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Post by PB on Jul 28, 2020 7:31:06 GMT
"Photo of the Day" 28/07/20Running late today..POTD must be brief. (Who said, "Thank Goodness"?)Just this one for today..It really conveys the lonesomeness of Blackbushe Airport in the early 1960's after Don Bennett had acquired ownership of 365 acres and saved the name Blackbushe from final and total destruction. In those early days when much of one's school holidays were spent helping AVM Bennett and his caretaker Gordon "Benjy" Wilmer with the massive initial clearance of rubble and drain restoration an aeroplane was like a gift from the Gods. This little treasure popped in from Fairoaks as did occasional weekend visitors in those far off but strangely treasured times. It's amazing scanning the once empty and abandoned scene today; BCA's ghastly sprawl to the once wild north-west, the north now overgrown, the east destroyed by bureaucracy while the surviving Airport today hosts a collection of temporary structures and many aeroplanes happily using the acres that are of such immense value to future General Aviation.. Dear old Blackbushe, long ago she and I shared mutually troubled times, I hope perhaps I've given back just a little of what she deserves?
PB
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Post by PB on Jul 29, 2020 6:49:24 GMT
"Photo of the Day" 29/07/20Just another day, life's made of such. Some days stick out a little more than others, for example on this day in 1959 the first jet way was installed in the USA. Located at San Francisco, passengers were able to walk to their waiting aircraft without a bus shuttle, rain, wind, just a walk. Blackbushe was closed before such luxuries. Something that Blackbushe did experience in her commercial full sized life was the wonderful Viscount, and it was on this day in 1950 that the Viscount made her first passenger carrying flight, the first turboprop powered passenger flight.... A British European Airways scheduled flight, Northolt to Paris Le Bourget with 14 fare paying passengers. A new era was coming to life, and one that dear old Blackbushe shared to good effect.You've seen it before, but some things are worth repeating.. G-AOHG made numerous visits to Blackbushe during her BEA life, one being a weather diversion from Heathrow on 7th November, 1959. Maybe this was it, even Blackbushe looks a little misty?PB
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Post by PB on Jul 30, 2020 5:59:12 GMT
"Photo of the Day" 30/07/2030th July... So what?
To some of us a date burned into the memory like a branded hide!
July 30th, 1977.. Day one of the Blackbushe Air Festival. Two days of sunshine and without question one of our more significant contributions to Blackbushe Airport's event history. With a small but perfectly formed team two days of flying with a lengthy flying display each day, ground exhibitions, fun fair, etc etc. With Pete Dobson placed in charge of ground exhibitions, and team members appointed to various duties I took on 13 months of building the flying programme. A demanding full time occupation required a constant degree of shoe horning the Blackbushe project into every spare second, but when there's something you really want it's amazing what can be done! I really wanted to put on a show to be remembered, and I believe one or two of our members are still able to remember that far back!The Varsity formation display was different. Also the last time that Vickers shape and sound would be seen and heard in the Blackbushe sky. The Viking from whence the Varsity was borne being the most staple aeroplane in Blackbushe Airport's commercial years from late 1940's until 1960.A mix of types on the ground....and in the airJuly 30th also strikes a chord, this one resonates from 2016. The Blackbushe Air Day. A one day event (should have been two with the work entailed), the idea being to put Blackbushe back on the events map, bring people closer to aeroplanes and pilots, raise money to support Aerobility all with a very low entry price. It worked well, and again the weather was kind!Ground transport by British Airways..A chance to mingle with the pilots and their machines..Much mingling amid our wonderful team of helpers and volunteers..without whom no event would take off!30th July, 2020.. Looks like being a quieter kind of day, just one meeting at Blackbushe (where else?)....??
PB
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Post by PB on Jul 31, 2020 6:04:49 GMT
"Photo of the Day" 31/07/20July 31st. The extraordinary year of 2020 rolls on. Maybe 34C for the 31st around the Blackbushe Airport area as a final July gesture?
Following our eye on post D-Day events at Blackbushe, or rather RAF Hartford Bridge, in 1944...our resident squadrons had been paying regular attention to German targets in France as railways and roads took a serious beating. Today, 31st July, a ramrod raid was launched against the Livarot fuel dump. On returning to Hartford Bridge Boston BZ210 of 88 Squadron had a nasty moment. Bad weather cancelled their particular mission, a return to base was called for. A return to base with their full cargo of bombs, a circumstance making a gentle landing desirable? The undercarriage chose to collapse on landing but happily the crew all walked away unscathed. Life on the airfield continued its 'human' side. One of the crew nissen huts sported a sign, "Finger Inn, WO1 Stanger Proprietor, Sgt Ed Hunt, Manager, Open 24 hours". Run by 226 Squadron personnel, an entirely unofficial enterprise and the hub of underground activities!! The hut 'hot plate' was popular for the rich pickings that appeared from a variety of sources. The Officers' Mess had proven a fine source of 'supplies' including a full keg of beer that had been rolled to the "Finger Inn". WO1 Stanger survived the war flying 44 missions with 226 Squadron returning to his home in Canada. He did say that his ability to scrounge, beg, borrow, or steal was, "Used to the fullest" during his Hartford Bridge days.
Today, 31st July, 1977, the second day of the Blackbushe Air Festival enjoyed continuing delightful weather..Apart from the Air Festival going according to plan, we were thrilled by the large numbers of visiting aircraft that descended on us. The land upon which we hope to see hangars 'one day' between the taxiway and the A30 became the visitors' park. More up to date, delighted to witness "Perseverance" depart on her trip to Mars yesterday complete with man's first 'flying machine' "Ingenuity", the rather expensive drone that will eventually fly in the Martian 'atmosphere'.. Flying in a low "G" environment in an atmosphere so thin your two contra rotating rotors are going to have to reach around 2300rpm to develop the necessary lift will be 'interesting'. Flying one's drone from another planet will have its challenges if no more than the time it takes commands to travel between the respective heavenly bodies. Apart from a horrid birthday, next February offers something to look forward to assuming the viral scourge is kept away? "Ingenuity" will fly on preset instructions, nobody standing outside with a 'controller' in their mits! Apparently "Ingenuity" will have a prime purpose of testing the technology of remote Martian flight for future such exploration by "air".. Back into Blackbushe skies with our very own "Eye in the Sky" during our current burst of summer weather.. Approaching Blackbushe from the north-west once again we are able to draw the inescapable conclusion that THIS airfield is extraordinary amid business airfields within easy reach of London for its absolute environmental advantages. Surrounded by forests, approaches over unobstructed unpopulated Hampshire, such images and prospects for a superb General Aviation base do no credit to the County Council and their associated bureaucrats and friends whose agenda continues to be one hostile to Blackbushe being an airport.Until the next POTD we'll leave you to your own conclusions.. Have a cool day, at 07.00 it's lookin' good!
PB
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Post by PB on Aug 1, 2020 6:03:25 GMT
"Photo of the Day" 01/08/20August.....July certainly had a warm send off!
We must hope that the Covid vaccine continues to show hope for later in the year, but today the NHS Spitfire is doing the rounds of hospitals that have valiantly 'done their bit' over the past months.Screenshot this morning of the latest timings should you wish to see, or just hear, the magic of the Spitfire and her tribute to those who gave their all for us this year.."Thank you NHS"....
PB
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Post by PB on Aug 2, 2020 6:48:48 GMT
"Photo of the Day" 02/08/20Yesterday many eyes rotated toward the skies to catch a view of the "NHS" Spitfire while on the same day in Earth orbit Bob and Doug separated from the ISS ready for today's return to Earth of the Space X 'Crew Dragon'...man's restless urge to explore beyond where he's already been moves toward an inevitable manned flight to Mars in due course. FYI, live TV coverage is/will be here....
OR....
www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/#public
POTD finds mankind's venture into space utterly absorbing, whether you approve or not, mankind is capable of the most amazing achievements. Something of a contrast to the intransigent mindset of a few who for six decades have blocked the development of Blackbushe from becoming the valuable asset she stands to be. Such a sad contrast to all that the NHS Spitfire represented yesterday and Space X's Crew Dragon returning to Earth in just over twelve hours from now and what it signifies for mankind's future 'journey'...Talking of eyes in the sky, John "cat's eyes" Cunningham at Blackbushe during one of the legendary 1950's "Farnborough Weeks" aboard a Bristol Aeroplane Company's Bristol 171 helicopter. While today some of us reflect on past as well as the future, this photo recalls a moment from 1948 on what is now the overgrown wasteland of Blackbushe 'east' created by bureaucrats of the past six decades. It offers a glance at some of the lost infrastructure that included many offices, workshops and hangars.. The delightful aeroplane reflecting the Blackbushe scene in her shining aluminium is NC100E, a Beech 18, photographed in 1948. Nope, I didn't take it, two years old was considered just too young to 'pop up to the airfield' as one does today from time to time...Voices who are opposed to Blackbushe Airport being permitted to put up some hangars suggest such permission will lead to the site becoming an unsightly business estate instead....Therefore, their 'unjoined' logical thinking suggests the airfield should not be permitted to develop! Sound bureaucratic reasoning. One is inclined to ask why, as this photograph indicates, large areas of Common Land are permitted to support ever increasing numbers of second hand vehicles? Not only providing a significant blot on the landscape, the ever increasing numbers of massive supporting car transporters are putting untold stresses on our roads. The opponents of Blackbushe being used for aviation right back in the early sixties claimed that any future use of the Airport site would involve unacceptable traffic on the A30. They could never have dreamed of how by 2020 the tide of metal streaming into a car auction site on the old aerodrome would far exceed even their wildest dreams.You simply couldn't make it up!!
Wishing Bob and Doug a safe return from orbit this evening, not all of humanity is stuck in the bureaucratic Hampshire mud...
PB
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Post by PB on Aug 3, 2020 10:04:16 GMT
"Photo of the Day" 03/08/20Wall to wall blue skies, or so it appears from the office window as POTD comes in late due to crewing difficulties. So, where do we look this Monday morning? The past is always easier to relay than the future providing it's within the grey cell's remaining ability, the present is easier to relate - accuracy depending on which paper you read - while the future is anybodies guess.
The past..
So far as Blackbushe airfield is concerned it's a maze! As of recent POTD's, looking into the post D-Day summer at "RAF Hartford Bridge" the beginning of August, 1944, we see continued attacks by home based squadrons on targets in France designed to deliver maximum discomfort to German troops whose ambition was also to deliver maximum discomfort ending up in the still United Kingdom. A recent TV programme detailing this period referred to the harassment by aircraft from the UK and the fear amid German troops as their weapons were dispensed... A clip showed Bostons at low level, no identity but possibly the Blackbushe boys?
August 1944 at RAF Hartford Bridge/Blackbushe witnessed activity out on the airfield's facilities. FIDO, the fog dispersal system enjoyed the beginning of an upgrade. The somewhat primitive early version was replaced by FIDO "MkII"...This work remains evident today due to visible parallel lines either side of the main runway. Trenches were dug either side of the main runway into which pipes were laid with 'slot burners' placed at intervals. The top of the trench was covered in a thick mesh through which the flames would rise. According to Stuart's "The Wartime Years" the burners looked like giant safety pins standing on edge with jets in their upper surfaces. The new system pumped fuel through the underground pipework and into the burners where fuel was ignited in the lower section which developed enough heat to vaporise the fuel in the top pipe. This ignited and provided the flames necessary for safer fog dispersal. Far safer for aeroplanes than the previous system as most of the system was housed underground, no doubt where it rests to this day? The tough job coming from this being the task of 'pricking out' the burners as they clogged due to the leaded fuel being used. A long filthy and arduous job, but at least the FIDO crews did not have to light the system by hand any longer.
The early sixties required hand lighting of goose neck flares for our Wednesday evening night flying sessions.. Sadly all forms of lighting were destroyed after the Airport closed in 1960.
Night flying in the fifties.. The present..
Could not help noticing today's press reporting on Heathrow Airport's Terminal congestion due to shortages of Border Staff on duty. Terminal 5, a log jam of humanity, always a grim way to end a long haul flight, but in the socially distanced needs of this summer surely somewhat worrying for those ensnared in the Terminal trap? Evidence, if any were needed, that for shorter haul business flying the availability of turboprops and business jets whereby the person in a hurry can fly to their meetings from smaller airfields at a time to suit them avoiding the time wasting and congestion of major airports provides a very attractive alternative..Obviously, if two or more are travelling together the costs are also increasingly attractive.Blackbushe Airport, the doorway to faster, safer, healthier business travel!No crowds, no queues, no packed Terminal, the business jet and Blackbushe make perfect partners..The future..Who knows? A "new" Blackbushe some day if bureaucratic powers would only allow..maybe the future will see a revolution in greener and even quieter flying 'machines'. Pilotless drone like transport to whisk you away to a city centre quadport from the convenient flight centre at Blackbushe? Who knows? But, it's certain the future will always bring change.Whatever lies ahead, POTD wishes you a pleasant day...
PB
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Post by PB on Aug 4, 2020 6:07:38 GMT
"Photo of the Day" 04/08/20If you have not seen Chris's "Airport Manager's July Report" may I suggest you click this link to it.. blackbusheairport.proboards.com/post/14124
Yesterday's "POTD" put some emphasis on the benefits of Blackbushe for business flying, the 'spider chart' in Chris's July report indicates those benefits are being enjoyed, long may they increasingly do so!
The skies have happily been somewhat busier within Farnborough's new airspace over the past month compared to the silence of lockdown skies. Light aeroplanes observed 'in transit', and more of the once familiar vapour trails heading toward MID and Iberian destinations although perhaps short lived? Not too often does the airspace over home provide an aviation spectacle nowadays, but last evening it did! A mass formation all with their squawks turned up, an absolute quackcophany of Canada geese heading north roughly following the Basingstoke Canal... The formation covered an extensive area with one vast major 'vee' wing plus associated sub formations zig zagging as if they'd overdone the berries in the feeding grounds.. With a glorious evening backdrop of maturing vapor trails an amazing photo opportunity flew by, I'll be waiting this evening so they'll probably not show up. The squadron did fly back south just now, around 05.30 stillmaking one heck of a din, the numbers are far greater than previous years at this time when these creatures make their patrols to/from their overnight resting place.
Another local observation yesterday. Traffic levels on the roads are getting busier but passing Winchfield Station whose car park on a Monday would once have been full to bursting was all but empty. Normal times these are not.What is normal? Views like this were quite 'normal' during the Douglas Arnold era..The apron's 'normal' in somewhat more recent times....or late 1960's 'normal'....or tread fading memories, and the Blackbushe apron 'normal' takes on an altogether different look..POTD back tomorrow 'as normal'..
PB
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Post by PB on Aug 5, 2020 6:02:39 GMT
"Photo of the Day" 05/08/20The Duchess is back.
She flew home yesterday...Well established resident Beech Duchess G-GPAT returned home to Blackbushe having undergone a transformation reappearing as G-DANL. No prize guessing who the owner is...An immaculate transformation and very in keeping with other aircraft in the Blackbushe Flying Group's fleet as they take on new and refreshing colour schemes...Thanks to Neil Randell for the photo.If we step back again in our tracing post D-Day life at Blackbushe, on this day 5th August, 1944, the pressure was very much on the home based squadrons. Le Mans received attention from 88 and 342 Squadrons as they attacked targets in the area. Railways and troops concealed in woods were attacked with heavy flak awaiting on the flight home. On the same day they were once again in action for a night attack on targets in the Angers, Tours, La Fleche areas, troops again being the objective. Heavy flak again awaited, this time in the Bernay area. As 88 and 342 Squadrons were engaged in these attacks, 226 were attacking a railway yard near Verneuil. There is no question as to the value of the work carried out by the Blackbushe squadrons and the suppression of German troops and equipment movements that followed.They came in peace... the peacetime B-25 resident at Blackbushe in the second half of the 1970's.. They were fabulous to fly in, but every time I looked at these wonderful old girls it was hard to comprehend that young crews flew from these same runways laden with bombs, ammunition and, of course, high hopes of coming back again...
PB
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Post by PB on Aug 6, 2020 7:22:25 GMT
"Photo of the Day" 06/08/20In troubled times, as indeed they are at the moment, it's worth just closing your eyes now and again while drifting back to when life was perhaps a little less uncertain? Such a drift happened a few moments ago amid the POTD grey cell. Pondering as to which way POTD would be directed this morning the editorial neurons shuddered to a halt in the 1980's... No doubt eyes that scan these words later this morning will perhaps have been push chair propelled at the time or perhaps still due to arrive on planet Earth at a future time? Otherwise, we're all that bit older..
Back in 1987 when Blackbushe was owned 100% by British Car Auctions somebody (guess who?) suggested to the Airport Management that an "event" was long overdue. Maybe that person just wanted to see a few more aeroplanes alight on the aerodrome, but the thought was wrapped up in the idea of a "pilots' weekend" whereby food, fun and flying would merge into an event with valuable prizes awaiting, prizes presented by a 'celebrity' prize giver... In 1987 we ran the first "Great Blackbushe Aviator's Weekend" sponsored by British Car Auctions and staffed by our ever reliable priceless volunteers!. A new venture! The idea was well received, the weather was good, lots of happy competitors, food in abundance, closing with prizes presented by H.R.H. Prince Michael of Kent.Final score board and prizes, 1987..When you do something you enjoy it's always nice to do it again? Well, in 1988 we did it again!Pilots' marquee..Our wonderful 'crew' who manned (wrong word) the catering operation, a flying suited and now the late Charles Church ready for refreshment. Charles was a great supporter of our events, his Spitfire and Mustang aircraft no strangers either! The high speed Richard Noble presented prizes at the conclusion of our second and - so far - most recent "Great Blackbushe Aviators' Weekends"...As always, such events are dependent on dedicated team work. British Car Auctions who kindly sponsored both our GBAW's were much more 'air minded' back then and it was with great thanks to Stuart Marshal who was Airport Manager at the time for his dedicated bonding of BCA to our plans for staging unusual events that would bring positive focus on Blackbushe during the years the airfield faced a continual uphill climb for her survival. 2020. Extraordinarily Blackbushe remains forced to climb that same hill!
The Government today announce a new approach toward the "automatic" approval of housing development schemes. Happily Blackbushe Airport is NOT included in the airfields already under threat of becoming a housing development, but how nice if the last six decades of bureaucratic fumbling could be resolved by a dictate insisting her few precious acres are at last given the green light to blossom into the General Aviation mecca many of us dream of?
PB
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