Blackburn Buccaneer - Survivor XW550
S.2B XW550 - Francis & Jake Wallace, Cotswold Airport, Gloucestershire
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Buccaneer S.2B XW550 at Abingdon, 20th May 2023; Damien Burke
Delivered to 15 Squadron at RAFG Laarbruch in April 1973, XW550 spent her RAF career with 15 and 16 Squadrons at that same station in Germany. In 1980 the Buccaneer fleet was grounded and had its wing spars inspected for cracks. XW550 turned out to have the worst crack in the entire fleet. She was withdrawn from service and was eventually scrapped at St Athan.
The nose section was saved and bought by Ricky Kelley in West Horndon. Ricky intended to restore XW550, but unfortunately, this never happened and so the cockpit stayed locked away.
XW550 was purchased by Francis Wallace with any extra spares being purchased by The Buccaneer Aviation Group (TBAG) in late 2016. It was first planned for XW550 to go to Francis' place for restoration, however, plans changed with the idea of TBAG using the cockpit as a traveling exhibit to help promote the group's activities at Bruntingthorpe with taxiable Buccaneers XX894 and XW544.
The cockpit was moved by road from West Horndon, Essex on 05/11/2016 to her new home at Bruntingthorpe in Leicestershire. During that time she underwent a full restoration which included, respray and was mounted onto a trailer of TBAGs to create what they call the MEU - Mobile Exhibition Unit. The restoration saw many of her bays emptied to help make the cockpit as light as possible whilst the cockpits were fully rebuilt. Unfortunately, XW550 was missing a front windshield so one was manufactured - you'd almost never know it's not an original!
In June 2019, XW550 made several outings around the country, and even won the "Spirit of Cockpit-fest" award at Newark Air Museum's 20th such event, for an 18-month restoration project and attention to detail. The next phase of the restoration will see the application of electrical power to illuminate all the instruments. It was hoped that this next phase would have been completed by spring 2020, but due to a new lease agreement being negotiated at Bruntingthorpe, XW550 had to be moved off-site into storage at Bridgnorth, Shropshire.
The cockpit remained in storage until September 2021 when it was towed to TBAG's new home, Cotswold Airport, where it was reunited with her sisters! In 2025, Francis' son, Jake (also a TBAG volunteer), became a part-owner of the cockpit.
Today, Francis and Jake continue to keep XW550 on loan to The Buccaneer Aviation Group so the MEU continues to create awareness of the organisation so XX894 and XW544 can remain preserved and breathing for many more years to come! XW550's paintwork is starting to look very tired having battled the elements almost constantly since 2021, but a repaint in the not-too-distant future has been discussed. For most of the time, XW550 can be publicly viewed at Cotswold Airport next to their AV8 cafe and numerous other aircraft.
The nose section was saved and bought by Ricky Kelley in West Horndon. Ricky intended to restore XW550, but unfortunately, this never happened and so the cockpit stayed locked away.
XW550 was purchased by Francis Wallace with any extra spares being purchased by The Buccaneer Aviation Group (TBAG) in late 2016. It was first planned for XW550 to go to Francis' place for restoration, however, plans changed with the idea of TBAG using the cockpit as a traveling exhibit to help promote the group's activities at Bruntingthorpe with taxiable Buccaneers XX894 and XW544.
The cockpit was moved by road from West Horndon, Essex on 05/11/2016 to her new home at Bruntingthorpe in Leicestershire. During that time she underwent a full restoration which included, respray and was mounted onto a trailer of TBAGs to create what they call the MEU - Mobile Exhibition Unit. The restoration saw many of her bays emptied to help make the cockpit as light as possible whilst the cockpits were fully rebuilt. Unfortunately, XW550 was missing a front windshield so one was manufactured - you'd almost never know it's not an original!
In June 2019, XW550 made several outings around the country, and even won the "Spirit of Cockpit-fest" award at Newark Air Museum's 20th such event, for an 18-month restoration project and attention to detail. The next phase of the restoration will see the application of electrical power to illuminate all the instruments. It was hoped that this next phase would have been completed by spring 2020, but due to a new lease agreement being negotiated at Bruntingthorpe, XW550 had to be moved off-site into storage at Bridgnorth, Shropshire.
The cockpit remained in storage until September 2021 when it was towed to TBAG's new home, Cotswold Airport, where it was reunited with her sisters! In 2025, Francis' son, Jake (also a TBAG volunteer), became a part-owner of the cockpit.
Today, Francis and Jake continue to keep XW550 on loan to The Buccaneer Aviation Group so the MEU continues to create awareness of the organisation so XX894 and XW544 can remain preserved and breathing for many more years to come! XW550's paintwork is starting to look very tired having battled the elements almost constantly since 2021, but a repaint in the not-too-distant future has been discussed. For most of the time, XW550 can be publicly viewed at Cotswold Airport next to their AV8 cafe and numerous other aircraft.
Information on this page current as of 09/07/2025, last updated by Jake |
Find other photos of XW550 on the following sites:
Air-Britain - Airliners.net - Airplane-Pictures.net - flickr.com - WorldAirPics.com - JetPhotos.net - PlanePictures.net