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A Blackburn Buccaneer aircraft, that was purchased by a Gqeberha company, passed through Kariega earlier this afternoon and is on its way to Gqeberha.
Hangar 51 Aviation from Gqeberha - a group of engineers and aviation enthusiasts - will be restoring three British Blackburn Buccaneer aircraft to its former glory.
They transported the aircraft from Cape Town to Gqeberha, a journey which started on 29 November. The Buccaneer ZU-BCR arrived in Gqeberha today, 1 December.
According to Netwerk24 the aircraft belonged to Thunder City in Cape Town, but were purchased by Hangar 51 Aviation last year.
Wikipedia states that 16 Buccaneer S.50 aircraft were ordered by the South African Air Force in October 1962. These were S.2 aircraft with the addition of Bristol Siddeley BS.605 rocket engines to provide additional thrust for the "hot and high" African airfields.
ZU-BCR joined ZU-AVI at Thunder City in Cape Town in May 1997.
ZU-BCR took to the skies with ZU-AVI and ZU-NIP for many years and were displayed at several airshows. Due to the crash of Lightnings ZU-BEX, the fleet was temporarily grounded but ZU-BCR was the only Buccaneer to go back flying after this incident.
The fleet was ground again around 2016 when Thunder City closed its doors with the collection being put up for sale. The aircraft was pushed outside where they were stored for a few years waiting for a new owner.
In late 2021, the collection was purchased by Hangar 51 Aviation who have the vision to get a few of the airframes back in the air once more!
Source: The Buccaneer Aviation Group
