Self-contained buddy-refuelling pods let carrier aircraft transfer fuel without depending on RAF tankers. Sir Alan Cobham had promoted air-to-air refuelling since the 1930s, and the buddy concept offered a practical way to extend it to the Fleet Air Arm. Scimitars served in a specialist tanker flight formed in 1964, but that unit lasted only until 1966. Buccaneers then took over the role aboard Ark Royal and Eagle using the same Mark 28 pods. Even the dedicated unit had achieved a success rate of only about ninety percent. That was inadequate reassurance for aircraft returning from British Honduras after passing their point of no return. Maintaining proficiency and dependable equipment was therefore essential to the mission described in Phoenix Squadron.
Chapter · 43:01-47:41
Phoenix Squadron and the need for reliable carrier tankers
Self-contained refuelling pods gave the Fleet Air Arm tankers aboard its own carriers, but reliability remained critical when returning aircraft had nowhere else to land.