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Post by PB on Dec 9, 2023 8:28:52 GMT
"Photo of the Day" 09/12/23The wheels of time are turning faster, of that there is no doubt. The fact that the annual untangle of Christmas lights is once again under way is all the necessary confirmation needed, twelve months having evaporated since they were all so carefully wound-up and placed in store... One is just grateful to still be here and enjoying life! Life spent dashing around thinking you'll never get 'old' then one-day you realise perhaps you have!! So what? I'll always be grateful for what life has given me, friends, family, and aviation!! Time for some us has been encapsulated in the Blackbushe story...Time's encapsulation in black and white. If you look at this and the current Forum header photograph from my point of view they are views once shared by a very young boy. Long gone in both respects, but immovable recall of the life that Blackbushe once showed what she was capable of. People, uniforms, military and civil aircraft of all sizes, vehicles running around serving the action. Hard to believe that such an aviation mecca was just a thirty minute bike ride away!! For the subsequent six decades since the above scene was eliminated, six decades where despite those bodies who would rather the site was a desolate open space much as the way the council owned east end of the Airport has become, the name Blackbushe Airport has survived! Serving aviation, employment, the local economy and community, the name Blackbushe Airport has so much to offer the future. Scenes similar to the above photo may not be seen again, but there is no reason why generations to come will not be able to look back at their Blackbushe years and appreciate the continued use and development of Blackbushe as a mecca for aviation activities - for ever reminded of the fantastic past by the Blackbushe Heritage Trust's Viking that will in due course be placed on display as a token of the people and aeroplanes that together formed the stage upon which Blackbushe and her people continue to play...
That's all I have to say today..
PB
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Post by PB on Dec 10, 2023 7:42:29 GMT
"Photo of the Day" 10/12/23Flying. Such an everyday experience where a trip to the airport, a few hours strapped into a projectile flying around Mach .85 and eight miles above the Earth takes you to some faraway destination with a plus or minus time change depending on which way you chose to go. Major airports are modern day miracles of technology and countless thousands on the move, no lesser miracles are the aircraft of today with ever more powerful yet fuel efficient engines, and levels of automation and computerised wizardry that enhance safety, reduce crew fatigue, and made the good old Flight Engineer redundant. Where will the strides of technology take us to in the future?
Go to Heathrow, the nation's "number on" airport, and Australia is served by aeroplanes that after departure will not touch the ground again until feeling Sydney greet the Dunlops.. That's progress. Step back 104 years from today - 10 December, 1919 - and Keith and Ross McPherson Smith, plus two mechanics, boarded their canvas covered Vickers Vimy at Hounslow Heath Aerodrome to commence the first England to Australia flight. 135 hours and 55 minutes flying time from Hounslow to Darwin, 11,340 miles...Yes, things have changed, it's just the distance that remains constant.
In 1963 this day was to prove one that Chuck Yeager would not forget... Departing Edwards AFB in a Starfighter equipped with a rocket engine he flew to over 106,000ft. Directional jets mounted in the aircraft's nose ran out of propellant, these jets were essential when flying in air so thin that conventional controls were ineffective. The aircraft entered an uncontrolled spin, one of those days. Too high for conventional aerodynamics the only way was down... Yeagar had no options left other than to depart the aircraft via ejector seat. His head was struck by the ejection seat on leaving the aircraft and the liquid oxygen supplied to his face mask ignited causing serious burns to his face and fingers.The jet age has not missed Blackbushe! Ormonde Haydon-Baillie's 'Black Knight' T-33..Engines at the back, popular with some car designs too, the HS125 was a market leader in comfort and cabin height..Engines in unusual places...Three engines from far away places....or four engines..The very latest in sleekness and operational capability...Compact..Very compact, and just one engine..To the seriously business like, the mighty Gulfstream G500..Blackbushe may have been closed by aviation policies of the past, she has fought the finger nails of certain local influences whose ambitions for the old airport site were 'non-aviation'...Hopefully, we are now on the cusp of a new age where Blackbushe can proudly move ahead and become the airport of choice whether you fly jet, turbo, piston, electric (?), single or multi engined. Bring it on!!
PB
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Post by PB on Dec 11, 2023 6:52:15 GMT
"Photo of the Day" 11/12/23Christmas is coming! No doubt you've already heard about it, buy why not buy yourself a present from the Blackbushe Heritage Trust's Merchandise store? Great quality items spanning from wooley hats, caps, shirts, sweaters, jackets, all with the Blackbushe Heritage Trust logo subtly included. Take a trip to the online store, it's here.... www.blackbusheheritagetrust.com/merchandise
You will remember, of course, the Forum discussing the Hart Lottery and the chance of winning yourself one of the many prizes on offer not least of which is the weekly £25,000 jackpot! The Hart Lottery is a good causes operation whereby when joining you appoint the good cause of your choice, after that 50% of your ticket price goes to the nominated cause. The Blackbushe Heritage Trust is there waiting for you, and I'm happy to report that apart from the Blackbushe Heritage Trust members of the Hart Lottery who won free tickets this week, one of the members won £250! You never know, but you DO know that your tickets each and every one contribute to the funds so necessary to support the project that will put a Viking on show at Blackbushe - the Airport where Vikings truly belonged!! Check out the Hart Lottery, it would do the Trust and hopefully yourself a lot of good!! www.hartlottery.co.uk/
While you're 'shopping' why not pop into the Store online too..watches, key rings, calendars, raffle tickets offering a fantastic flight simulation experience with British Airways, an hour in a Cessna, and a whole host of other prizes - don't miss out!!... Whatever you buy helps the Viking closer to 'the day'!! www.blackbusheheritagetrust.com/store One day, with YOUR help! A Viking rests on Blackbushe's main apron - a sight that WILL be seen again on the Airport's precious tarmac..PB
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Post by PB on Dec 12, 2023 7:48:31 GMT
"Photo of the Day" 12/12/23Multi airport day yesterday, Blackbushe and the Heritage Trust in the morning, Farnborough in the afternoon to attend a 'stakeholder engagement' meeting whereby the future Farnborough air traffic options presented by the plan for significantly increased air traffic movements in future were discussed. The airspace modernisation strategy might sound daunting but with LHR, LGW, the OCK hold and what are referred to as 'clutch' airfields to consider the options are not wide. Odiham, Lasham and Blackbushe are all 'clutch' airfields being taken into consideration. The key here is that any changes will not have an adverse effect on these three airfields, any changes would not be anticipated until 2030. From Farnborough's perspective the need for departing aircraft to reach greater height more rapidly will perhaps be a key requirement, also final descents may have to be steeper. It's all in the melting pot, but as someone now in the stakeholder engagement category it will be interesting to see how the airspace story unfolds, particularly as Blackbushe's value increases with new infrastructure and facilities..The many faces of peacetime Blackbushe. A thriving commercial and military airport, London's 'second' airport... DC-6 Oscar November shortly after delivery from the USA and a proud member of the Eagle family. This during the period when Eagle's fleet sported red upper cabins, but white roofs provided better heat reflection and the reds were eventually replaced by the more general white. Photo is just one from those left to me by Stuart Marshall. This, and many others, I will pass on to the Blackbushe Heritage Trust for safe keeping in the future Airport museum.The many faces of tragic Blackbushe. 1961, devastation. Infrastructure torn out, every structure destroyed except for - by a miracle - the Terminal. But, within that tragic sight the heart of Blackbushe still beat, she refused to give in to government destruction and shocking local council hostility.The many optimistic faces of Blackbushe. A 21st Century scene confirming the story of how her beating heart continues to throb at a healthy pace while looking toward a future facelift and becoming an ever more important key in the door of British General Aviation airports....PB
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Post by PB on Dec 13, 2023 7:29:46 GMT
"Photo of the Day" 13/12/23As we approach the time of year when festivities, family, and fun hopefully bring joy into our lives the harsh realities of life can come knocking without concern for day or date..
It is with terrible sadness that I learned yesterday of the passing of one of the great names pinned to Blackbushe for many decades, a man whose heart will always be a part of Blackbushe, we are the poorer for the loss of dear John Lowe - a nicer man whose love of Blackbushe none of us will surpass, has left us for whatever awaits as we leave the departure lounge of life..
A more likeable personality you could not wish for, John's association with Blackbushe commenced during World War. As a young boy he lived close to the new airbase known as RAF Hartford Bridge, being able to watch the bomber boys coming and going from the edge of the airfield obviously ignited his life-long passion for Blackbushe and its value.
I first met John in the very early 1960s, the days when AVM Bennett had newly acquired Blackbushe Airport and many of us were filled with hope that the airfield - then a bleak and and derelict wasteland - was about to make a return to flying operations. John was a member of the newly established Blackbushe Aviation Group, a serious body of aviation enthusiasts who were allocated a room in the otherwise almost empty Terminal, a group whose study and knowledge of things aviation was outstanding. For decades after, the Aviation Group members were a valuable source of knowledge and also manpower during our flying events in the sixties and seventies.
Their numbers are now terribly depleted, their faces ever present in my memory, John's passing does indeed close the curtains on the unique experience we all shared of having what had been a major London airport as a focal point for our lives and becoming totally embroiled in our hope for its future under the command of AVM "Pathfinder" Bennett..
Until recently John was a regular at the Pathfinder Cafe at the weekend, his face and spirit reflecting days that we both held precious. His absence is going to leave a deep void as the legendary characters with whom those early days were shared are becoming less and less in numbers.
The excitement of sharing those extraordinary days in the sixties with those of us who shared a common bond through Blackbushe will never be equalled. Seemed pretty rugged at the time, but the ""Blackbushe spirit" had a unique way of bringing the right people together.The curtains on precious days in the sixties when Blackbushe fought for her survival and a group of young men came together forming Blackbushe Aviation Group continue to be drawn.. The passing of John Lowe is terribly sad, but we must celebrate his ninety years during which he and Blackbushe were a great partnership. Throughout the ensuing years his love for Blackbushe shone forth, we have lost a legend, and all who knew John were richer for the experience. Until we meet again, rest well John - it has been a privilege knowing you for so long. A treasured memory of the "sixties". The Daily Telegraph/St John Ambulance Air Display. A truly huge event, the Blackbushe Aviation Group were stars in the help they gave. John is standing second from the right amid his co-members of the Blackbushe Aviation Group. Standing to his right is "Baz" Harris who also passed away very recently. John stands tall amid his fellow Aviation Group members, all faces that not so long ago were so much a part of the Blackbushe every day scene.The story of Blackbushe will wend its way into the future, but without the living legend of guys like John we will always be the poorer, but we are the richer for his years - his experience and knowledge of days gone by is unsurpassed....
Rest well old friend...
PB
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Post by PB on Dec 14, 2023 7:41:34 GMT
"Photo of the Day" 14/12/23What could be more pleasant on a sunny afternoon than a cross-country flight to another airfield, a cup of tea, and back to base...?
How about this day in 1986, a slightly longer flight was planned - and executed. From 14th December until the 23rd, Dick Rutan, along with Jeana Yeager, launched on the first non-stop round the world flight. 24,987 mile later they landed again without refuelling. Perhaps a quick flit to Compton Abbas would be more fun..
On this day in 1931 another well recorded flight took place at Woodley aerodrome. A certain Douglas Bader embarked on a flight that would make history, unfortunately his attempt at performing a roll at low altitude would involve a wingtip striking the ground at a bad moment. The rest is history, he lost both legs, but remarkably returned to flying to become one of the RAF's most spoken of aviators. Post war he flew from Blackbushe regularly in line with his duties with Shell.
Going back to earlier days at Blackbushe in December, 1942, the airfield had just completed its first month of operations. 171 Squadron arrived on 5th December with their Curtis Tomahawk aircraft plus Mustangs onto which the squadron was converting. Most of their first month at RAF Hartford Bridge was spent 'settling in' according to Stuart Marshall's priceless records of events long ago.
Before BCA's 'occupation' of Blackbushe's precious western end I would often walk into the forest that laid on the airfield's north-west boundary. The sixties when Blackbushe was desolate, but full of hope, those walks were very quiet with only the sound of the endless pine forest as the wind caressed the trees and sighed in a strangely moving way. My imagination went back to how life must have been during war - such a contrast with the peaceful silence that accompanied my wandering.. War, and Blackbushe's sounds and visions of an airfield in action belonged to an age before I was born but a vivid imagination created images and sounds of how it must have been when so many personnel occupied RAF Hartford Bridge. At this time two decades had passed between the date of my lonesome walks and that wartime activity, just the sighing of the trees told their story.. Two decades when you're 17 sounds an awful long time, BUT now another SIX decades have elapsed. By the odd miracle I'm still here to recall those far off memories, but most importantly Blackbushe Airport has survived and gives hope to new generations of people who share the importance of the airfield's survival and its value once the days of indifference toward the airfield's development have been satisfied..A Blackbushe winter's day, 1963, the days of winter walks and peaceful solitude. This is where BCA have now built their sprawling used car enterprise.An angry winter makes it quite clear why aeroplanes need shelter from the elements.And finally, coming right up to date, the latest Blackbushe Heritage Trust update is now available -you'll find it on the Heritage Trust section of our Forum, or just click here.. blackbusheairport.proboards.com/thread/1028/news-update-december-2023
Have a great day, and hopefully we'll meet again tomorrow to share another Blackbushe moment..?
PB
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Post by PB on Dec 15, 2023 7:08:40 GMT
"Photo of the Day" 15/12/23Time, as they say, will never stand still. Yesterday "POTD" traversed memories from a 17 year old whose relationship with Blackbushe was well on the way to maturing - it had started some twelve years earlier as a small boy who found being confronted by a number of silent Bristol Freighters as rather daunting. Parked close to the A30 their big round noses looked 'different' to most other aeroplanes and those engines might start at any moment!! That boy's relationship with Blackbushe is sealed until his breath no longer exudes clouds of steam on a chill winter's morning, or maybe until he stops writing "POTD" each morning??
Time, a commodity of the utmost value, we're grateful for what we've had thus far but never sure how much is left in the bank... If we step back thirty years to the nineties we'd have 1-11s, 748s, Heralds and Jetstreams flying around, while light aircraft were beginning to show innovation in shapes and materials although the UK had no light aircraft, our last hope Beagle had been dissolved in the sixties. Air Europe, Air UK, Dan-Air, Air UK, Bcal were already gone, Britannia Airways, British Independent, Channel Express, Jersey European who gave birth to FlyBe... all chapters in the changing world of British aviation. Time takes its toll, some vanished, some merged. Ryanair were already riding the airways, EasyJet were breathed into life in the mid nineties. Others have whizzed into existence more recently..
If we step forward thirty years, what then? Well, we know that Blackbushe has just spent sixty years fighting for the right to enhance her facilities and thus become a self supporting enterprise that will provide a hugely important General Aviation facility south-west of London. Blackbushe in just thirty years from now?? I foresee an airport fully equipped with hangars, engineering and maintenance, a new Terminal and associated facilities, a modern affordable airport that will be for all to benefit from. And, of course, the Blackbushe Heritage Trust Viking will stand proudly wearing the colours of airlines synonymous with the type's life in the fifties... So, what do you see for British aviation in thirty years from now, in particular aviation at Blackbushe?
The following extract from 'Love exploring' looks at the advent of new technologies, technologies that are already finding their feet - or wings - today.preview.loveexploring.com/gallerylist/76761/what-air-travel-will-look-like-in-2030#:~:text=Pilotless%20air%20taxis%2C%20robot%2Dcontrolled,to%20be%20everywhere%20by%202030. For what it's worth, I see Blackbushe becoming synonymous with robotic business travel in the future. Maybe wrong, but it's an interesting notion that the airfield so aggressively opposed by 'local authority' in the dark days of the sixties could mature into an essential link where new technologies provide quiet climate friendly forms of air transport that will overcome the clogged roads that will surely be with us thirty years hence? Who knows, I may be completely wrong, but whatever the future holds I do hope with all sincerity that the 'Blackbushe Airport' so hard fought for over the past six decades remains the perfectly placed civil airport we know and love but with all the attachments that 'tomorrow' may bring? Whatever it is, sadly I will not be here to see it in thirty years from now..
The two sides of Blackbushe today, one full of hope seeing a modern environmentally friendly airport facility that will benefit employment and the local economy - the other - ask the County Council.
PB
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Post by PB on Dec 16, 2023 7:16:12 GMT
"Photo of the Day" 16/12/23Historically commercial air accidents seemed to happen around Christmas, or that is how memory serves..It was on this day 16 December in 1960 that the unthinkable happened, a United DC-8 and a TWA Constellation collided over Staten Island, New York. No survivors including six people of the ground who lost their lives too, but it was the first accident in which a flight recorder, the 'black box', would be used in subsequent investigations.
A more pleasant bit of news emerged from a New York originating flight on 16 December, 1979... A British Airways Concorde from JFK landed at Heathrow in under three hours after departure! 2 hours and 58 minutes, average speed 1,172mph. Regardless of the arguments for and against Concorde operations it was the most beautiful sight to behold on the ground or in the sky, a marvel of technology in the days of dear old 707s and the new era of wide bodies..
December 1960 heralded the first Christmas following the closure of Blackbushe, the degree of destruction already obvious confirmed that somebody wanted to seriously eliminate any potential the Airport had of resuming operations..It would have been a few weeks before this that I had cycled the familiar route from home to Blackbushe only to survey the dreadful scene. Carnage would sum it up, I was 14 at the time when once again standing on the edge of the A30 airport boundary I recall tears streaming down my face. The old airfield that had given so much pleasure in previous years, the sound of large radial engines, the vision of the numerous home based airlines, the United States Navy action, the sight of airport personnel attending to flights, stewardesses escorting passengers to their awaiting Viking/DC-4/DC-6/Hermes/Dakota etc, the airliners and smaller "GA" aircraft all of whom were home based, aircraft being towed across the A30 to the south-side, the coaches in the coach park, the row of flag masts that adorned the main car park sporting varied flags, the neat white chain-link that marked the edges of the main apron, the Control Tower, the hangars on both north and south sides of the A30, the huge apron gantry lights, the airport lighting systems - some of the most advanced in the UK - the sound and sight of a heavy multi engined transport slowly climbing into distant skies. All were gone.
It would not have just been my eyes that shed tears at the time.
Six decades have slipped by, hopefully I've paid back some of what I owe the old airport over the years. Maybe, just maybe, the next year or so will yield the longed for signs of Blackbushe Airport not being destroyed, but something of a rebirth if and when the day comes to build anew on the land where so many memories are stored by those who 'remember' better times..
A regular vision on the main apron, passengers walking to the aircraft. Air bridges and the such like were destined for other airports. A Skyways Hermes that'll soon be airborne.
Variety was a keyword amid Blackbushe's mix of air traffic types!Residents were all shapes and sizes...The Avro Lincoln, Blackbushe based, and operated by Eagle on behalf of the Ministry of Supply. It replaced the faithful Lancaster that had been a part of the Blackbushe scene for years.Memories. Blackbushe with a Hermes, Viking, and a Bristol Freighter sharing the shot....Back to Earth once again, the memories come thick and fast, but with hopes of the future in close company...
PB
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Post by PB on Dec 17, 2023 7:41:33 GMT
"Photo of the Day" 17/12/23Looking forward to seeing lots of you at this Thursday's Blackbushe Heritage Trust Christmas 'gathering' at the Pathfinder Cafe from 7pm.......As said before, it's a light hearted occasion, with tea/coffee and a cold buffet. A chance for putting names to faces, the chance to buy Raffle tickets - the draw takes place that evening - British Airways simulator session, an hour airborne from BB in a Cessna, loads of other prizes and every ticket sold goes toward our Viking restoration. We do invite a donation of £5 at the door to cover costs..the Trustees will also provide an update on the Viking's restoration, and while you're there it'll present the chance to buy the Trust's 2024 calendar, or maybe a BHT watch for yourself or a loved one?
From time to time "POTD" gives account of days gone by at Blackbushe, and in particular the seemingly forgotten days of war when many Blackbushe/Hartford Bridge crews paid the ultimate price. Travelling back in time to December, 1944, the year D-Day had been so brilliantly accomplished life at RAF Hartford Bridge had by now seen two years of action. December, 1944, was the month when the airfield changed its name from RAF Hartford Bridge to RAF Blackbushe. The news was announced on 2nd December, 1944. The reason for the name change being confusion at the Post Office with another Hartford Bridge in the north of England. Nothing easier to solve the problem than a name change - and the name Blackbushe was given. RAF Blackbushe until becoming a civil airport known as Blackbushe, and thankfully the name and the airfield are both still active.
Times were changing. On 2nd December, 1944, a visiting B-25 from Vitry en Artois saw the crew subjected to an inspection by HM Customs & Excise. By now flights from the Continent were not unusual and no doubt some trade might have come from the opportunities?
December 1944 witnessed the first USAAF unit operating from the airfield, this was the 9th Troop Carrier Command operating seven C-47s and a Lockheed Lightning. The unit had moved in from RAF Northolt their job to fly supplies to the battle fronts and returning with injured troops.
It was on the 9th December, 1944, that RAF Hartford Bridge ceased to exist - RAF Blackbushe took its place.
As I've said numerous times in the past, when you look across the acres of Blackbushe - and the surrounding now highly vegetated 'Common' - you are looking at history in the face where life and laughter, courage and death walked hand in hand. Please do not forget.
Looking forward to seeing some of the three hundred or so who visit "POTD" each day on Thursday evening at the Pathfinder!! Blackbushe Air Day this year.. Just six months to the next one!! If you know anyone who owns/operates an historic or unusual aircraft do please let me know, be great to add them to our static exhibition at Blackbushe in June. On the 15th..please make a note. PB
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Post by PB on Dec 18, 2023 7:56:25 GMT
"Photo of the Day" 18/12/23The human story in the past Century has been one of astounding progress. 1895 seems to be the time when Hon Evelyn Ellis imported a motor vehicle into the UK. By the end of that year perhaps as many as 15 cars were in the UK! By 1930 it had reached one million cars, by 1967 it was 10 million. In 1895 apparently a John Knight of Farnham created the first purpose built petrol engined car to be run on British roads. It's an amazing story, the exponential growth of man's need to travel.
Yesterday marked a milestone in aviation when in 1903 the Wright Brothers first took their 'Flyer' into the air at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Powered 'heavier than air' flight had taken-off, little could they have known what they'd started! On man's first powered flight a distance of 120 feet was covered.. On today's date five years later in 1908 Wilbur Wright was at Camp d'Auvours to the east of Le Mans, then he flew for 68 miles in just under two hours while achieving a height of some 360ft above the ground. Aviation found its way into the United Kingdom, a glance at FR24 confirms the daily armada of commercial movements and GA movements that daily traverse our airspace. In 1908 it must be said that the irrepressible Samuel Cody made the fist sustained powered flight in the United Kingdom when on 16 October, 1908, he flew from Farnborough's Army Balloon Factory.
Now we're in space, supersonic, and capable of mass destruction. Ever greater numbers take to the skies as air travel has become a more economic possibility while others hell bent on 'saving the planet' seem to be less enthusiastic about a holiday on the Costa Whatever.. However you look at it, the past Century has witnessed an amazing moment in mankind's occupation of the planet.
Dear old Blackbushe was given the gift of flight becoming a vital player in the campaign to save our freedom from a force that threatened that freedom and most else.. Once done she became a major player in the commercial aviation scene until a quirk in government planning abandoned her for a new airport in the mists of West Sussex. Six decades later Blackbushe is a survivor, she fights on for survival and the imperative to construct some new hangars. Six decades where development has been thwarted by ancient laws and legal obfuscation there is a light shining on the horizon of hope. Blackbushe will continue to support the needs of British General Aviation long into the future, if not the last six decades have been wasted..From here.....to here.....to here... ..to here!The Blackbushe story has been one of determination, endeavour, hope, resilience, and courage in the face of adversity be that from war or from facing the barriers of local politics and adversity. The need for humans to travel is, like Samuel Cody - irrepressible - be it to far away places or closer to home, the need for and benefits of Blackbushe will not diminish.
Time for breakfast..
PB
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