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Post by PB on Aug 17, 2020 6:21:54 GMT
"Photo of the Day" 17/08/20Another Monday successfully arrived at ..the time machine continues its relentless march through six decades of "hope" for Blackbushe and eventual fulfillment of those hopes, but who knows how much longer the march will have to continue? The County Council and Covid 19 have conspired to leave us in the legal doldrums, however, Blackbushe continues to do as well or better than expected of late despite the handicaps.
One or two random memories to start the day..Long time Blackbushe resident Prince of Stewart Smith & co about to be towed across the A30 from Blackbushe 'north' to 'south'....G-AJAW, Silver City Lockheed Lodestar and Turkish Air Force Mk9 Spitfire, PL260, June 1947. May 1949. Sea Otter, XY-ABT, ex G-AJFV of Britavia, ready to move to Burma. Long way from Blackbushe in a Sea Otter.Modern times. Well, 1970's and the Doug Arnold era as Warbirds of Great Britain's Lysander takes the air. Seen at Blackbushe's west end while we had some hangars, now totally taken over by the BCA monster.Blackbushe has experienced quite some variety in her years..an unsalable fact. POTD certainly enjoys blowing cobwebs off the past during our daily rummage through what was, what is, and what could be...
PB
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Post by PB on Aug 18, 2020 10:22:39 GMT
"Photo of the Day" 18/08/20The Spitfire and Blackbushe... Long associated, both with their battles to fight.Today is August 18th....80 years later after what history now calls, "The Hardest Day".
On this day in 1940 Spitfires and Hurricanes of the Royal Air Force engaged in what is known as "The Hardest Day". Blackbushe Airport, or RAF Hartford Bridge as originally known, did not exist at the time it was just an area of scrub, gorse, and birch trees much as the council controlled open spaces surrounding the airfield are today.
However, history is worth repeating in so far as this day in 1940 is concerned, it would go down in history as the hardest day.. Alfred Price's book, "The Hardest Day" is reported to be the finest written on the era. Appropriate consideration from 'Wiki' states.."On that day, the Luftwaffe made an all-out effort to destroy RAF Fighter Command. The air battles that took place on that day were amongst the largest aerial engagements in history to that time. Both sides suffered heavy losses. In the air, the British shot down twice as many Luftwaffe aircraft as they lost. However, many RAF aircraft were destroyed on the ground, equalising the total losses of both sides. Further large and costly aerial battles took place after 18 August, but both sides lost more aircraft combined on this day than at any other point during the campaign, including 15 September, the Battle of Britain Day, generally considered the climax of the fighting. For this reason, 18 August 1940 became known as "the Hardest Day" in Britain".
As we hopefully remember our nation's valiant endeavour to defeat an evil human contagion 80 years ago it's sad to reflect in 2020 how we appear incapable of dealing with rubber dinghies laden with today's uninvited guests....
PB
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Post by PB on Aug 19, 2020 6:48:08 GMT
"Photo of the Day 19/08/20
Sadly one or two issues this morning that preclude "Photo of the Day" and its usual early morning departure. Sorry, no refunds but you're free to look back over the past few years of Blackbusheness..
Have a nice day, hopefully back tomorrow!
PB
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Post by PB on Aug 20, 2020 9:04:00 GMT
"Photo of the Day" 20/08/20Time rolls on through this somewhat unusual year..Health, work, peace of mind, family, all taking their share of the action when stranger times are rarely as strange as of now? British justice continues to be done. The Blackbushe case over de-registering a small piece of Common that has been used as an airfield for the best part of 80 years drags on. The Covid pandemic has seemingly placed a hold on legal proceedings until next year? The definition and application of a word, 'curtilage' risking the future of the airfield, its staff, further employment, and enhanced support of the local economy. It's not our job to speculate on how long the airfield can be sustained under the present circumstances barred from making those vital upgrades that would make it a truly viable proposition, but there must be a limit? How tragic if the past six decades of hope for a new Blackbushe built on the bones of the old one were to end in abject disaster and ancient rights are allowed to win the day in the 21st Century..
It's tempting to write pages on current injustices, but one must stay on track...Perhaps a drift back to 2017 and the Airport's 75th Anniversary to settle the nerves, although one's nerves were far from settled at the time. A 'ghost' from the past..a genuine 16 Squadron PR Spitfire arrives at the Squadrons wartime Blackbushe base. This actual Spitfire served with 16 Sqn but not until they'd moved into Europe and departed their Blackbushe home.Our faithful Hurricane, familiar with Blackbushe having attended the Blackbushe Air Day in 2016 too!Will Greenwood's mighty Yak 3 adds new colour to the proceedings!The familiar words "US NAVY" returned to Blackbushe, another fleeting recall of days gone by.PB
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Post by PB on Aug 21, 2020 6:51:34 GMT
"Photo of the Day" 21/08/20Last night very strong wind gusts hurled themselves across the south, hammering with considerable gusto in the wee small hours, directing sleepless thoughts to the many light aeroplanes forced to endure the elements at aerodromes where bureaucrats and anachronistic laws require such machines to suffer the consequences of no protective hangarage. I think all who read that sentence will know the aerodrome in mind?A sad reminder of what results when Mother Nature teams up with local government bodies...Sometimes ropes and concrete blocks are not enough to match the wind that exudes from six decades of bureaucratic depressions.Some members have pointed their fingers at me with accusations of being negative reporting events such as the above.. They may be right, but you cannot argue with the evidence or the facts.
PB
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Post by PB on Aug 22, 2020 11:09:57 GMT
"Photo of the Day" 22/08/20
POTD delayed service ....After much frustration able to add some vision to the day...Sometime during the great "Lockdown of 2020" 'Photo of the Day' suggested that Covid 19 could actually deal a good hand for General Aviation operators of business jets and business aircraft such as the Beech King Air family. The airlines going into meltdown or hibernation while major airports were deemed a dangerous place for all who feared the consequences of the virus potentially provided a path of opportunity for those operators willing to grasp it? POTD had a feeling that business would still need to be done and such business would still require a means of getting to it without the vanished short haul scheduled carrier services such as provided by sadly missed FlyBe. The business aeroplane could provide an economic alternative by saving time, operating from quieter airfields at a time to suit the customer, and perhaps cutting out the expense of hotel nights away where airline schedules failed to produce convenient 'same day' opportunities..POTD notes that today's Daily Mail carries an article more akin to the holiday seekers' needs, but surely highlights an area whereby the advantages of the business aeroplane have a chance to take more or the headlines and build new markets while the goose continues to offer golden eggs for operators willing to find them? No need to fight through major airports, endure hours on the train, or waste time in unnecessary hotel nights. Airports such as Blackbushe combined with fast modern passenger aircraft hold realistic solutions?
PB
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Post by PB on Aug 23, 2020 9:21:29 GMT
"Photo of the Day" 23/08/20From the office window the trees appear to have stopped their whirling dervish impressions courtesy of recent squeezed up isobars, in fact for a Sunday it's not looking too bad at all...Perhaps a feeling of early autumnal chill in the air? The forthcoming winter should be interesting if Covid-19 lives up to its expectations, at least we've the Presidential election coverage to look forward to for light relief. That is, of course, providing the asteroid heading toward us predicted to have a 0.41% chance of hitting the planet three days before the US elections manages to miss the White House.. According to NASA asteroid 2018VPI is only 6.5 feet in diameter so shouldn't be too life changing in the unlikely event...Meanwhile, one can always lie back and think of Blackbushe. The seventies scene with just some of the numerous home based twin air taxi aircraft that were popular at the time. Blackbushe based IDS Fanjets Citation pointing toward the future at one end while closer to the camera a Warbirds of Great Britain's CASA 'Heinkel 111s' points toward the past.Ahh, the Boys from Blackbushe. 1963 with Three Counties Tri-Pacer G-APXP offering a wing. Those were blissfully happy days, carefree, a lot of time in the air, great social life around Three Counties, the airfield still looked a bit as if it had recently been recently demolished, but we had all three runways and local airspace so much more free than that of today. From the left the photo shows the late Reg Venning, owner of Taylorcraft G-AHUG, Mike Tunnicliffe with whom some of us had just been to France in PXP, your scribe who had obviously found something more attractive than the camera operative (Gordon Wilmer)to look at,( I wonder who she was?), then always good for a laugh Terry Jones, and far right the late Jack Smith. With Reg and Jack I could relate numerous tales of excitement in the skies, but not today. Wearing a tie was still kind of 'the thing' back then! Much water has passed under the bridge since those days, many faces have been taken from us but they will always be days of golden memories so long as I'm able to hold onto them.. Poor old Blackbushe STILL fights on despite the efforts of 'other parties' who will not let go of their wish to convert it to waste land..Currently in the process of clearing out 'stuff' at home, the build up of many years of mainly aviation related material that is not necessarily appreciated by all who live under this roof.. Blackbushe Aero Club news letters (the original Blackbushe Aero Club) dated from 1962 brought back floods of memories, also many faces now sadly absent.
Putting together a note of the dates I've been lucky enough to do this and that for the airfield since 1960, I find records of a life of aviation fun significantly underlined by frustration. Up until May 1960 my Blackbushe connection had been purely on the road side or in the main car park just breathing in pure Blackbushe Airport. The exception being a day in 1958 when I was given a tour of the Airport by the Head of Air Traffic, a Mr Eccles, in one of the Airport's black and yellow support vehicles. Through the maze of airliners and other types, around all the taxiways, around the hangars, and finally a tour of the Tower and the magnificent view from the fairly new Visual Control Room from whence Blackbushe in all her vast grandeur could be seen.. I was twelve years old, but some things left an impression that would remain for life. The death of my Mum around the time was another of those things.
In 1961 I met AVM Bennett who by then owned Blackbushe. I was riding my bike down the disused main runway wallowing in memories of previous users of this same strip of tarmac when the AVM zoomed up in his dark blue Fairthorpe sports car asking me to watch out for possible aeroplanes. My association with Blackbushe had just been launched.... I attended meetings at nearby Blackwater's Hawley Hotel (now demolished and a housing development)where the bones of the original Blackbushe Aero Club were conceived. I became a founder member of the Club, and soon found myself on the Flying Club Committee albeit quite the junior member.
The temptation of Blackbushe combined with my deep emotional pull toward her was too much, I joined the Blackbushe team!. Much hope existed for the early development of the AVM's General Aviation 'nerve centre' concept. The consequences of giving up a very good engineering apprenticeship at the Royal Aircraft Establishment to join the Blackbushe team fired by the prospects that my career would 'grow' with the fortunes of the proposed new airport will never be known... Well, the violent opposition by certain parties well connected amid local bureaucracy kind of sealed one's prospects plus those of the airfield, an opposition that would rule for 'at least sixty years' were outside my algorithm crystal ball capabilities. Sadly, after a couple of years working with the AVM and Airport Manager Bill Freeman I chose to move on to a more substantial career where wings would continue to happily play an ongoing part.. however, the long standing relationship with Blackbushe has remained as close as ever throughout the years.
A few more 'moments' found their way into the life log-book. Letters to local and national press outlets were an ongoing activity, something ongoing as felt necessary! Looking back on the sixties a lot of spare time at Three Counties Aero Club, washing the canvas covered Auster fleet on a Saturday morning in exchange for free flying lessons, attending events to promote the Club, and having a hand in the Club air show sometime during the sixties. When Doug Arnold took over the Airport ownership the new Blackbushe Airport Users@ Association was formed and for some reason I became their Public Relations Officer. Designed the BAUA logo in my Dubai hotel room, a light aeroplane superimposed against a three runways stylised plan view. The |BAUA lead to an opportunity to be creative and run some air events on the basis of 'raising money to support Arnold's legal battles with bureaucracy'. A noble cause..My chance to put together something I'd wanted to do for some time - an air show. A short lead time but in 1976 the first Blackbushe Air Festival took off, with the second far larger event taking place in 1977. DC-8,747, B17 etc etc!
During the eighties and the British Car Auctions era the Airport agreed to another plan. "Aviators' Weekends". Two of these took place, two days each, competitions, great food, social evening, valuable prizes and celebrity prize givers.. As always, hard work, but worth it..
1992 and we're at it again. Blackbushe was Fifty and no way was she going to miss out on a party. Social weekend, shortish air show mainly by folk who agreed fly and do their bit for 'love' - as it were. We dedicated a memorial plaque donated by John Varndell in memory of the airfield's lost aircrews, a very moving moment as Spitfire and Mustang sang their magnificent duet exactly on que.
Other stuff. Several Farnborough Weeks spent looking after visiting aircraft parking etc during the 1970's and 80's. 1995, moved "my" the Army Dakota, G-BVOL to Blackbushe for a summer of bashing round the air show scene in an effort to raise money to keep her flying. It was wonderful ending weekends away by bringing her back to Blackbushe..Great fun selling her to show organisers and enjoying more air shows than I had ever done before!! 2013 created the "Airlines of Blackbushe Airport" sign that today stands adjacent to the Terminal, produced by Mike Biddulph's company and officially unveiled by none other than Harold Bamberg, Founder and Chairman of Blackbushe's largest resident airline, Eagle Airways. 2015 launched the Blackbushe Forum, this was bit before social media took off as it has today, but POTD has to date had almost 371,000 visits so not doing too badly. Initiated the Air Day plan, an event executed in 2016 to raise money for Aerobility and bring the public closer to aeroplanes and their pilots. Our fabulous volunteers were magnificent as always!! Made a good result for Aerobility and further credibiity between Blackbushe and the local population. 2017 we attacked the Blackbushe 75th backed by the Airport owner. Beset with problems that I will never go into, I still bear the nervous scars, but an event that again put Blackbushe in a positive spotlight although if my plans had been allowed to reach fruition it would have been a lot more 'dynamic'. Once more the priceless volunteer force did us more than proud, no words can provide the necessary praise.... Of more recent years, had the pleasure of recruiting visiting aircraft for Aerobility's "Picnic by the Planes" 2018 and 19. In 2019, spoke on behalf of Blackbushe during the April Planning Inquiry and last year attended the most recent legal event, the Judicial Review involving two days at the High Court. Then, along came Covid...
It's been a busy life fitting it around Blackbushe, but I can't imagine life without the aerodrome on the Hartford Bridge plateau that has given me so much. Hopefully more to come?
PB
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Post by PB on Aug 24, 2020 5:22:09 GMT
"Photo of the Day" 24/08/20Earlier issues overcome for now.. Reg Venning lands on runway 01 during a very early 'flying day' probably winter of 1961/62. We were allowed to fly for just 28 days per year at the beginning of the AVM's ownership, graciously allowed by the governing bureaucracy! At least all the runways were in use.. Such days were pure magic to the 15 year old lad who took the photo from the AVM's Land Rover stationed adjacent to the duty runway for Aldis signal guidance.. "OXO"...long term Blackbushe resident. Flew in her once I recall..elevator control went sloppy causing a significant phugoidal return to the airfield. Arrived at the right stage of the phugoid.Resident for a while, the quaint Edgar Percival EP9 used by the resident parachute club.Cherokee take over...Sorry POTD late today...technical issues yet again!
PB
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Post by PB on Aug 25, 2020 6:40:11 GMT
"Photo of the Day" 25/08/20A couple of weeks ago tropical England, today Storm Francis dampens the proceedings.Another wet day at Blackbushe.....and another...and yet another.PB
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Post by PB on Aug 26, 2020 6:07:20 GMT
"Photo of the Day" 26/08/20There comes a time when it's necessary to take stock of your possessions and perhaps clear out many years of accrual. Mountains of photos, boxes of colour slides, files, reports, press cuttings, all things that remind of 'the past' and mainly of Blackbushe.. Unfortunately I tend to attribute much sentimental value to too much, the process of throwing away years of past endeavours and memories is not an easy one.
Below are a couple of aerial photos that turned up last night. Blackbushe's western end during the Arnold era and before British Car Auctions totally flooded that end of the airfield with their used car business. The Arnold era. Various hangars, the dreaded Sunday Market with traffic coming and going...numerous coaches and a B-17 outside the furthest hangar then used as the warbird restoration heart of 'Warbirds of Great Britain'. A superb main runway, at the time still 08/26, and the very obvious disfigurement of the Airport's eastern end as a consequence of the Parish Council's airport amputation programme.No identity as to the date, but during the period when British Car Auctions had taken ownership of the key to the front gate...A now infamous car park has arisen in line with the main runway's western end, while the nearest of the two hangars visible has sprouted a taxiway to the main runway. Air Hanson or Premier Helicopters would still have been in residence, the last vestiges of aviation located on the airfield's western end. The Sunday Market would appear to be in full flow one again. Many changes have taken place on Blackbushe's once hallowed acres over the decades, sadly we still await the changes that will configure all of Blackbushe as a pukka General Aviation airport that is no longer hangarless and operating with one arm tied behind its back.. The current owners are doing all possible, but a world changing virus combined with snail's pace legal procedures means more of the same for some considerable time to come..I read yesterday that the legendary annual "Flying Legends" annual air show will no longer be taking place at IWM Duxford and a new airfield is looked for to home Europe's most outstanding warbird meet. Back in the 1970's when we put the Blackbushe Air Festival into the air the airfield might well have provided a suitable venue for Flying Legends. The entire northern side was immaculate cut grass, plenty of tarmac for parking aeroplanes and space for many cars too. CAP 403 and Air Display rules in our risk averse world have since come to dictate that Blackbushe is no longer viable for display flying, the concept of an event like Flying Legends at Blackbushe tickles the imagination, but that'll be as far as it goes. The north side has since become akin to Blackbushe 'east' as burgeoning forestation takes the upper hand.
Better get back to clearing out years of memories, and frustrated hopes..
PB
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