneers in the first place. The Buccaneer also wouldn't have been much help in dealing with Argentine aircraft attacking ships.
The RAF Harrier GR3 pilots did a good job at providing CAS for the bulk of the conflict which, to be honest, was a role they trained in more than the Buccaneer, which was an interdictor and anti-ship aircraft.
BrySkye
BIG DIFFERENCE
they could have buddy refueled the Phantoms, (and/or harriers) which would supplied superior CAP that could have chased the skyhawks home
the Bucc's , would have made the Black buck (7 or them) missions pointless, and bombed Stanley airstrip repeatedly, using less fuel & ordinance
they could have done the RAF Harrier GR3 missions with higher ordinance loads, (FAA pilots certainly trained to drop iron bombs - RAF pilots y had never operated from a carrier before, trying to claim whether FAA or RAF pilots were better is anyone guess, but a Buccaneer with up to 3 times the bomb load and greater range and persistence would have been better, AND Sea Harrier's preformed bombing Missions with the GR3's, they weren't purely on CAP
they could have hunted down the north pincer and launched sea eagles at the Argentinian aircraft carrier & their type 42's
they could have attacked Argentinian airstrip/bases (or other targets) on the mainland
the bonus of having the Ark would have been her Gannets, giving Airborne Early Warning , would have saved ships , and helped with Sub hunting
and as been often said , if we'd had the Old ark (and Hermes with her cats still working) , the Argentinians would never have dared try in the first place.
Absolutely correct, that would have made incredible difference
Hope its genuine, just remember Serbia, low level under pylons
I remember it, buccaneers put the fear of God into them
The Canberras I worked on had hydraulic brakes