History

XX900 was completed at Brough Works in early 1976 and taken by road to Holme on Spalding Moor airfield for her first test flight. She was delivered to 208 Sqn at RAF Honington on 24th November 1976 and was one of ten Buccaneers to take part in the Red Flag 77-2 exercise in 1977 from Nellis AFB in the USA. It was for this exercise that XX900 was repainted in a desert camouflage scheme of sand and dark earth.

XX900 returned to the United States for a second Red Flag exercise the type took part in the autumn of 1978. Transferring to the newly formed 216 Sqn in 1979. XX900 undertook some 105 operational sorties before being grounded along with the rest of the fleet following the fatal crash of XV345 on the 7th February 1980, during the 3rd Red Flag. After the disbandment of 216 Sqn, the aircraft was then reissued to 12 Sqn on the 8th August 1980, and passed the 1000 flying hour mark on 12th February 1981.

By August 1983, XX900, had been reissued to 208 Sqn, and later was involved with AN/ALE40 dispenser trials in connection with Operation PULSATOR in Beirut. The aircraft was flown to BAe Woodford for entry into the avionic update program 8th September 1986. First flight post update was on the 8th July 1987 and following two further test flights, '900 was delivered back to 208 Sqn on the 20th August, passing 2000 flying hours in December of that year.

Following a Major Service at Abingdon in 1989, '900 was returned to 12 Sqn, and subsequently allocated to 237 OCU (Operational Conversion Unit) in August 1990. At the end of 1991 ,'900 was back with 12 Sqn (being the reserve display aircraft for the 1992 display season, taking part in 5 displays during that year), before once again returning to 208 Sqn for the last 18 months of her RAF career. During the disbandment celebrations of 208 Sqn, XX900 was repainted with the Fox of No.12 Sqn to represent the part that the sqn played in the history of the Buccaneer.

Following withdrawal from service, the aircraft was flown to St Athan on the 6th April 1994 for decommissioning, having flown for a mere 3450 hours and 35 minutes, and was subsequently purchased by C Walton Ltd She was partly disassembled by British Aviation Heritage (BAH) engineers and transported to Bruntingthorpe in Leicestershire by road.

The aircraft was then reassembled by BAH engineers/volunteers and was returned to full ground running condition, with 28-day anti-deterioration runs and full system checks/progressive inspections being carried out. XX900 has remained a mainstay of the Cold War Jets Collection, an active aviation museum, for the past 26 years, delighting the Public with its performances at their Cold War Jets open days at Bruntingthorpe.

In Mid-2020, the decision was made to move XX900 to Tatenhill Airfield in Staffordshire. The Airfield was built in 1941 as RAF Tatenhill and was used to train Bomber crews during the Second World War. The move was made by road and was successfully completed on the 6th November 2020.