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Post by PB on Oct 11, 2023 7:49:44 GMT
"Photo of the Day" 11/10/23Looks like a bit of our normal autumn weather approaches, but still +16C at 07.30 which is quite acceptable. What is not acceptable is man's inhumanity to man as demonstrated by terrorists of recent. Human depravity must surely have reached its zenith, its most abhorrent, by kidnapping children and babies from their homes and their beds? The agony is beyond imagination as the action of a group the BBC still refuse to describe as 'terrorists' is there for all to only too graphically to see. With my two young grandchildren who are the most precious gems in my life safe and well, the action now being played out in the wreckage of Gaza is truly heartbreaking from the point of view of humanity..
Meanwhile, our worries seem trivial in comparison - but life goes on.
The General Aviation Advisory Council have released their autumn appraisal of the state of our British airfields. Happily, Blackbushe is not one of the airfields listed as being under threat of housing or some other non-aviation activity. The only threat of housing on Blackbushe has come from the imagination of parties hostile toward the airfield's future in aviation!
This link will take you to the latest UK report.. www.gaac.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/AERODROMES-UPDATE-Q3-2023.pdf
Talking of the future, as we are now, the world is going to reach out for greener technology combined with ease of use, environmental acceptability, and convenience. Airbus CityAirbus are working on such an equation for future commuter connections to the heart of cities, or at least suitable sites for tomorrow's eVTOL designs to operate from.
This video gives an insight into current thinking and design for 'tomorrow'
City Airbus. For some time, as has been discussed on past "POTD" editions, I have had a firm vision of a well placed airfield like Blackbushe becoming a hub for tomorrow's eVTOL operations. Easy to access, a proven good neighbour airfield, and perfect for the short hop into Central London or perhaps an eVTOL port attached to the major London airports? Who knows, but I feel the future will point a finger at suitable commuter sites for eVTOL when it reaches viable maturity. Imagine, your business jets arrives at Blackbushe where you connect to your awaiting eVTOL that'll whisk you off to where your business awaits..
Who knows, but it's fun to think about!!G BAZ.... made me think of Baz Harris whose sad death "POTD" reported yesterday..Stay safe,
Back soon...
PB
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Post by PB on Oct 12, 2023 7:06:15 GMT
"Photo of the Day" 12/10/23Leaving on a Jet Plane....
..plus Rocky Mountain High, Take Me Home Country Roads, and Annie's Song, just four of the tracks recorded by John Denver the American country singer who was also a keen aviator that placed him high in the charts. His songs have a way of staying in the mind, but sadly his singing days ended on this day 26 years ago when his Long-EZ crashed in the Pacific. The aircraft was seen to hit the water of Monterey Bay with fatal consequences.
Famed people of music whose days ended in an aeroplane, Glenn Miller, Buddy Holly, Otis Redding and Patsy Cline being others.
On a more positive note and with the ever growing quest for energy to light us, heat us, and so on, the news that Helium 3 has been found on the Moon could have profound meaning for the future. Helium 3 is a non-radio active isotope suitable for nuclear fusion reactors that would work (some day?) in a way similar to the processes in the Sun that light our way.. The discovery was made by a recent Moon landing by the Chinese, apparently Helium 3 is very rare on Earth but abundant on the Moon. Could have positive consequences for us Earthbound mortals, but who claims rights to the Moon?
Perhaps another task for ardent "POTD" follower Rocky 14 who so regularly adds to the scope of this daily scribe by placing his entertaining "POTD Comments" on the Forum's 'comments' section. Keep up the good work Sir!!
On a more down to Earth subject we all know that Halloween approaches...broom sticks perhaps the transport of choice for some? Well, however you choose to travel on November 1st at Blackbushe Airport it's 'Halloween Quiz Night".... Starts at 7pm in the Pathfinder Cafe, are you brave enough to join in?? Includes food and drinks... It's all here > www.blackbusheairport.co.uk/quizPhoto of the Day... Taken some years ago during Farnborough Week, but a favourite of mine. Blackbushe at work as passengers cross the old apron to board their waiting business flight.....or showing her scope as a great movie location! This during the making of Hanover Street...The Arnold influence! Once again Dakotas lined up on Blackbushe, but it never felt akin to the days when Dakotas, Vikings etc etc carried the logos of Blackbushe's resident airlines into the Hampshire skies..PB
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Post by PB on Oct 13, 2023 10:01:14 GMT
"Photo of the Day" 13/10/23In the sanctity of the back garden ferrying delicate plants to the greenhouse for protection against nature's chill fingers predicted for tonight, the seasonal migration to the glass house, under instruction of she who must be obeyed, produced a sudden and decisive 'twang' from somewhere in the lower spine whilst negotiating a particularly heavy plant pot. Hopefully, the incapacity will be short lived? Friday 13th..
Friday 13th...the morning has a dark and sombre look to it, indicative perhaps of world events centered on the Middle East. A human tragedy based on elements of humanity's grossly inhuman behaviour.. terrorist cruelty and brutality seem somehow ingrained in some areas of the human psyche, I fear Friday 13th will not end well for some. It was on this day in 1977 that Lufthansa 181, a Boeing 737 service, was hijacked by four Palestinian members of the PFLP. They shot and killed the captain. German police commandos stormed the aircraft which had originally been intended to fly Palma to Frankfurt. It ended up in Mogadishu after a number of fuel stops on the way. Stormed by German commandos three of the high jackers were killed, the fourth was injured as were a cabin crew member and three passengers.
On a more warming note, it was on this day in 1950 that the Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation first took to the air... Blackbushe enjoyed the company of a number of Super Connies during her days. QANTAS crew training, Air India, El-Al, and Trans Canada being amongst them. The US Navy "Warning Star" was often during transits through Blackbushe, memories of the type resting on disused runway 01/19 remain very clear..Super Constellation says "Farewell" to Blackbushe as Breitling gave us a number of fly-bys enroute from Duxford to Farnborough. Moving moments knowing those once familiar Wright Cyclone engines would probably never be hear in Blackbushe air space again...The mighty Warning Star of the US Navy whose shadows were often cast across Blackbushe's acres..QANTAS Super Constellation at rest on Blackbushe tarmac. Crew training detail confirmed by the use of a ladder to access the aircraft...That's that for today..take care,
PB
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Post by PB on Oct 14, 2023 6:36:39 GMT
Photo of the Day 14/10/23Blackbushe, 1st November... Call out the ghost squadron, it's Halloween Quiz Night at the Pathfinder..have you got a spirited team ready yet? Sign-up here and join your kindred spirits in a frightfully fun evening.. www.blackbusheairport.co.uk/quiz night and all proceeds go to the Blackbushe Heritage Trust's Viking restoration programme... See if your team has a ghost of a chance at winning?This week has seen another significant step in the Viking's return to recall days gone by... With thanks to Blackbushe Airport the necessary lifting gear arrived to lift "RW" onto the trestles made by one of our stalwart volunteers..Ready to take the strain, the Viking prepares to leave the ground - for a very few feet - before settling down on her new supports. Now work can begin on the lower fuselage and restoring panels that have been damaged during her many years waiting for this moment!!Nearly there, the waiting trestles prepare to meet their purpose in life...Her nose gets a little closer to the angle Vikings used to adopt at Blackbushe long ago..Not exactly daylight under her wings, but a significant step forward!!Thanks to Phil Johns for the photographs, amazing to see work surrounding a Viking at Blackbushe. Something never dreamed of back in the sixties as the Airport struggled for life after closure by the government..and all her Vikings had flown.Have a great weekend, seems like winter's chill is working its way in our direction..
PB
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Post by PB on Oct 15, 2023 7:03:28 GMT
"Photo of the Day" 15/10/23A cold October Sunday morning, cars covered in frost, memories abound of cold October morns long ago come flooding back...I was a mere 15 years old - it was 1961.
Blackbushe was no longer a prime London airport, far from it. A site littered with the debris of destruction...But, I had a routine on those far off Sunday mornings - as did numerous others. For me it was to leave home early on my trusty bike for the seven miles of hills that separated home from the world of Blackbushe. Ten gear speeds offered the best thrust to performance options. Camera, binoculars, and something to eat stowed and another day at Blackbushe awaited. The bug had truly bitten, although it first nibbled some ten or more years earlier when first laying eyes on the great expanse of Blackbushe and the wonders she offered...
Now Sundays were devoted to Blackbushe with school work somehow wedged in, to me there was nowhere that compared to the camaraderie and spirit that awaited at the airfield. I was a mere spring chicken amid a generally much more senior gathering. People of varied backgrounds gathered on Sundays to assist with the massive clearing-up job that awaited following AVM Bennett's aquisition of a large proportion of what had been a major airport. No buildings were left except the Terminal by some kind of fluke, and although due for demolition it was spared via some dealings that currently slip my memory. But around the Terminal lay nothing but debris, broken tiles, bricks, all the stuff you'd expect from a bombsite, and now around the Terminal gathered Blackbushe's hope for the future - AVM Bennett and a gathering of souls who were united in their ambition to see the Airport someday resurrected into a working air centre... The faces that starred in those cold, frozen, far off Sundays are still clear in my memory, but sadly very very few are left. Phil Johns with whom I had a conversation yesterday was one of the few young bloods involved. Phil is now the lead of the Technical Team leading the restoration programme of the Blackbushe Heritage Trust's Viking. Back then, nobody in their wildest dreams would have thought that over six decades later Phil and I would still be haunting the old airfield - in a physical sense - and a Viking would have made its return to where once her Hercules engines sang their song to all who listened... The years have indeed taken their toll, but the efforts of all who toiled on those frosty mornings are still to be remembered as Blackbushe is on the cusp of perhaps a change in her planning fortunes, and the airfield is indeed a busy one despite the issues that have hampered her for so long. You've probably seen it before, but taxiing in EKCO's Anson prior to a local sortie is a memory I shall never forget. The photo shows the full extent of the old apron.. Initially it seemed a miracle that such an expanse awaited and some aeroplanes were occasionally parked on the eastern side. That is until the old Vigo Lane route was instigated and all that lay to the east of it was given to the local Parish. A wire was stretched across the apron supported by poles set in concrete blocks. These remained in situ for years while all to the east of the wire was destroyed by the local authority of the time.The only 'plane on the airfield... Blackbushe Aero Club's Colt flown up from her hangar at Eastleigh when the weather suited for some Sunday flying way back in the early sixties. My first flight took place in her in March 1962. She looks quite lonely on Blackbushe's wide open acres. So it is that a cold October morning can hold memories of long ago, many friends no longer seen but never forgotten, but great memories of a unique time when a London airport was scrapped, demolished, left to rot, and saved by AVM Bennett assisted by a great and unique team who came together to do whatever toward restoring a future for Blackbushe as an airfield.. To my dying day those days will always be remembered for their friendships, and the spirit that was that of an airfield who refused to die... It is to be hoped that the patience employed over the past sixty plus years during which hopes for the airfield's development have never been dropped will be rewarded in time for those who are left from those frozen Sundays to see the rewards of that patience come to fruition?
Here's hoping... PB
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Post by PB on Oct 16, 2023 6:56:35 GMT
"Photo of the Day" 16/10/23Minus two C at 06.30 this morning according to the weather sensors that live in the garden. Not that long ago it was +38C during one of our summer hot spells...October, the time when we're strung between seasons and the next warm day seems an awful long way away..
It's a long way back to this day, Monday 16th October, 1939, but of historic note is that this was the day when the Luftwaffe launched its first raid of World War Two over British soil. Reports vary as to the aircraft involved, either He111 or Ju88s both were involved in the raid, but whichever it was Spitfires of 603 from Turnhouse and 602 based at Drem that claimed the first downing of Luftwaffe aircraft during WW2 over the UK mainland, two in fact..
The sad fact is that despite past conflicts war still takes many innocent lives. Years after WW2, Doug Arnold's War Birds of Great Britain imported Spanish built CASA 111s as additions to his museum - or to sell on... They proved useful for movie work as seen here wearing Luftwaffe markings..Despite RAF Hartford Bridge/RAF Blackbushe's roll in WW2 the Luftwaffe never managed to damage the airfield. They did drop a bomb, in open land behind the Ely Hotel a mile to the east of the airfield. A timed weapon, it blew a very large hole in the ground, a hole the Army found very useful for training purposes..Arnold also aquired some Ju-52 transport aircraft from Spain, these also receiving Luftwaffe decor. They proved useful for air shows in the seventies, we dropped a stick of Army Greenjacket troops during the 1977 Air Festival, the first and only time our serving troops landed on British soil from an aeroplane wearing Luftwaffe decor.A sinister vision, what might have been witnessed on UK airfields if the RAF had not proved their strength by causing Hitler to call off 'Operation Sea Lion' - the invasion of Great Britain.Ju-52s were pretty rare aircraft to see at Blackbushe, as were the 'Heinkel' 111s. Back in September of 1951 two French Air Force Ju-52s arrived at Blackbushe, no doubt bringing passengers for the September Farnborough Air Show then held in September..
PB
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Post by PB on Oct 17, 2023 6:42:07 GMT
"Photo of the Day" 17/10/23Sea Fury days. Two still in the colours used when employed as target tugs in Germany...The new taxiway goes in linking apron to runway at last!!Need to be brief today, life makes its demands.
Hopefully tomorrow.. PB
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Post by PB on Oct 18, 2023 6:33:36 GMT
"Photo of the Day" 18/10/23I find a great fascination in dates and human progress from cave man to the techno wizardry of today.. We, the human race, have conquered the air while taking ever greater steps into our discoveries of worlds beyond ours via probes or the mega telescopes that are, and will, orbit some million miles from home.. Today was a significant date for Wilbur Wright's first student, way back in 1909 on 18 October Charles Comte de Lambert flew solo around the Eiffel Tower. From Juvisy Aerodrome he flew across Paris and circled the Tower some 300ft above it before safe return to where his flight had commenced. No doubt he received adoration from onlookers, try it today and see what reception you get...
A few years later, only 58 years later, on 18 October 1967 the Russian space vehicle Venera 4 reached Venus becoming the first human vehicle to sniff and measure the atmosphere of another planet. Human advancement has been astounding in many ways even if certain factions are happy to bomb fellow humans into oblivion.. 58 years, that's just the same as the period period from the early days of AVM Bennett's Blackbushe rescue, the days when Three Counties Aero Club were thriving at their new Blackbushe base and club flying had really taken off at the airfield the government tried to eliminate.. There's no doubt we have witnessed man's greatest achievements while also watching his barbaric worst.
Talking of history and Blackbushe, you know that tomorrow evening - 19th October - will see the second of the Rob Belcher talks on the history of Blackbushe.. Pathfinder Cafe starting at 19.00, Rob ventures into the dramatic world of post World War Two Blackbushe, her transition to a commercial airport and subsequent growth during her 'golden era' becoming London's second airport... I would advise you not to miss it! Tickets still available.. Click here to purchase tickets, www.blackbusheheritagetrust.com/events, or just arrive at the door but space will be limited.Golden days indeed!! Today, it must be hard to imagine Blackbushe like this for all who have only witnessed her present size, but it happened and seeing this on our aerodrome on the plateau was amazing, but just a part of Blackbushe life..Blackbushe always shone out as an airfield that cared for all, and light aircraft operations were an integral part of life here.A Dove makes her final approach to Blackbushe's runway 26 in the fifties..The wide open spaces of the now much more overgrown Yateley Common, approach lights, and views of the eastern skyline now robbed by the scrub and trees that have grown since the golden days came to an end..Hopefully catch you at Blackbushe tomorrow evening for another classic Blackbushe Heritage Trust event!!
PB
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Post by PB on Oct 19, 2023 6:18:44 GMT
"Photo of the Day" 19/10/23Today is NOT just another day, it's the day you should be at Blackbushe Airport this evening.. WHY? Well, there are doubtless many who although involved with the Airport in some form or other are familiar with present day activity, but do not possess any significant knowledge of those all too far off days when London's second airport was an airfield in Hampshire called "Blackbushe"... TONIGHT is the night for the story of those amazing and golden days to be revealed as Rob Belcher delivers the second of his talks based on the history of our Airport. To you I say - don't miss it - the pieces of the past will be put together, and by the evening's end you will leave richer in your awareness of what was lost when Blackbushe was closed back in May, 1960.
DON'T MISS IT!! PATHFINDER CAFE, doors open 18.30, see you there!! Either buy your ticket at the door or book online here.. www.blackbusheheritagetrust.com/events
The world, as well as Blackbushe, has changed in those six plus decades that have elapsed since the sound of airliners and the US Navy's air traffic was music to the ears of onlookers. As a young boy, perhaps very young, I may well have stood listened and watched as the Airport's boundless variety of air traffic entertained, maybe as our Viking G-AGRW took to the skies propelled by her two trusty Hercules engines..
Tonight is an occasion you MUST NOT MISS, and all who profess to know about Blackbushe would do well to attend as Rob digs down through the geological past and comes up with layers of priceless history..
AND, all money raised goes solely to the funds necessary for the ongoing rebuild of the Blackbushe Heritage Trust's priceless Viking. Just another layer from the seams of history that run through Blackbushe...From yesterday to today, the Viking maintains her Blackbushe association. Here our Tech Team have installed, as the first step toward restoration, a stainless steel pole adjacent to the spar step. Anyone who has ever set foot in a Viking must remember the famed spar step, necessary as the wartime architecture employed in the Viking necessitated the step that housed the wings' main spar... Very handy on a bumpy day or for the crew and cabin service..Come and consume history tonight.....
PB
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Post by PB on Oct 20, 2023 7:17:42 GMT
"Photo of the Day" 20/10/23Sincere thanks to Rob Belcher for delivering last night's Blackbushe Heritage Trust lecture, and thanks also to all who attended on a very damp October evening..
The Blackbushe story is one of triumph and tragedy, a superbly located airport was being developed - and was growing - through the nineteen fifties until the decade's end when ministerial plotting brought Blackbushe, her tenant airlines, and her many staff to the end of the line. Closure and warlike destruction followed, and that's where the story of Blackbushe 'today' found its first lines being written. For a period longer than her relatively brief spell as a major player in the London airport scene, Blackbushe has breathed determination to survive and become a significant cog in the south's General Aviation wheel of activity.
It was great having the opportunity to meet some of the good people with whom I've communicated via the key board in the past, and also seeing familiar faces from the past decades of Blackbushe life. In the process all funds raised last evening go to the Blackbushe Heritage Trust and another step in Viking G-AGRW's restoration. Interestingly, last night it was revealed that "RW" might have have been the first Viking to visit Blackbushe when she flew in BEA colours and leased to Blackbushe based Airwork..If that is the case the Viking now resting in her Blackbushe hangar could well be 'the first and the last' as far as Blackbushe is concerned...
Thanks go also to Pete Vickery for being the master of the keys last night and also conducting the evening raffle!!This glorious photo of our Viking was shared amid last evening's gathering. Taken just before the Belcher talk by the Trust's Secretary Dave Payne, "RW" looking resplendent in her new home! A long way to go yet, but bit by bit the programme of restoration continues.. Very soon she will be encased in scaffolding facilitating work on the upper fuselage, removal of the old paint from her days in Austria, skin repairs as necessary and eventual new paint work.Thanks again to all who attended lat night's trip down memory lane, I'm sure "RW" was pleased to see you while some of us were taken once gain down the road from whence we spent happy hours absorbing the atmosphere and scene that could belong to nowhere other than Blackbushe.
Long may she live (...and us!),
PB
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