Owners hope jet could see deer centre take off

The Scottish Deer Centre has revealed ambitious plans for its new £28,000 fighter jet, bought from an Elgin petrol station.

The Fife attraction hopes the former RAF Buccaneer will become a key feature of the 55-acre park.

Millionaire owners David Hamilton and Gavin Findlay plan to display it on a replica runway with the help of the RAF Benevolent Fund.

They are also hoping to add a royal touch by asking William and Kate, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, to officially unveil the 63ft plane.

The Buccaneer made the 140-mile trip to the Deer Centre in Cupar, via Inverness and Dunfermline, on December 12.

David bought it as an investment after spotting it for sale on Gumtree.

He then spent another £26,000 transporting it to Fife.

It is sitting on a trailer in the car park, but a 250tonne crane will lift it over the trees and on to the new runway at the end of the month.

The nose cone will then be reattached and dummy missiles inserted.

It will be used as an educational tool for children visiting the Scottish Deer Centre, which has plans to bring the Buccaneer back to its original condition

“It’s well known we’ve bought a Buccaneer,” said David.

“We got talking to someone from the RAF Benevolent Fund and they suggested putting it on a runway.

“They’re going to work with us and there will be a wind sock, lights, numbers etc.”

Once in place, the Buccaneer will be made suitable for visitors to sit in by putting perspex boxes around the engines.

The aircraft will sit among the park’s other vintage vehicles, including an old fire engine and tractors.

Outdoor TVS will eventually show footage of the jet in flight.

“There will be steps up and the kids can get five minutes in the cockpit,” David said.

“A lot of folk have said we’re just two rich boys buying toys, but we want this to be an education centre to spark kids’ interest.

“They won’t just be coming to see the animals – they’re seeing the fire engines and saying ‘I want to be a firefighter’, or the Buccaneer and saying ‘I want to join the RAF.’”

For Gavin, the purchase was especially poignant.

His grandfather was in the RAF, based in Canada, and he had tears in his eyes when the Buccaneer arrived last month.

“Now we want to get it back into its original condition,” he said.

“It adds a whole different dimension to the park and the RAF Benevolent Fund will help us get everything looking how it should.”

Eventually, the centre hopes to host annual armed forces days.

David and Gavin envisage stalls by the Army, Navy and RAF alongside the new jet – and the ultimate ambition is for a fly-past by the Red Arrows.

David said: “They could take off from Leuchars, but that’s something we’ve just started talking about and it’s early days.”

The Buccaneer is already proving popular with plane-spotters and families have been pulling into the car park just to look at it.

It’s nine-hour journey to Cupar also sparked a great deal of interest. David added: “It arrived by police escort as the wide load took up two lanes. People were following its journey on a tracker and kept messaging us to say they’d seen it. It caused a lot of excitement.”

The 1950s-built Buccaneer was originally owned by the Royal Navy then the RAF before the fleet was retired in 1994.

ATTRACTION: Scottish Deer Centre owners Gavin Findlay and David Hamilton with their £28,000 jet. Picture by Steve Brown. Below, the Buccaneer being transported on its way to Fife from Elgin.