Performance Figures

Fuselage and Structure

The fuselage of the Buccaneer was designed using the area rule technique, which had the effect of reducing drag while travelling at high subsonic and transonic speeds, and gave rise to the characteristic curvy shape of the fuselage. The majority of the airframe and fuselage was machined from solid casting to give great strength to endure the stress of low level operations. Considerable effort went into ensuring that metal fatigue would not be a limiting factor of the Buccaneer's operational life even under the formidable conditions imposed of continuous low level flight.

A large air brake was built into the tail cone of the aircraft. The hydraulically operated air brake formed two leaves that could be opened into the airstream to quickly decelerate the aircraft. The style of air brake chosen by Blackburn was highly effective in the dive-attack profile that the Buccaneer was intended to perform, as well as effectively balancing out induced drag from operating the Boundary Layer Control (BLC system). It featured a variable incidence tail plane that could be trimmed to suit the particular requirements of low-speed handling or high-speed flight; the tail plane had to be high mounted due to the positioning and functionality of the Buccaneer's air brake.

The wing design of the Buccaneer was a compromise between two requirements: a low aspect ratio for gust response and high aspect ratio to give good range performance. The small wing was suited to high-speed flight at low altitude; however, a small wing did not generate sufficient lift that was essential for carrier operations. Therefore, BLC was used upon both the wing and horizontal stabilizer, having the effect of energising and smoothing the boundary layer airflow, which significantly reduced airflow separation at the back of the wing, and therefore decreased stall speed, and increased effectiveness of trailing edge control surfaces including flaps and ailerons.

Boundary Layer Control (BLC)

In order to dramatically improve aerodynamic performance at slow speeds, such as during take-off and landing, Blackburn adopted a new aerodynamic control technology, known as boundary layer control (BLC). BLC bled high pressure air directly from the engines, which was "blown" against various parts of the aircraft's wing surfaces. A full-span slit along the part of the wing's trailing edge was found to give almost 50% more lift than any contemporary scheme. In order to counteract the severe pitch movements that would otherwise be generated by use of BLC, a self- trimming system was interconnected with the BLC system and additional blowing of the wing's leading edge was also introduced. The use of BLC allowed the use of slats to be entirely discarded in the design.

Before landing, the pilot would open the BLC vents as well as lower the flaps to achieve slow, stable flight. A consequence of the blown wing was that the engines were required to run at high power for low-speed flight in order to generate sufficient compressor gas for blowing. Blackburn's solution to this situation was the adoption of a large air brake; this also allowed an overshooting aircraft to pull away more quickly during a failed landing attempt. The nose cone and radar antenna could also be swung around by 180° to reduce the length of the aircraft in the carrier hangar. This feature was particularly important due to the small size of the aircraft carriers that the Buccaneer typically operated from.

The Buccaneer took off in 3,000 feet (914 m) at 144 knots (267 km/h; 166 mph) with blown air, the figures become 3,700 ft (1,128 m) at 175 knots (324 km/h; 201 mph) without blown air.