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Post by PB on Apr 4, 2015 7:05:16 GMT
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Post by PB on Apr 19, 2015 6:00:02 GMT
"Photo of the Day"
19/04/15Greetings Gentlemen, and gentle ladies who may be inclined toward matters aeronautical.. Well, all good things come to an end and my I'm back on dry land having enjoyed floating around the low countries aboard a vessel owned by a company sharing the name of a well known twin engined airliner of the 'real' Blackbushe era.. A quiet beginning is called for today, and gliding is about a quiet as you can get apart from the thrills of an inflight engine failure. Blackbushe indeed hosted gliding activity before she was officially opened in 1942 when types such as the Horsa and Hamilcar underwent their test flying programme finding the new open spaces of Blackbushe (RAF Hartford Bridge as it was) more inviting than the hectic circuit of Farnborough where much in the way of experimental flying was going on.. In the sixties gliding returned for a while. The reasons escape me, but I recall that the airfield was being evaluated for its potential use by the gliding fraternity. While I love gliders and floating around in silence seems so ideal, Blackbushe proved not to be be another Lasham and the gliding days were shirt lived. Sadly any further detail has escaped from these days fifty years ago.   PB
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Post by PB on Apr 20, 2015 8:19:41 GMT
"Photo of the Day"
20/04/15Funny how old photos can stimulate the memory, or at least bits of it... Here's Reg Gregory during the time when he was the Airport's 'Ground Handler' refuelling Plessey's Hiller UH-12EW G-ATDW.  Reg was one of the characters associated with Blackbushe from around 1963 until he retired many years later. He brought with him a wealth of knowledge from RAE Farnborough where he was involved in the ground handling of the numerous types of aeroplanes operated from there. Types such as the Varsity, Hastings, Canberra, Hunter and Meteor were his bread and butter, sadly Blackbushe did not muster aircraft of that type in its post 1960 abilities! We gathered a couple of Varsities for the '77 Air Festival, one of which is on the current "Header"...The RAE provided a Devon and a Wessex so Reg had some of his old types on the 'field for a day or two... Reg and I were good chums from the day he started work at Blackbushe. I was detailed to train him on Blackbushe procedures being the Airport's 'Operations Clerk' at the time. The training period did not take up very much time as there wasn't too much to train about! The new control tower built by the AVM and his press ganged staff members provided a new platform for Reg's career, it becoming his empire over the coming years. His domain spread before him, Reg's voice over 122.3 or through the tower window, became legend - especially during the busier Farnborough Weeks when perhaps a dozen - or more - visitors all wanted to leave at the same time. Each one had to be cleared with Farnborough, flight plans filed etc etc.. Not helped when the airport owner bawled up from the ground below with some instruction adding to the stress of the moment. Like a magnet, Blackbushe always attracted me back whenever possible, usually leading me up into the old tower for a pow wow with Reg and an update on what was 'going on'..One had to stay informed! Reg fought bravely against an old leg injury, his demise following the occasion when he fell on the tower steps that waited 'neath the tower's trap door entry and exit. This was the beginning of the end of Reg's Blackbushe 'tour', and I'm sure those who knew him will always recall his usually cheery disposition, and his sometimes unorthodox tower phraseology.. PB
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Post by PB on Apr 21, 2015 5:52:18 GMT
"Photo of the Day"
21/04/15A quick whizz back to 1948...  Miles Aerovan G-AIDJ at Blackbushe prior to her delivery flight to Arab Trading Company in the Lebanon. Photo looks to have been taken around what is today the main apron, the view to the north looking somewhat familiar..? No Aerovans on the 'field today though.. PB
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Post by PB on Apr 22, 2015 6:19:30 GMT
"Photo of the Day"
22/04/15It would seem that a consequence of living the high life and holidaying in foreign parts carries risks. The evidence for this being the bright red colour of my nose as the dastardly cold virus found in the low countries reaches its height..Obviously large quantities of sympathy are expected, no flowers, just hard cash will do nicely. Before I return to the sick bay, where sadly the staff have also gone down with a similar malaise, please enjoy looking back on an aeroplane whose colour scheme closely resembles that of my nose..  Dear old XDH..Such a feature of skies of NE Hants long ago..Summer evenings dropping the lads over Queens Parade offering that pleasant drone of piston aero engines clambering for altitude. Repeatedly. I don't recall many of the NIMBY's complaining, but I suppose they must have? PB
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Post by PB on Apr 23, 2015 10:44:54 GMT
"Photo of the Day"
23/04/15Those of you who noted yesterday's POTD will recall the comparison drawn between the colour of the Red Devil's Islander and my nose. Happily, my nose has now moved toward recovery and life might just still be viable, my nose being closer to EasyJet orange today.. As I happened to be passing Blackbushe yesterday, and against my better judgement, I decided to stop off for a brief walk that might have been beneficial toward the fever that had gripped me. Big mistake.. However, having the phone/camera in my pocket I took a few snaps of my favourite airfield's disused parts. Perhaps it was spurred on by the fever based delirium, but the plight of the airfield struck me with clearly defined clarity... An airfield in this location, so close to one of Europe's major capitals should be a show case example of a small business man's airport - look at what LCY has achieved with a similar runway length, but far less attractive approaches! While it is good to see Blackbushe still serving a small part of the demands of aviation, the fact that the main hangars have now been taken over by the needs of the pre-owned motor vehicle business leaving the Airport with no hangar space - apart from the temporary plastic ones - does not bode well for the future. Obviously, that is only my personal view as are my views as to how Blackbushe should be developed. Our country would seem to have no coherent plans toward aviation. Politicians do the 'airport two-step' when trying not to commit to definite plans. Look at the inquiries into new airports that have gone on for decades. The one firm decision made was the fastest possible destruction of Blackbushe Airport as government investment in Gatwick might have been embarrassed..The fact that facilities serving Blackbushe were destroyed so thoroughly bears testament to somebody not wanting Blackbushe to fly again. The new "Header" photo conveys some feeling as to the destruction of the Airport, it could not be allowed to exist.. The vipers in the Blackbushe undergrowth have done their worst for the airfield in supporting its closure and subsequently destroying large parts of its surface infrastructure. Now, almost fifty five years since the last day in May, 1960, when the last Vikings said 'farewell' to their home it strikes me as a miracle that the airfield exists at all and gratitude goes to AVM Bennett, Doug Arnold and BCA. Blackbushe will never be a major airport again, or at least I don't think it will, but with London's airports being full by 2030 one is tempted to view the viability Blackbushe could offer... Talking of vipers at Blackbushe, the local paper today runs an article on adders on the disused acres of Blackbushe. They suggest leaving them alone... Wise words. Adders have proliferated on Blackbushe for years. I recall Gordon Wilmer taking me to see to a pond just north of the airfield, but on airport land, and they were there in their masses....adders!! Yesterday's walk around the adder's playground proved that spring is here...  ..it also proved that the dog owners continue to provide canine manure for the unwary. If the adders don't get you, the doggy droppings might..  Bits of old Blackbushe still litter the common land -  The old runway 14/32 refuses to die totally...  London Blackbushe Airport..2015  The apron gave a glance as to how things should be here..such sights are very welcome!  and the car park always seems pretty full, but I still can't work out where all the car occupants go to! I know that many people take the view point that nothing will ever happen at Blackbushe so far as aviation taking a stronger grip on the airfield is concerned. It needs vision, it needs massive investment and no doubt there is a dire lack of both, but I continue to harbour an inclination toward thinking that a sleeping potential needs awakening?? PB
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Post by PB on Apr 24, 2015 8:43:22 GMT
24/04/15
Office closed - appointment with surgeon..
PB
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Post by PB on Apr 25, 2015 8:49:50 GMT
"Photo of the Day"
25/04/15Back in business after having to close the office yesterday. Happily my meeting with the surgeon was a very pleasant conversation, no more.. Casting thoughts back to Blackbushe in the 50's, the airfield played a very useful role in the movement of horses as shown below. Race courses at Ascot, Windsor, Kempton Park, Sandown, and Epsom all being within convenient reach.  Not only animals involved in racing found themselves using Blackbushe..  The dear old Bristol Freighter being the 'favourite' among the racing fraternity..  That's about it for today, but before I depart I'd be interested in your comments on the Forum and if you have any polite suggestions as to its future direction..I simply mention that as the hits on POTD have fallen to an all time low compared to how the thread logged around 400 hits per day on the 'other' forum who kindly destroyed all our hard work. I still wait for an explanation - and apology - from behind the forum within which my POTD came to being, but just a large question mark hangs over why "they" decided to axe my hundreds of hours of work... Maybe POTD has had its day? I hope not. Please let me know what you think, complete with positive suggestions if they are to be had.... Wishing you a pleasant precipitation free weekend.. PB
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Post by PB on Apr 26, 2015 8:46:40 GMT
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Post by PB on Apr 27, 2015 9:51:28 GMT
"Photo of the Day"
27/04/15Monday. Once the time when you wondered what happened to the two days separating the previous Friday to the return of the working week, now in so called retirement one can allow a degree of cerebral relaxation to cloak the awakening mind. A smugness may well occupy the retired grey matter, but the buzz that accompanied the new working week is missing - and dare I say is missed? Time to reflect is one of the benefits of retirement, and by that I do not necessarily mean the degree of light reflected from the mirror like scalp, but upon the many years of amassed experience - and hopefully upon the years ahead in which one intends to do so much! Question mark time... However, on Saturday I found some reflecting time as the sun shone strongly between the passing cumulus..the day was spent at Kew Gardens. My better half's indulgence in horticulture was being satisfied while my indulgence in aviation was entertained by the endless stream of inbounds to LHR. Don't get me wrong, I have a considerable interest in horticulture, but when the sky is sending me an endless string of flying machines it's hard to concentrate on other matters. Very much like when I was at school and Blackbushe was offering a regular supply of inbounds to distract my attention to calculus, trig etc etc.. The Heathrow inbounds of 2015 are a different matter. A string of wide bodied tubes with wide body engine pods hanging off each wing. The twin rules supreme, with four engined 747 and A380 types appearing almost antiquated. Maybe that's why Boeing and Airbus have sold none of the type for 12 months now? My reflection at Kew lead to the strange fact that so many thousands of passengers flood LHR, yet some of the excellent runways/potential small regional sites that are well situated for small regional operations, like London City, remain either closed or run on a shoe string. With growth of regional airlines in Europe surely more could be made from one or two of these?? My sky eye on Saturday was reminded of the once endless string of Tridents, 727/737, DC-9's etc that made Heathrow what it was - not to mention the 707 and VC10 beloved to some... A day of reflection, indeed! Getting back to Blackbushe, and the POTD project, four years have slid under the bridge since I first ventured to put a couple of Blackbushe snaps on the Farnborough website. It seemed a good idea to share some of my old black and white memories amid a group of people who to a degree shared some of my passion for Blackbushe - once London's second airport... My idea of a few personal memories grew into something a bit more than I had expected. New friends kindly submitted material for me to project before the masses, and the sad passing of Gordon "Benjy" Wilmer released a good proportion of his life's work that had been promised to me, "come the time...". For example...  ..a BOAC Britannia enjoying a day out at Blackbushe on crew training detail. Such sights to today's passer by must be met by at least surprise when surveying what remains of our once great airfield??
My devotion to the "Photo of the Day" as it was cleverly named went on in a way that I had never envisaged. While living in its 'original' birthplace it was achieving an amazing number of daily hits and before it was rejected and thrown to the wolves by the 'birthplace' forum no less than 190,000 hits were in the log book. The reasons for our being thrown out with the bathwater are still less than obvious, and as the proprietor of the aforementioned forum appears reluctant to communicate with us as to why he chose to extract the plug on what had become a very popular medium, we followed the only course open to us, and that was to launch our new forum. It's fair to say that Stuart and I are very pleased at how the venture has taken off, but POTD seems to have become something of a lost cause. Yesterday we logged 44 hits. A year ago it would have been 400+. Maybe the time comes when a product reaches its 'sell-by' date, and one needs to match supply with demand. The level of interest has now dropped off to a level where the daily production will have to be cut back. I know there is a small and very faithful band of followers, but some days the preparation of photos, locating , sorting and finding a few words takes a long time. Yesterday's POTD, for example, tool almost two hours to assemble. With many hundreds of photos to sift through to find what I think are the 'right ones' for the day takes a good deal of shunting back and forth. As one gets older time has to be carefully allocated, and I calculate that since starting this project some 2,000 hours have been used up from my 'reflecting time'.. Most of those hours were thrown away by someone whose actions I still find unforgivable. My plan is simple. I'll jog along for another week and measure the interest in POTD each day. If by next weekend the figures are still discouraging POTD will become POTW...Certainly we don't throw our toys out of the pram on this forum, but perhaps a weekly production might fill the bill?? Maybe I'm just getting lazy? See you tomorrow! PB
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