How the Blackburn Buccaneer attacked below radar

What was the Blackburn Buccaneer?

A British twin-engine naval strike aircraft that combined low-speed handling aids with fast, very low attacks intended to evade radar.

The Blackburn Buccaneer was a twin-engine strike aircraft built for Royal Navy service and later used by the RAF. Blown control surfaces directed engine air over the aircraft's surfaces to improve handling at low speed. For attacks, it relied on fast subsonic flight extremely close to the ground or sea, below the search coverage of naval radar. This offered a way to approach heavily armed Soviet cruisers. A participant recalls a veteran pilot's account of aircraft flying so low in training that stores could be lost from their pylons. Stories about climbing to lower the landing gear convey how aggressively crews practiced the tactic.