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Post by PB on Jul 8, 2020 6:31:27 GMT
"Photo of the Day" 08/07/20Noted from one of the popular press editions yesterday that July has got an extended period of 30C+ in store for the UK. 06.00 this morning it's obviously still at some distance as grey, cool, and wet sums up the latest met observation in the front garden. Three more photos from Graham Jones this morning to focus on, a minute or two's reflection on memories from one's yoof that still take a revered position at the memory bank's high altar!Captured at Blackbushe on 20 July, 1958, BEA Viscount G-APEY. Around the time I first went solo on the push bike and would venture all the way to Blackbushe to soak up its wonders. Many Viscounts trod the Blackbushe tarmac, G-APEY making four visits to the airfield in 1958. Two, as this would have been, on training flights and a further two on weather diversions in October and December of that year.The delightful Dove. A type that happily visited Blackbushe on numerous occasions after the sad 1960 closure of the Airport. This example, SN-AAD, of Sudan Airways was caught in 1958 whilst parked somewhere in the region of Airwork's complex on the eastern reaches of Blackbushe "east"... The ground behind the aircraft sloped away as we are on the edge of the Blackbushe plateau and views across to the eastern skyline are easily made.. If the overgrown Common Land on Blackbushe's eastern end had not been allowed to go wild such a view would await from what remains of the Terminal and our apron today..Hereby lies a prize catch. N4894V Curtiss C-46 Commando of Westair Transport, a temporary Blackbushe resident through June to September of 1957 apparently on charter to various UK airlines during the period. The aircraft was also registered in China, Venezuela and Mexico during her life.. This photo is a true classic not just for the aeroplane. A rare angle from what is today an overgrown fraction of the sprawling 'Yateley Common', the small part better known by some as Blackbushe "east". The main car park and coach park reaches as far down as the crossing point whereby aircraft were towed across the A30 to the engineering side of Blackbushe, or Blackbushe "south" as best describes the area today... The Commando is in the process of being moved to, or from, the 'south' here. Many hours did your scribe spend in yon car park with trusty bike close to the eastern end of the Terminal clearly seen in the photo, along with numerous other souls who still haunt the airfield today. Note too, the lighting gantries that turned the apron nights into day... Amazing days, a sad and tragic end, six decades hoping for the approved development of today's Blackbushe Airport continue.Over the life of the Blackbushe Forum some have taken the time to tell me to 'get over it', forget the past without much thought for what the past means. Indeed without it there would be no airfield on Hartford Bridge today for us to harbour hopes for and wish for a better future than the experiences bestowed by bureaucracy over the past sixty years. What would we be if we simply 'forgot' everything and everyone we loved or cherished in the past? I dread to think, a large part of our Forum's work is to recall the past for the interest and information of all who come by.
PB
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Post by PB on Jul 9, 2020 7:15:16 GMT
"Photo of the Day" 09/07/209th July.. everyday the history books yield aviation events of note. Today, the Aviation Traders Accountant first flew in 1957, in 1965 the Andover first flew, and in 1959 an RAF Valiant made the first non-stop flight from England to Cape Town.
Back in 1956 a new name appeared at Blackbushe in August of that year, just for a couple of weeks.... "Globe Link" was emblazoned on the side of Viking G-AIHA, an aeroplane we were far more used to seeing wearing the colours of Blackbushe based Eagle Airways. POTD returns to Graham Jones wonderful collection of photos he kindly agreed for the Forum to use.. I quote Graham, "Just come across photos taken by a friend of my fathers, Arthur Pearcy, an interesting man who wrote a detailed book on the C47 Dakota. He was an air observer back in the day, he took this on 15th August 1956 a Globe Link Viking". "Globe Link" was in fact an airline 'created' for the 1957 movie, "The Crooked Sky", a movie famous if for nothing else its various scenes featuring Blackbushe Airport whereby Law enforcement officials from Washington and Scotland Yard try to crack an international counterfeiting operation.The short lived "Globe Link" parked adjacent to Eagle's magnificent hangar located on the Airport's extreme south-west south of the A30... The much loved Eagle Gemini grabs a pose too.. Sadly, the last of Graham's collection. Famous Falcon Viking G-AHPG, September 1959, also on Blackbushe's area south of the A30 but at the south eastern corner adjacent to the hangar now sporting the name "Orion", one of the numerous independent airlines that operated from Blackbushe prior to 1960. "Falcon Airways" formed in 1959 starting with the Viking but soon added the four engined Hermes to is fleet. You need to read Robert Belcher's excellent book "Blackbushe, London's Lost Airport" for more insight as to the airlines that frequented the Airport prior to its closure in May, 1960. That Eagle Gemini seems to have photo bombed another photo..?That's it for another collection of new photos from the old days. Grateful thanks to Graham for his kindness in making them available. If any of our members are willing to share similar treasures they may also have tucked away somewhere do please consider making them available to our members and guests, it would be our absolute delight to host them - and they would be added to the pleasure and knowledge I hope the Forum delivers, not to mention a distinct twang on the strings of nostalgia that quite a few of us still hold dear!!
Thanks..... PB
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Post by PB on Jul 10, 2020 7:25:24 GMT
"Photo of the Day" 10/07/20July plods along. In this morning's early light all looks calm, not a leaf stirring under dead pan grey skies. Hopefully Blackbushe will see some of her usual action as the country slowly picks up where it left off when the pandemic changed all our lives and continues its global mayhem. July in the fifties, 10 July, 1959 for example, witnessed Neptunes, the mighty US Navy "Warning Star" Super Constellation, an MEA Viscount diverted from LHR, Belgian Internationsl DC-4,and a Hunting Clan Viscount carrying out ILS runs amid all the usual home based airline traffic.
This time in July, 1944, as D-Day receded into the past the Blackbushe squadrons were constantly at work attacking strategic targets and taking some of the nasty knocks that war in the air can give. Reading Stuart's work on life at Blackbushe during these days there come some extraordinary accounts. For example, an attack on 3rd July, 1944, by 342 and 226 Squadrons on a fuel dump at Argentan. 45 years later F/O Jack Chinell, 226 Squadron, related how he was playing golf with a fellow club member in Canada. Turned out that the fellow member had been a Spitfire pilot who had on numerous occasions flown escort to Mitchells...Later he brought in his log book to show Jack.. turned out that he had been flying escort to 226 Squadron on 3rd July, 1944. A small world, and surely a moment of high emotion on the golf course?Another narrative from this era tomorrow, but photos of the day from slightly more recently...Our current Forum 'header' photo shows life at Blackbushe in1959 with the Terminal seen in the distance. Here we are in the summer of 1964...the Terminal the only surviving reminder of Blackbushe's glorious civil past. One third of it still stands to this day, two thirds were under the "care" of Hampshire County Council who elected to destroy their share... unseemly and still ongoing bureaucratic nonsense.1963. The Dowty Dove on final approach to Blackbushe's runway 01. Always interesting landing on 01 as eyeballs rotated upward as you floated overhead. By this time Blackbushe "south", the 'other side' of the A30, was fully closed down and dug up. The pilot was Neville Duke, Sir George Dowty's personal pilot and happily one of our slightly more regular visitors during those days where life required acceptance that beautiful Blackbushe was now not much more than a bomb site. A bomb site for which we held high hopes, and of course, still do.......Ahh, the zero one experience..June, 1963.... the forming of the car park we all use today. A useful section of relatively clear concrete, a bit of rope around it to indicate the car park boundary, large amounts of rubble still to clear, cars looking decidedly from another age, the AVM's Fairthorpe is easy to spot, and the wire mesh fence and concrete posts we planted to the west end of the airfield to establish a boundary and some security..The fence we acquired from a race course, cannot recall which, Kempton Park possible, but I know it involved a degree of blood , sweat and almost tears at the time. Such was life at Blackbushe in the early sixties! ..and finally, the full size Terminal during a 'local sortie' in F-BJNL, shown in the previous photo, with a chum from the Tiger Club. Resident Airport Manager Bill Freeman's caravan backed up to the Terminal amid the sad and barren scene that was Blackbushe Airport in the early sixties.... Nobody in the 'Tower' back then, but very memorable days as we converted a Government supplied bomb site into a usable aerodrome..
PB
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Post by PB on Jul 11, 2020 9:41:03 GMT
"Photo of the Day" 11/07/20Saturday! Ahh, the weekend at last! Strangely sunny out there for such an occasion, but that's the only difference between the past week's "working" days as life rolls along on the crest of the Covid virus and being a pensioner who thanks to the BBC's service to their nation will not be granting me a free TV license when the time comes. Assuming it comes..
Sadly we cannot turn the clock back and I do wonder if after six decades of association with dear old Blackbushe if I will ever see her enjoy an approved restoration if, and when, bureaucratic endeavour to stifle Blackbushe's hopes are finally overcome. Yesterday witnessed your scribe sharing tea, a table, and talk with 'exeglkflyer' for a couple of afternoon hours aside the Bushe Cafe. The airfield looked immaculate, as it always does under the new ownership, aircraft departed for foreign destinations, circuit bashing, and flow of light aeroplanes coming and going cemented the look of a busy aerodrome - especially considering the trials of this year so far.. Scanning the well kept and busy like airfield one could not help questioning for the millionth time why it is that our local County authority are so driven to spend so many thousands of OUR pounds fighting to turn it into a useless wilderness - or a gravel pit?Grabbed a walk on Blackbushe "east", the wild side of the fence before returning to base yesterday... Chance to show my new phone where the airfield is and a quick test shot. Amazing what a difference a fence can make..and a new 'phone'!Yateley Common, a part of which is Blackbushe "east" yielded no snakes yesterday although I'd hoped to catch one of two on camera. Yateley Village, once a charming hamlet buried in Hampshire's green acres, has grown massively over the years, the location suited to an expanding London work force who migrated to a location still within easy catchment of the big city..while the area also expanded in its commercial and business enterprises - a perfect endorsement as to the value of Blackbushe as a General Aviation 'business' airport.
An illustration of the airfield's positive relationship with the local population goes back to the summer of 1944, if not earlier. Extracting details from Stuart Marshall's work accounting the wartime years I read of F/O Dal Hines, an Air Gunner with 226 Squadron. Luck was on his side during those missions flown from Blackbushe (RAF Hartford Bridge as it was back then). Astro dome shot off, eight holes in the aircraft read from just one entry in his log book.. Dal returned to Blackbushe in 1994 accounting some of his story to Stuart. Of much interest comes the detail of how Dal and his crews attended the regular dances held in Yateley Village Hall. Becoming friendly with one local girl in particular Dal and she shared dances on numerous occasions at the Village Hall. A teacher at a local special needs school the lady in question brought Dal a mascot to keep him safe in what was to come in the skies over Europe. A small stuffed dog made by one of her students, the heroic dog flew on all subsequent missions. Dal, in 1994 still had the lucky mascot saying it constantly reminded him of the "terrific rapport that existed between crews and the people of Yateley".Almost two decades after the doggie mascot took up flying with 226 Squadron...what a difference! An early 'fly-in' and the airfield was now fighting for its existence. The Vigo Lane separation indicated by a few straw bales... More decades later, almost six since the previous black and white photo, the environmentally outstanding Blackbushe Airport still awaits 'the moment' when she can make full use of her locked-up benefits. The surrounding gravel excavations perhaps reflect a dreadful fate that could await the airfield if common sense continues to lack its presence regarding the life, or death, of one of our finest airfields.
PB
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Post by PB on Jul 12, 2020 9:01:44 GMT
"Photo of the Day" 12/07/20Two things POTD is sure of. The weather is perfect from this vantage point, a few miles south of Blackbushe, and POTD is running behind schedule, it's instigator totally bemused by the Sunday press, the broadcasting media, and the growing self appointed bodies who feel it their duty to tell us how to think. The weather is delivered courtesy of a kindly ridge of high pressure, coincident with a gathering depression forming at the behest of a multitude of 'fronts' intent on controlling the way we think, speak, and act... I'm sure it will be very easy to slip on the cobbles of correctness every sentence having to be screened should it hold some unplanned insult toward a minority something, or other.. POTD has not been without self appointed critics who would wish to amend its points of view! There are doubtless injustices that need to be corrected, maybe Blackbushe's bureaucratic battering is one?
Eight decades ago the Royal Air Force were entering what history has christened the Battle of Britain. Somebody else was trying to force upon us a new way of life, thinking, and submission. Thank God they failed, thank God for the Royal Air Force and all who served - and serve - in the name of freedom - long may it be with us..
Maybe today POTD could recall a few words put together at the time of the 75th Anniversary of 'The Battle'..? It is too easy to forget exactly what was endured fighting for the 'freedom' we share today.Wishing you a peaceful Sunday..
PB
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Post by PB on Jul 13, 2020 6:25:55 GMT
"Photo of the Day" 13/07/20Remarkable. The easiest word found in the grey cell to convey yesterday's "Plane Finder" views of the United Kingdom... While the skies over home yielded an increase in vapour trails the astounding leap in air traffic came from General Aviation and in particular the number of gliders enjoying the July thermals. Compared with the empty skies of the great shut down a couple of months ago the scene in the air looked very 'healthy'. Blackbushe continues to show a reasonable traffic flow as indicated by photographs appearing on social media and on our movements pages courtesy of the faithful who still support the old Forum.
A few images to recall one of Blackbushe's past chapters..Gliding tried Blackbushe as a potential new site for the sport, but decided Lasham had all that was needed.A scene from the late sixties, the delightful twin boomed Skymaster providing the subject. At a glance it could have been Blackbushe before the 1960 closure with a Dove resting in the background and the US Navy hangar providing its imposing back drop. The future saw the Cessna Skymaster banned from Blackbushe due to its sound output and, of course, the US Navy hangar on the Common was demolished to make way for a Council approved industrial business park...Looking back in time.. Blackbushe 'east', clear indication of the length of runway excavated by the 1960's bureaucrats as one looked back on the scene. The surviving cross runways below are marked for operations as they remained in use for some years to come. The US Navy base is also clear to see although its surrounding hard surfaces and parking bays had been, or were being destroyed by this time. What has not changed is the long clear unobstructed approach to Blackbushe Airport's main runway and its clear environmental superiority over other business airfields in the south east who do not have the "future housing" label hanging from them... any and all subsequent house building in the area would clearly have been done with knowledge of an airfield on the Hartford Bridge plateau. Happily the approaches remain just as clear today. Perhaps before I encounter the cereal packet another recall from wartime days?
We turn to Stuart Marshal's account of the war years, July 1944, in fact. "On 12th July, 1944, His Majesty King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, accompanied by Sir Trafford Leigh-Mallory, AOC in C, and a number of other high ranking officers, held an investiture at the airfield where 80 personnel were to be honoured. It was very unusual for an investiture to be held by royalty anywhere outside London. It turned out to be a very hot July day the effects of which were felt by the gathered airmen and WAAFs on parade awaiting the arrival of the royal party. Those receiving decorations filed forward until their turn to march up, salute and shake the King's hand once they had received their medal. A light hearted moment occurred as the Queen spoke to Flight Sergeant Jimmy Armstrong. She thought he was Polish due to his accent and blond hair. His Geordie accent had caused confusion, the Queen laughing when he informed her he was from Newcastle-on-Tyne. A very informal day and double celebrations for 342 Squadron (Free French Air Force Lorraine Squadron) - it was also Bastille day.
Presentations were made to personnel from other stations as well, Blackbushe's location again proving its value being relatively close to London. Buck Feldman an American flying Tempest Vs from RAF Newchurch, Kent, received the DFC, quite unique for a foreign serviceman to be decorated by the monarch in person. Usually the Station or Section Commander would perform the duty. The Wing Leader of 150 Wing, one Wing Commander Roland Beaumont, famously known as "Roly" later, arrived via RAF Lasham. Blackbushe (RAF Hartford Bridge) was closed for the ceremony. Beaumont received a bar to his DSO on this day. Worthy of note is that Beaumont intercepted and destroyed an incoming V1 near Eastbourne on his way to Lasham and damaged another.
His Majesty and the Queen departed at 1745 having taken tea in the Officers' Mess".
Such are the famous footprints we walk amid whenever on Hampshire's historic airfield..
Thanks to Stuart for the memories.
PB
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Post by PB on Jul 14, 2020 8:45:46 GMT
"Photo of the Day" 14/07/20Pleased that some of our members found yesterday's POTD regarding a notable day of royalty at Blackbushe interesting. One of our members "liked" it 16 times..so thanks for that, great for the editorial sense of well being.. If you find POTD of interest, or otherwise, love to hear about it, but on the Forum please, not tucked away in my personal email! Further, if you have any historic links with Blackbushe or her people or just wish to express a point of view regarding Blackbushe please use the Forum, that's what it's here for... Just the one today, back to the days of Douglas A. If your gonna have a Ju52 on the fleet why not have two, or in fact three as there were. Fun days...PB
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Post by PB on Jul 15, 2020 6:08:43 GMT
"Photo of the Day" 15/07/20"Hopefully the double Junkers photo yesterday was of interest? Pretty sure it's a scene none of us will see again at Blackbushe.Another double Junkers view, this time both in warpaint...Another shape that probably won't be back. Having been moved to the apron following Hampshire County Council's indignity that it was visible from the A30 where we parked her on arrival the Comet lived on the apron for quite some time before being finally being moved and suffering her final indignity. The scrap man's willingness to void us of another treasure.A period existed when piston and turbo prop twins were predominant in numbers on Blackbushe's apron, visitors and home based.. The empire of the prop driven twins seemed to collapse with the advent of VLJ's as the market climbed into a new level of operation. Many of the Senecas, Aztecs, Navajos, etc went back to the USA from whence they came....As shown on the Forum's movements pages yesterday, light business jets continue to use Blackbushe in small numbers, whether the day comes when they match the prop driven days remains to be seen. The future Blackbushe Airport, as seen in the eyes of her current owners, with a complete infrastructure for General Aviation that would truly allow business flying to benefit remains in the concept stage. If ever there was a time to encourage business airfields to develop it must be now as the Government endeavours to lift the country back on its feet? A tiny portion of the £106 billion recently suggested as being the cost of HS2, a railway line to the north, to support GA enterprises would be money well spent..? Sadly, the blinkered County bureaucracy under which Blackbushe is crushed cannot be expected to support the business potential that lurks within the expanse of tarmac we know with no small degrees of affection as "Blackbushe".. Never has the crystal ball been stared at with such hungry eyes..
..and just to stir the juices, a reminder of the scene at Blackbushe as new hangars were built. British Car Auctions must be eternally grateful.
PB
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Post by PB on Jul 16, 2020 6:16:15 GMT
"Photo of the Day" 16/07/2006.00, another apparently grey day..those magnificent blue skies enjoyed during the lockdown period are perhaps the only part of this summer that would be welcome back?
Going further back into the varied history of Blackbushe this day in July 1944, as post D-Day operations continued relentlessly, records show home based 226 Squadron launching an attack on a German ammunition dump at Chartes. Pilot Officer Harvey's Mitchell returned with a hole in one of its tail fins thanks to heavy flak offered by the opposition.
Although not involving Blackbushe, on this day in 1969 Apollo 11 departed Cape Kennedy for mankinds first visit to the surface of another world.. However, one of Apollo 11's crew, Buzz Aldrin, is involved with Aerobility and has spent time at Blackbushe as a result.
For those who closed Blackbushe destroying her infrastructure at maximum speed and those who profess preference for a wilderness to the functional airport and asset the airfield stands to become, a scene such as this in the seventies was probably less welcome than to those whose who see Blackbushe in a positive light so far as what she can offer in terms of supporting aviation in the future?A moment in time. New hangars now part of the Blackbushe vista, a welcome and long awaited plus to what the airfield could offer. Hangarage, home to the Queens helicopter, a major Beech servicing facility and a busy helicopter base. Sadly the time was short lived, the then owners of the Airport, British Car Auctions sold most of the Airport land but NOT the hangars. So life goes on...Just one more before I return to planet Earth.. Flying in an Islander in the seventies, the old airfield shows her battle scars to full effect. Blackbushe 'south', south of the A30, shows her taxiway infrastructure freshly scarred from destruction, while out on Blackbushe 'east' the apron, taxiways, and runways destroyed by the Parish Council are clear to see. 01/19 had enjoyed a surface dressing from what I recall accounting for the dark tarmac appearance. Poor old Blackbushe, one end improved, one end destroyed..how long can this farce go on? The County Council pleads hardship, £80 million in expense and services cut backs - and now going to the Government pleading for more money due to the Covid crisis yet able to find thousands to fight the owners of Blackbushe Airport and their ambition to make the most of north-east Hampshire's superb potential asset to aviation.. Blackbushe.
PB
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Post by PB on Jul 17, 2020 6:20:13 GMT
"Photo of the Day" 17/07/20As we continue in the holding pattern waiting upon the Court of Appeal to come forth with a date for Blackbushe's next round in her fight for the right to simply become a General Aviation airfield with the operational infrastructure so long denied her perhaps another glance over our shoulder into history.Take today, 17th July, 1944....another quote from Stuart's, "The Wartime Years"... "on the 17th July fuel dumps were attacked by 226, 342 and 88 Squadrons, with one near Alencon seen to be well alight. At this time 88 Squadron was under the command of W/Cdr Maher. The logbook entry for one of his crew for that day reads, "1430,Boston IV, Pilot W/Cdr Maher, Operations as detailed. Fuel dumps at Alencon - no flak encountered. Target bombed successfully"... and so the days of war rolled on at airfields such as Blackbushe. Not all days were so 'easy'. A couple of days later, 19th July, Stuart's account reports 226 Squadron making their deepest raid into France yet undertaken by 226 Squadron as they attacked yet another fuel dump,this time at Orleans. The flight time on this mission was 3hours and 15 minutes.Having flown in the Mitchells based at Blackbushe in the latter half of the 1970's one has nothing but respect for the crews who repeatedly endured the incredible noise aircraft of this size produced through wafer thin sheets of aluminium and perspex through which to view the outside world. I only had a broom handle type gun to hold onto in the nose turret wherein the engines, airflow, and creaking perspex whose creaking increased in direct proportion to the airspeed's increase produced the most extraordinary din. Apart from the sound effects that added to the sense of adventure the Mitchell proved to also be amazingly 'aerobatic'!! Looking back on life's worn tracks, flying in the B-25 Mitchell was one of the most 'wish I could do it again' moments!A B-25 moment I caught on video as we left Northern Ireland in another much loved aeroplane, the Army's Blackbushe based Dakota G-BVOL, the B-25 being the Duke of Brabant example returning to its European home, the Blenheim heading for Duxford. The photo snatched from the TV screen, all my movie film from those days being on VHS tape. If only 'digital' had come along a bit earlier! We'd been at Newtonards for the VJ Day celebrations, earlier in the day taking part in the official fly past over Belfast where none other than the famous Prince Andrew was taking the salute.... Sharing the sky with fleets of military choppers, an RAF VC10 with Tornadoes dangling behind it, various warbirds all in conditions that were less than ideal was interesting. The Dakota flight deck windows proved not to be 100% watertight.Had to give her another airing, our beautiful BVOL.....The B-25s! Five of them lived here for some months. Sadly one Sunday one of them indirectly lead to the tragic death of my dear friend Roger Russell and who knows, by a pure fluke of events your scribe was unable to make the flight from Blackbushe to Biggin Hill..whereby a transfer to the Invader and its fateful consequences was made. Roger and I were in furious competition to see who could fly in the most warbirds. Not sure who won..Blackbushe lives an uncertain path, but she has certainly provided enough memories to, well, write a book about.. Just wish the future could be sorted before it's too late for some of us?
PB
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