Remembrance day, 11th November, 2018.

[PB]

On Sunday, 11th November 2018, Blackbushe Airport staff and users gathered to remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice while serving here during World War Two

[rj]

I will be attending this. Can't think of a more appropriate place to be .
Rob

[exeglkflyer]

With my several military connections I will be elsewhere, but will be thinking of commemorations at the 'Bushe for sure.

[PB]

Thanks guys, appreciate your responses...

It's not always easy to imagine how life was on RAF Hartford Bridge in the dark days of World War Two, or the demands on our aircrews who routinely took to the air from these runways, who daily put their precious freedom on the line for the sake of our freedom today. Hard to imagine seeing the frequent loss of friends while continuing to serve until either peace returned or you too perhaps made the ultimate sacrifice...

I am sure they would appreciate our spending just twenty minutes of our freedom, the freedom they bought in the most expensive way possible, joining together on the airfield that for many was the last British soil they would touch. Sunday is our chance to say a quiet, "Thank you, you're not forgotten".

[PB]

Sincere thanks to all who attended the Remembrance Day gathering this morning, it was good to see familiar faces and quite a few new ones too! The weather was kind, clear blue skies followed the earlier rain, just a bit of a head wind to talk into... A number of the morning's group asked if I could put my ten minute 'address' onto the Forum, the strong wind hindering receipt of some words as they were released into its bluster!

Fitting the words into an exact ten minute slot required precise execution, here's what was said...and fitted the ten minutes better than I dared hope!



11 November 2018, Remembering ....


The 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month..In a few minutes it will be 100 years since the guns of war fell silent across the Channel. The war to end all wars was brought to an end. But war itself was not brought to an end, far from it.. This morning we have come together to remember those who flew from this airfield in the last world war, the many young air crews who made the ultimate sacrifice in the name of freedom - our freedom.

When I became involved with Blackbushe and her own battles back in the 1960's I was in my teens...Looking back over those six decades I have been blessed with a family, and a life with many amazing experiences and memories. Those precious years are an absolute indication of what was sacrificed by so many who gave their lives flying from this airfield, or any other, as they took to wartime skies....

RAF Hartford Bridge where we stand this morning, now Blackbushe Airport, was a product of the second global conflict, she was officially opened on 1st November, 1942. Looking around today, it is truly hard to imagine how this once expansive airfield looked in wartime...

Conditions were austere for the many whose war years were spent stationed here, wartime food rationing did not help... The new airfield provided a complete base camp built on the north east side, with residential area, mess, barbers, a cinema, all the necessary components of a self contained military base. Many crews were, however, billeted in nissen huts around the airfield, cold winter nights requiring much huddling around their single stove.

Life was always on the austere side, rationing saw to that, but nonetheless a good social side was enjoyed at the base's facilities, while off base local pubs were well patronised.. Dog & Partridge in Yateley, The Anchor on the northern boundary, The Cricketers across the Common, and the Ely just down the road ...

That was life here, but what about the flying? The first squadron arrived in December, 1942 with Mustangs, but by the end of WW2 no less than 28 squadrons had been based here. These included Farnborough's Aero Airborne Flight on glider trials before the airfield became fully operational, the famous Free French Lorraine Sqn whose duties required bombing enemy locations in their homeland with the inherent risks for their fellow countrymen below; the international atmosphere was furthered by the arrival of 332 Dutch Spitfire Sqn. and the USAAF's 9th Troop Carrier service with Dakotas, vital in the repatriation of injured service personnel for whom Aldershot's Cambridge Military Hospital awaited....

Aircraft operating from Hartford Bridge included Mustangs, Tomahawks and Spitfires, Boston's, Mitchell's, Ventura's, Warwick's, Dakotas and no less than 12 Mosquito squadrons, not all at the same time I would add....

The tragic fact is that during Hartford Bridge's wartime action between August 1943, when operations truly began, and War's end in Sept 1945 around 200 of her air crew had been killed while many others were injured or became POW's. The highest losses in one day occurred on 22 April, 1945, when no less than eight Mosquitoes and their crews were lost.

An interesting new resident arrived in April, 1944. 226 Squadron's "C" Flight with Mitchells.. Highly secretive, their aircraft were painted black, kept apart from other aircraft on the south of the airfield, they flew primarily at night. Years later it was still difficult to find anyone willing to talk of them, their work was top secret but involved gathering espionage info from the French Resistance by radio and transmitting the data back to the UK, the advent of high-tech intelligence gathering?

Prior to D-Day the resident Photo Reconaissance squadrons excelled themselves flying unarmed aircraft into enemy skies to photograph the V1 launch sites, and enemy emplacements. Flying alone, unarmed and at high altitude these sorties produced thousands of photographs invaluable for the planning and execution of D Day, the destruction of V1 sites and other enemy fortifications. 16 Sqns Spitfires, one of which flew in for the 75th Anniverary last year, were painted light blue to reduce their visibility against the sky, while the lucky pilots had a pink Spitfire designed to blend in with the sky at sunrise or sunset.. General Eisenhower, Supreme Commander Allied Expeditionary Forces visited the airfield on 18 April, 1944, giving him the opportunity of examining the extraordinary results achieved by the PR Squadrons..

Hartford Bridges widespread ops are far too many to account today, but perhaps brief reference to that most decisive event, D-Day should be made... The PR Sqdns worked flat out keeping intelligence up to the minute on enemy whereabouts. Some Bostons were equipped for smoke laying, a practise conducted at very low level. Training was carried out west of Basingstoke near Whitchuch, residents experienced close up views of the aircraft plus the toxic smoke they trailed.. Prior to D Day the Sqdns mounted ceaseless pressure on the enemy, particularly marshalling yards. Come D Day, aircraft overnight were given their D Day stripes, 342 & 88 Sqn attended briefing at 0200 on 6 June to be advised that "Today is D-Day" and were tasked to lay smoke screens between coastal gun batteries and our landing craft . Smoke screen laying went through the day as necessary..The Dutch Spitfires patrolled southern English skies for enemy aircraft, none showed! A few days later home based 264 Mosquito Squadron achieved their 100th kill of the war, a Ju88.


An indication of the Hartford Bridge's strength came on 4 August 1944. A massive raid of combined Bostons and Mitchells consisted of over 70 aircraft.... By lunch time over 200 500lb bombs had been dropped on the selected target, a resounding success! Operations did not always go so well.. That night, on 5th August several Bostons and their crew failed to return, tasked with flushing out German tanks that were holding up our post D Day advance near Caen - caught in search lights, seven Bostons were shot down, over 20 of Hartford Bridge's air crew would never return.....

The bravery and achievements of Hartford Bridge's air crew did not go unrecognised.. An unusual occasion was a very hot 12 July, 1944, when King George VI and Queen Elizabeth held an investiture at the airfield to present medals to the deserving Hartford Bridge boys. An investiture held outside of London was a most unusual event!

The stories are endless, but happily war ended and in September 1946 the mood turned to celebration and first Battle of Britain air display was held here, the first of several air shows enjoyed over the decades... Today, the hard fought for peace still prevails! The major contribution made by Hartford Bridge's crews toward that end is something we should never forget.



PB

[PB]

After the two minute silence Becky laid the Blackbushe Airport wreath in place, and I concluded with the words entitled "Eternal Spirit". These were written following the passage of a lone Spitfire overhead some while ago, and the reactions and emotions that cannot be helped after the enigmatic experience of a passing Merlin.. I was asked to share this too.


Eternal spirit...


In the briefest of moments my attention was drawn from the routines of earth bound life,
Through the afternoon air it came with gathering urgency, a sound that breathed the moment into long gone days,
a craft of rarest beauty had arrowed through a vacant sky........

...and in an instant they were there - faces of men forever young, chosen to ride these chariots of war; the skylark's song, that echoing hangar, all rode with the growing sound,
and with its joyful noise, an instant tear for camaraderie today unknown, but fondly shared in those sunlit darkest days.

At such speed, sun glossed wings glint and shine, their shape for ever etched upon my mind.
But all too soon she fades, a distant drowning shock of sound -
a treasure, an engineering symphony that stirred the soul as any classic might...
She's gone, toward another sky, another ear maybe to share the Merlin's rapture..

Alone again, returned to earth bound ties, a sound and shape like no other has ventured through my soul - and left its mark.
I'm grateful for my today - to those who rode these chariots of fire and gave their all..

They left their mark, silver trails woven through apocalyptic skies, they faced the cross of iron, giving light to those darkest hours,
.. and from their wheeling tumult, that timeless sound still tells,
tells of timeless, selfless sacrifice, of lives forever young..

.. for in that fleeting moment, a passing spirit of the sky surely took my hand and said..
"Be grateful for today, it's yours - not ours - but our spirit is eternal, and never shall be dead.."


© Peter Brown 2018

All rights reserved.

[flyingbat]

Excellent thank you x

[flyingbat]

Excellent thank you x