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Post by PB on Jul 18, 2020 7:09:27 GMT
"Photo of the Day" 18/07/20In this most extraordinary of extraordinary years today marks a huge stepping stone toward 'normal' life being resumed. Blackbushe Airport returns to 'normal operations'...
For those who have not gathered this welcome and positive news, some words gleaned from the highly informative Blackbushe Airport web site.. "FROM SATURDAY 18th JULY
We will now return to our normal opening hours of 07:00 - 18:00 local, 7 days a week. You may see we will have more staff coming back in, however, there will still be some limitations in our operation. We have to take measures to make Blackbushe Airport COVID-Secure, and consider not only the needs of our customers, but also the safety of staff, and the financial impact on the business. The highlights are as follows:
* Open 7 days a week.
* Normal Opening Hours - From 07:00 - 18:00 local.
* Refuelling hours return to normal: 08:00 - 18:00 local. Please refuel the day before for early departures.
* Out of Hours flying continues, please make sure you have you are familiar with the procedures.
* We will have some more staff in, but will not be back to normal levels until late August.
* The Bushe Cafe have already opened for limited dining inside, and the patio remains available (Check their website for opening days/times).
* There is a toilet in the Cafe open.
* We will still not accept physical payments by any means (including Credit / Debit Cards).
For visitors, please use our PPR form and we will email you an invoice after your visit which you can pay by bank transfer or credit card.
All international flights must complete the Public Health Passenger Information Form and keep a copy of their confirmation for inspection by Border Force if required. This includes pilots of business aircraft, as they travel in the same cabin as passengers."The Blackbushe apron populated by business movements during Farnborough Week in the 70's/80's. The great news is that after those long silent weeks of lockdown and her subsequent build-up the Airport is now fully open and ready to support General Aviation in all its facets. While the old 'Farnborough Week' business traffic at Blackbushe may no longer present such a compact opportunity for a busy apron it must be a matter of celebration that once again the airfield offers an affordable long hard environmentally friendly runway within easy reach of London and the business organisations that so densely occupy Blackbushe's opportunistic catchment area. Competitive priced fuel and the Bushe Cafe available for 'fuel' too!!
PB
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Post by PB on Jul 19, 2020 6:48:49 GMT
"Photo of the Day" 19/07/20Sincere gratitude to all who continue to frequent the Forum especially those who supply photos for the Blackbushe Movements section..photos speak volumes!
Today's two photos certainly have their own very special story to tell from days when Blackbushe was very much in the heat of battle. But first, looking back on this day, 19th July in 1944. Our home based Squadrons were very much in action. 226 Squadron made the deepest raid into France yet undertaken with a fuel dump in Orleans their target. A few days earlier 264 Mosquito Squadron had been successfully employed on night-fighter operations with a number of Luftwaffe aircraft falling from their night bombing intrusions. On July 14th the Squadron switched to night time V-1 'doodlebug' interceptions with eleven intercepted and destroyed.
The peaceful vista of Blackbushe today does little to belie the operations and heroism that flew from her runways just 76 years ago? Happily, support for the proposal of a permanent memorial to these crews has been gathering momentum, but such depends on the Airport first winning its own battle of the 21st Century.Photo of the Day mentioned recently the rare event depicted above... Investiture ceremonies involving royalty to be held anywhere outside London were very rate, but on12th July, 1944, an exceedingly hot day, His Majesty King George VI was accompanied by the Queen to decorate no less than 80 RAF Hartford Bridge personnel. For 342 Free French "Lorraine" Squadron it was a day of double celebration also being Bastille Day. The Queen speaking fluent French was a bonus. French and American crews were also decorated on this day, again unusual for foreign personnel to be so decorated. An historic day without question.F/Lt Simpson of 88 Squadron steps forward and speaks with the King. Sincere thanks to Stuart Marshal for the details and photographs.Wishing you a peaceful Sunday..
PB
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Post by PB on Jul 20, 2020 9:02:22 GMT
"Photo of the Day" 20/07/20I must be getting old. Not quite the enthusiastic teenager who spent every possible minute of his spare time devoted to the battle for Blackbushe, the six decade long passage of time that started in 1960 and extraordinarily continues to this day - and tomorrow, and... ? Happily the need for voluntary muscle to shift rubble toward making the airfield in some way usable passed long ago, but the need to maintain a swell of supportive opinion toward the airfield's future is no less important in 2020 than it was in 1960. Hopefully POTD continues to provide some lift under that 'supportive opinion'.
Yesterday getting old played its hand talking with a delightful lady well into her 9th decade not seen since before lockdown in February. We talked of the war and conditions tolerated due to German bombs, deprivation, shortages, the deaths of so many innocents and service personnel, rationing of food, and the 'we will overcome' spirit. I just wonder if the snowflake generation who met in Hyde Park yesterday to protest against face masks would have risen up in a similar way during the Blitz to protest against gas masks and the rigours of rationing? I could go on, but must remain within the walls of the Forum's purpose.. Sometimes you're not seeing what you think you are seeing..Movie time at 'wartime' Blackbushe where the need for numbers of B-17's could only be satisfied by the skills of the cardboard cut out teams.."Eye of the Needle", possibly..it was a while back!!For reference, Blackbushe continues to provide an excellent venue for the movie makers, many well known films having been partly put in the can on her acres..Another monochrome memory. The day Neil Williams arrived in Doug Arnold's latest acquisition and Blackbushe's Warbirds of Great Britain moved into the jet age. Latest reports indicate she ended up at Bruntingthorpe. Where she goes next, who knows, as Bruntingthorpe joins the lists of closed aviation sites. The storage of cars apparently a more attractive use of the site than the preservation of our aviation heritage. Seems that airfields are a sitting duck for those who make money from cars and their accommodation.Must trot along, the POTD editorial staff are celebrating Wedding Anniversary Number 46 today........
PB
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Post by PB on Jul 21, 2020 6:42:36 GMT
"Photo of the Day" 21/07/20"Thank you" to Paul for yesterday's photos in the Forum "Movement" section and all who kindly add their photos to the section, "Thank you" to all who drop in each day supporting the Forum's purpose, and "Thank you" for the good wishes kindly delivered for yesterday..
Moving into another day of currently blue sky if not something of a temperature drop..I note yesterday 12 months ago temperatures of 39C recorded in the UK, will this year produce the ever higher temperatures we've been warned about? This was hot...Yateley Common ablaze, and the potential inferno that continually lurks in her expansive shrubbery when the summer heat gets turned up.. Sorry about the size, sometimes things are like that.Hot topic. Blackbushe, business jets, and hangars... Hangars now occupied by BCA for pre-owned vehicles awaiting disposal, could still be the daily scene at Blackbushe if bureaucracy would see reason..A day by the sea on a hot day appears to be a popular pastime, some of us found it more fun being around three Beeches.. Farnborough Week, 1960's at Blackbushe.Not so hot..when winter rages and the Council steadfastly refuse to let you have hangars on your airfield.. A Three Counties Cub that fell victim to winter's rage.Hangars? Doug Arnold's first hangar block under construction having negotiated approval on a patch of non-Common aerodrome.Job done! Now entirely owned by BCA and full of used cars and 'dealers'.. Walking through a hangar at Blackbushe Airport that's home to aeroplanes was a mighty good feeling, the withdrawal symptoms are not pleasant when you walk through them today, but you might get a good deal on a used motor...Always hopeful for the future..
PB
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Post by PB on Jul 22, 2020 7:23:25 GMT
"Photo of the Day" 22/07/20The overall aviation future remains somewhat obscured from our vision due to the pandemic and ensuing economic downfall, at Blackbushe the longed for development remains under a bureaucratic blockade hand in hand with the economic/pandemic conditions. Yesterday enjoying the Blackbushe air with Rob Belcher and John Varndell on the Bushe Cafe's viewing area the sun poured down while the circuit was very active with a Falcon 50's departure adding to the enjoyable atmosphere that a significant crowd of Cafe customers were creating. One could easily sense how it would be, how it will be, when a new Blackbushe arises from these decades of frustration, but the airfield was definitely humming yesterday - one just hopes that humming plays the tune of viability?July 22nd. Looking back in history today steps forward as the end of the Space Shuttle programme, on this day in 2011 Space Shuttle Atlantis kissed the good Earth to conclude the Shuttle programme.
Still across the Atlantic this day in 1943 witnessed the inauguration of the Canadian Government’s Trans Atlantic Air Service, operated by Trans-Canada Air Lines. It sets a non-stop speed record for a flight from Dorval Airport, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, to Prestwick, Scotland, of 12 hours 26 minutes. Three Lancasters were converted for this role. By the end of 1944 they were making three round trips per week between Canada and the UK and had carried over 1,000,000 pounds of mail and 2000 passengers. With so many achievements to claim mankind's ability and courage the irony of an airfield such as Blackbushe being so severely hampered by a handful of people with an alternative agenda is tragic and surely confounds logic?A reminder of the Terminal scene shortly after AVM Bennett acquired the site, 1962. You are free to come to your own conclusions as to the consequences of subsequent political jiggery-pokery.Unadulterated..Blackbushe "east" ... How it looked in the early days before being desecrated and becoming what ever you might call it today.Early air shows, the Red Arrows enjoying the then unobstructed Blackbushe "east"....and it grew, and it grew, and....While on this side of the fence, the apron shrank down to around one quarter of what it used to be. Offers of cash to save some of it were rejected for reasons best known to they who did the rejecting..Natural erosion...The years rolled by, winter or summer, the other side of the fence just went wild!!Air traffic grew, so did the other side of the fence!Happily Blackbushe continues to serve the needs of General Aviation while the backdrop has followed its path of unimpeded progress.Just noting the passage of six long decades...
Have a nice day, PB
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Post by PB on Jul 23, 2020 6:52:50 GMT
"Photo of the Day" 23/07/20Yesterday POTD wandered across the wire and looked at how the 'wild east' was lost to local and county councils as it progressed from a roughly excavated bit of 'ex' aerodrome to the wilderness we behold today.. A massive fire risk awaits, especially with the recent saboteurs who insist on starting fires fuelled with old tyres to the airfield's northern stretches. A serious fire on Blackbushe 'east' possibly consuming or damaging precious aircraft would be one very large liability for those who own said wilderness of Blackbushe 'east'? Was yesterday's stage by stage recall of how the east end of the Airport became overgrown of interest? It'd be of editorial interest to know.........
Flying back in time to the airfield's early days it does no harm to remember the events that took place here in her youth. Flying back to July, 1944, on 20th flying ops were cancelled due to weather on the French coast, 226 Squadron, however, were busy carrying out bomb site and bombing practice. By 22nd July the Blackbushe squadrons were flying pretty much daily. 226 Squadron were employed attacking the German fuel dump at Chateau De La Terty. Next day they attacked a railway depot at Glos Sur Risle with a five hour mission to Dijon on the 24th, sadly a Mitchell (FW210) was lost north of Caen. Life was never dull at the Alencon fuel dump as they received another visit from Blackbushe's 88 and 342 Squadrons! Time demands just the one image today. The apron in action, a study that truly appeals to the editorial appetite. An Airport fuel tanker serving the customers while assorted business/commuter aircraft await their passengers some of whom are making their way to an awaiting Jetstream. Blackbushe has long been the affordable airport for business and commuter flights, sadly we have waited six decades so far for the bureaucratic fog to clear enabling us to see the new clean and tidy purpose built and fully equipped Blackbushe arise from the ashes of her demise so long ago. Is there ONE good reason why such an environmentally ideal airfield close to London has been stuck to the bureaucratic buffers for so long?
PB
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Post by PB on Jul 24, 2020 6:06:39 GMT
"Photo of the Day" 24/07/20For those of us inclined to waking early the sad fact is that it gets light noticeably later than it did a month ago. However, it makes little difference to the fact that we are still in 'high summer' and many hours of summer sun may be looked forward to.. May be? Whether you wake early, or not, time and its mysterious properties continue to amaze. Infinite in size, but there's never enough?
Time and Blackbushe? To those whose lives have revolved around the Blackbushe situation for 'quite some time' the past six decades are indeed a lifetime, or at least a large percentage of one. Six decades of frustration, lost time and opportunity, and more frustration when you scan the airfield and think what could be, what should be without the indolent bureaucracy that has hampered progress at every opportunity.
Since 1960 we've moved forward in leaps and bounds where technology is concerned. From the analogue equipped stick and rudder, metal tubes and fabric covered post war technology the world of General Aviation has moved into composites, anything but analogue. and navigation has moved into the space age (even if free air space is ever more at a premium in some areas...). The Blackbushe story grinds on, and although the airfield is an award winning airfield with the 2019 AOPA "Aerodrome of the Year" award under its belt, the sad fact is that we must remain endlessly patient as we can but await the wheels of justice to revolve as if stuck in freshly set tar. The conclusion that some of us who have given the airfield a bit of time over the past nearly 22,000 days (jeepers!) may not witness the moment they have longed for as Blackbushe arises with its new infrastructure and 'permanence' is a hard conclusion to swallow, but it's increasingly something to chew over..
Whatever and whenever the future Blackbushe comes clearer, aviation and its technology will role ceaselessly forward. Aircraft will become quieter and powered by alternative fuel sources, they will continue to change their appearance much as they have from the delights of angular post war shapes to the ultra modern streamlined winged wonders of the 21st Century. I well recall spare moments during my period of time working for AVM Bennett at Blackbushe, I'd doodle aeroplane shapes of the future - sure enough they're on the apron nowadays!The shape of tomorrow? Electric powered, very quiet, an environmentally friendly commuter aeroplane just right for tomorrow's short haul air transport needs, just right for airfields who we hope will eventually also have an exciting future?Those who dig a little deeper into our Forum than "POTD" will have seen the recent article regarding this electric hybrid aeroplane..it's here..Electric Aviation Group unveils first hybrid electric 70 seater aircraftElectric Aviation Group (EAG) has unveiled a pioneering design for a hybrid electric regional aircraft which will deliver a technical and commercial entry point for sustainable mass air transport.
The design has been developed by the Bristol-based engineering and development firm, which expects its first aircraft to be in service by 2028. EAG say the design will create UK jobs and a blueprint for sustainable mass air transportation Aircraft will solve chalenges of decarbonisation and mass transportation
EAG has optimised the latest technology, economics and operational parameters to create the design for the Hybrid Electric Regional Aircraft (HERA), to ensure it can solve the challenges of decarbonisation and mass transportation.
The design was unveiled to coincide with the opening day of FIA Connect. The design has received unequivocal support from EAG’s JetZero consortium, which includes some of the UK’s leading engineering and manufacturing organisations and senior academic advisors. Aircraft will offer 800 nautical mile range at launch
Kamran Iqbal, founder and CEO at EAG said: “Significant investments have been raised to develop sub-19 seat hybrid and all-electric aircraft which we believe is the wrong strategy. These small planes cannot meet the demands of mass air transportation or the requirements of decarbonisation. Our design is for an aircraft that will initially offer 800 nautical miles range at launch in 2028, and which will be able to carry over 70 people. We will be a first mover in what is a $4.4 trillion market.”
EAG will draw on the rich heritage and strong aviation industry in Bristol when it begins production of the new aircraft for which it has already developed and filed a total of 25 patents covering a wide range of technologies. The organisation expects to initially create more than 25,000 jobs and unlock $5 billion investments in the UK aerospace industry.
Once the Covid pandemic is consigned to history, the world finds its feet, and maybe common sense is applied to the defence of airfields such as Blackbushe 'maybe', just maybe one day aeroplanes such as this will serve us all bringing aviation into the forefront as an environmental champion, the quickest, greenest way of broadening our horizons? From Blackbushe maybe the past 22,000 days would not have been in vain as her benefits at last become clear for all to see? The future is coming, like it or not, it will need to be addressed as to surviving aerodromes and their viability, the last thing we surely wish to see is Blackbushe becoming an extension of the derelict wasteland that has already become of the Council owned 'east end'? Sadly, some members of our community wish for just that.... technology, at least, is looking toward an exciting future in the skies.
Or is POTD's head simply too far in the clouds?
PB
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Post by PB on Jul 25, 2020 6:40:20 GMT
"Photo of the Day" 25/07/20Was yesterday's POTD of any interest? It's been visited around 400 times since this time yesterday. The POTD central nervous system often wonders what its recipients are thinking! Maybe best not to ask as some of the feedback has been shall we say not particularly constructive.. POTD serves to give a window to the feelings of many as to where Blackbushe SHOULD be going whist it harnesses some recall of past days, days stretching back to 1942 while its feelers probe into the big question mark that is the Airport's future.
Poor old Blackbushe. Forced into an existence of 'temporary' structures while her true value remains suppressed by ancient laws and extraordinary action of local bureaucrats, Blackbushe Airport clings to life while the world moves on toward what could be an amazing future. Photon quantum computers, batteries that will need to be charged once in a hundred years, mobile phones that will recharge in a few seconds, extraordinary new telescopes that mimic the eye of a fly in order to enhance our surveillance for foreign bodies - asteroids - that might deal us a nasty blow one day. And AI..it's got to the point where the new driverless car from Nvidia has such advanced AI that it's logic is not entirely understood by the human onlookers who created it.. The brave new world where who knows who (or what) will be in charge?
Meanwhile, our airfield has spent six decades in the doldrums. No need to elaborate.
In the 1950's, ancient history to most who frequent the airfield today, the concept of Blackbushe Airport would have been a very large flat plateau surrounded by open spaces and forest. But on that plateau stood a busy airport with airport life exuding from every corner, lots of buildings, hangars, Terminal and associated structures, freight sheds, car parks, coach park, the A30 that ran through the Airport with aircraft all over the place and on both sides of the road. Civil airliners coming and going whereby a geography lesson came with every visit as Vikings, Freighters, Dakotas, Hermes, Yorks, DC4 and DC6 served far away places that the young enthusiast had never heard of! And, of course, the United States Navy's only UK land base....who knows where they flew to in the chill of Cold War days?
Today, the "Airlines of Blackbushe Airport" sign stands as testament to a glorious past. Being one of those for whom the 1950's are still vivid in the few clinging grey cells, I often wonder what the concept of "Blackbushe Airport" is to most who frequent her car parks?Probably not like this when diversions from London Airport were not unusual?Or the normal 'daily' scene? Oh yes, and wherever you looked...HANGARS!!To those whose recall started in the 1960's, or later, their concept of Blackbushe will be perhaps be based on..An airfield offering graceful shapes from the past, far less overgrown than it is today, and no buildings other than the Terminal and Three Counties Aero Club with just the new old lock-up hangars at the far end where BCA have now blotted the landscape. Councils continued their efforts to thwart the airfield, and STILL do, but Blackbushe rode on, always in hopes of a marvelous tomorrow when a a new general Aviation mecca would arise from the ashes of the past. For many the concept of Blackbushe today will partly be marked by "How the east was lost" as the eastern council owned end of Blackbushe continues its journey into decay..However...The miracle of our time is that Blackbushe Airport has endured the onslaught of bureaucracy, 'rules' applicable to Henry VIII reign, and the efforts of a few whose vision of a future Blackbushe would be total spread of what they've achieved on the east end or maybe the biggest gravel pit in the nation?Hopefully, the above photo will be the true concept of modern Blackbushe as we move into the future? As Albert Einstein said, "The important thing is not to stop questioning". There are many questions that surround Blackbushe and her deplorable treatment over the past six decades.
Answers are far less abundant.
PB
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Post by PB on Jul 26, 2020 8:46:18 GMT
"Photo of the Day" 26/07/20In 1909 Blackbushe Airport was not even a twinkle in the eye of those who would one day recognise the immense suitability of the Hartford Bridge Flats for aviation. But, on this date in 1909 an aviation event of significance was being celebrated. Our connection with the continent of Europe had just taken a step closer, or should we say their relationship with our sovereign soil had taken a step closer? Today news would be circulating that a Frenchman had yesterday, 25th July, 1909, successfully completed the first powered flight across the English Channel. Young inventor/engineer known as Louis Bleriot made the first powered flight of a heavy than air flying machine across the English Channel aboard his own designed aeroplane, the Bleriot XI. For this he claimed the Daily Mail's prize of £1,000 for being the first to breach the Channel in such a craft landing not too far from Dover Castle...( £1000 in the early 1900's worth over £120,000 today). Another reward from completing this historic first was the subsequent sale of 100 Bleriot XI aeroplanes!In Bleriot's time who would imagine long hard runways being built, who would imagine mankind's rapid progress through the skies? Examples of both briefly coming together at Blackbushe...The Wright Brothers, Cody, Bleriot etc etc, could any of them have conceived a notion as to air travel and its growth in the 21st Century? No more, perhaps, than Henry Ford perceived 21st Century use of the motor vehicle. Would anybody have conceived of the notion that sixty years after its transfer to private hands Blackbushe Airport would still be fighting the bureaucratic battle for survival? The answer to all these questions must be an emphatic "No"...
PB
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Post by PB on Jul 27, 2020 6:01:42 GMT
"Photo of the Day" 27/07/20Exactly 06.00, another day in the doldrums adrift on the Covid Sea wondering if ever we'll make it back to the wonderful land of Normality, a place taken for granted for so long? IF, that is, we ever make it back across the Bay of Wokeness wherein rough waters await..??
Despite our current situation where life is somewhat different it is most heartening to see on the Forum's 'Movements' section photographs of recent air traffic movements and the number of visitors using Blackbushe's hungry runway. To the kind souls who continue to furnish those pages with pictures our extreme thanks, please don't stop.. Competitive fuel prices and 20% discount on landing fees if you uplift fuel no doubt play their part in producing 'visitor' traffic.
Drifting back to the airfield's roots for a moment and ongoing post D-Day activity at RAF Hartford Bridge.. Last night, 26th July, 1944, home based squadrons were in action against German troops in the Foret Bretville area near Caen, 226 Squadron attacking railyards south of Montford using 'Gee' to bomb through complete cloud cover. Today, 27 July, 226 would see another night operation in the Caen area. The contrast between climbing away from the airfield in a PA28 on a summer's day to a heavily laden Boston or Mitchell at night in bad weather with flak and who knows what else awaiting is significant! Yet, young crews did, time after time until fate played its hand one way, or another. We must remember them.Peaceful times. The PFA Easter Rally at Blackbushe in 1978. Tail skids do land on tarmac... There used to be a car park accessed from Vigo Lane in the airfield's post 1960 north eastern corner, it forms something of a background to this shot. Good for spotters, folk who just liked seeing aeroplanes, plus assorted nocturnal activities. (I's told..)As long as one keeps turning... The BN Defender puts on a show for the press during the Press Day prior to 1977's Blackbushe Air Festival..Two's company, three's a crowd?Nice crowd...
..and have a nice day!
PB
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