PHOTO of the DAY...

[PB]

"Photo of the Day"
20/02/21

Saturday morning, 06.00, the restless cerebral clockwork decided to wind itself up yet again at an uncivilised hour. Eventually you give in and end up sitting in front of a keyboard questioning life's many aspects.. Saturday, come to think of it Sunday too, back in the sixties and seventies would have been devoted to matters Blackbushe. Ensnared in the airfield's mystic forces since no more than knee high to a grasshopper (strange form of measurement) the lure of aeroplanes, the flying club, the amazing fellow Blackbushers, and the pure clean air of Hartford Bridge Flats were totally irresistible. Throw in some flying, weekends away across the Channel, and the collective wish one and all shared that someday we would see Blackbushe arise once more into a new and well equipped General Aviation complex and you the had the formula for weekends that were hard to better.

Whether Blackbushe has been good for me, or not, who knows but she has given endless pleasure tempered with equal servings of frustration. The years are rolling by, you realise time is not an endless gift, but it's certainly given quite a bit to look back on with various events one has had a degree of involvement in... A strong ache bubbles to do more, but for now it's necessary to bide one's time.. This weekend is unlike almost all the others where Blackbushe is concerned, next week she goes to the Court of Appeal! Could THIS be the big break releasing decades of pent up dreams whereby the airfield will be able to roll back the curtains on sixty years of bureaucratic activity that have sat firmly across the paths of opportunity?

Next month it will be 59 years since I climbed aboard the Blackbushe Aero Club's Piper Colt and taken into the grey English skies for the first time. Hard to forget my heart thumping with anticipation as we took the long taxi down to the 08 hold, or 'the moment' as Blackbushe at last slipped beneath - I was flying - it was true, it was magical!!

Now, if we take a stroll back in time and life at RAF Blackbushe in 1945, to this day in February... Operationally, 418 Squadron Mosquitos were in action seeking out targets in Holland, but on the ground things were exciting in a rather different way. Next day nearby Wellington College provided a party of Combinded Cadet Force members for a visit to this battle ready air base. They were provided with air experience flights to also sample the joys of flight. Some were taken up the DH Dominie for a rather sedate introduction to flying, but others had an altogether more dynamic introduction to flight - aboard the DH Mosquito!! Imagine...




One of the those early weekends. A Piper Comanche arrived for some demo flying, not sure if it was this one, but the shape was totally new, this sleek all metal retractable gear flying machine took your breath away compared to the stock Austers and the such like that prevailed in the early 1960's. I clearly recall the price tag..£11,000. Back then 11K was a lot of money!!




Another impressive bit of metalwork was RMJ who spent numerous weekends at Blackbushe with her intriguing invite "Hey, Look me Over!". Joe Tysko who had been Airwork's chief test pilot in Blackbushe's previous life as they started importing Cessnas to the UK lived in Yateley. He became Cessna's Area Manage based in Brussels but living close to Blackbushe he often came back with some exotic latest Cessna. Dear Joe was lost in an unexplained accident on approach to Bromma, Sweden, January, 1965.




Blackbushe "east"... The dividing line is plain to see whereby the Parish Council decided to destroy all that lay east of 'the line'. Looking down on the surviving airfield it's quite extraordinary how that small piece of Hampshire could have had such a prolific effect on the lives of many "Blackbushe people"... But, happily it did, and still does!!

Latest Covid news from Hart district.... Active cases 108, down 72 from last week. Some drop from around 1,000 a few weeks back!!

PB

[PB]

"Photo of the Day"
21/02/21

Is THIS the decisive week for Blackbushe, is THIS the week Boris's "Road Map" unfurls revealing the route to old times, or somewhere close enough? A pleasant enough +9C at 06.00 this Sunday morning is an acceptable start to the proceedings... It would be delightful if we could stop off somewhere normal but the journey will no doubt continue to be somewhat tiring. Of course, proceedings starting on Tuesday at the Court of Appeal could result in Blackbushe Airport moving a long way from 'normal'.

Come the end of May this year somewhere over 22,000 days will have elapsed since Blackbushe was closed by the Government and subsequently partially acquired by private ownership. That's quite a few days to have spent seeing the airfield tormented and her prospects of becoming a real General Aviation centre torn apart and tossed around by bureaucracy fuelled by some influence that has driven them into a quest to elimate the Airport regardless of how much public money they squander in the process. Sixty years is a long time to be driven by the deepest hopes and visions of a re-established Blackbushe Airport, the question as to whether THIS is the week to bring those years to a close is a real nail biter for many of us, especially those who have sat out the entire 22,000 days of pure frustration. THIS could be a big week..

Glancing through time I note that today 21 FEB has a few aviation milestones to its credit..

1938. The Mile Monarch first flew..a delightful aeroplane of which only eleven were built. One of these was acquired by Rex Coates who performed a magnificent rebuild at Blackbushe during the AVM Bennett era. Assisted at times by your scribe it was a big step forward from the model aircraft construction of which I was very fond.




Rex's resplendent Monarch at the end of her lengthy Blackbushe restoration..



1945. The magnificent and mighty Hawker Sea Fury first felt the air beneath her wings on this day in '45.



The Sea Fury became a familiar sight at Blackbushe during Warbirds of Great Britain's tenancy in the 70's




Lt Cmdr Pete Shepherd about to launch the Fleet Air Historic Flight's Sea Fury at the 1977 Blackbushe Air Festival..Pete could be relied upon for suitable friendly gestures!



1953. The Brantly B2 first flew on 21 February. Again, a machine that had some Blackbushe connection. Eddie Greengrove set up a security company based at Blackbushe in 1963. Equipped with a fleet of Brantly B2 helicopters they were to provide aerial cover for high security ground transport. I guess you could say the idea never really got off the ground although I did get a ride in the one Brantly that lived at Blackbushe during this period. Noisy but fun. Frank Sinatra landed at Blackbushe in a Brantly chopper at some point whereby he described Blackbushe as a "Real quaint 'lil airfield"...


1979. No connection with Blackbushe but of note. Astronaut Neil Armstrong climbed to 50,000ft from Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, in just over twelve minutes aboard a Learjet Longhorn 28 breaking numerous world records for business jets on the way...


1995. Again not Blackbushe related, but of note, Steve Fossett landed in Leader, Saskatchewan, Canada, after taking off from South Korea! He thus became the first person to make a solo flight across the Pacific Ocean in a balloon.


With that I'll wish you an enjoyable week as we await the outcomes of what it has in store...........and a footnote regarding Covid in the Hart district. We're now down to 88 active cases, down 71 from last week and 1,000 a few weeks back. Good news to start the week!!!!!!!!!

PB

[PB]

"Photo of the Day"
22/02/21


IS THIS the week when the portal opens? Portal may be a bit of a science fiction term but were there such a fantastic opening in space and/or time now might be a good time to take it? This evening Supreme Commander Boris will reveal to the nation how his portal into the world we used to know as "normal" will open and what we might expect to see 'on the other side'....

THIS IS the week for portals to open or at least be prised open! As if the Borisvision of "normal" was not sufficient, the very next day Blackbushe Airport returns to the highest echelons of the Judiciary via the Court of Appeal to appeal against Hampshire County Council's win in the High Court last year overturning the Planning Inspectorate's decision to permit the requested de-registration of Blackbushe Airport's use of what is defined as Common Land. The Blackbushe 'portal' whose opening would reveal the new airfield and the most logical and practical use of her acres has witnessed six decades of effort to see what lie beyond...... Tomorrow sees the start of another finely tuned effort to open the path to Blackbushe's future, sadly this continued campaign of opposition by Hampshire County Council continues to bleed huge sums of money from the pockets of Hampshire's tax payers.

If there is one thing that our Forum enjoys it's input from her Members and their considerations regarding Blackbushe Airport other than those of the daily POTD scriptures. Yesterday, under the "Blackbushe Airport News" section our dear friend 'Rocky14' posted his summing up of the current situation regarding Hampshire County Council and the legal scenario. He says...

"The first post on this thread was 25 August 2017. The same issue is back in the Strand next Tuesday. "The wheels of justice turn slowly, but grind exceedingly fine..." is true to a point but, in EGLK's case, the grind is increasingly coarse! Recent use of the word 'kerfuffle', in relation to a disturbing event abroad, could, more accurately, be attributed to the furore occasioned by EGLK's application to deregister 114.87 acres of common land, the granting of which would be to the benefit of all parties involved in the litigation. The benefactors, in financial terms, have no interest, other than professional, in the application. All parties are suffering, HCC is bleeding ratepayers hard earned money!

Very best wishes for a successful outcome for EGLK this week".


Sincere thanks 'Rocky14', your summing up is spot on!!




Here we have the brutal facts. To the left the conclusion Hampshire County, Open Spaces and a Yateley resident seek, a waste land, overgrown, neglected, pointless. To the right a future to the benefit of 'all parties' serving the needs of not only the country's aviation infrastructure but business travellers, the local economy and the essential need to continue pilot training - it's where tomorrow's professional pilots gain their wings. Sadly the entire Blackbushe process hangs on the balances of law and complex interpretation of a legal situation.

We must assume that if Blackbushe Airport lose their case over the re-purposing of Common Land British Car Auctions who occupy a large area of the airfield's Common Land will have no option than other to remove their operation from the acres they have occupied without legal assent? The hangars are not in question, but the huge car park that has become of the "Sunday Market" must warrant the beady eye of those who wish ill of the Airport operation?

What's your point of view???

PB

[PB]

"Photo of the Day"
23/02/21

Today marks another chapter in the six decade long Blackbushe story, today being the first of two days in a remote Court of Appeal hearing brought about by the relentless efforts of parties who wish to remove aviation and replace it by extending the wilderness that has consumed the disused east County Council owned end of this once proud Airport. The hearing is not open to the public, but in due course you will be updated on its consequences..

Today may shine in the future history books of Blackbushe, but today we can but look back on history. Back to 1945 as we have done periodically on POTD.. Today would have seen a serious gloom spread across the airfield from the previous day's action. 22nd February, 1945, had witnessed the execution of "Operation Clarion" whereby 7000 allied aircraft participated in attacks on transport targets throughout Holland and North West Germany as far away as Hanover and Hamburg. 136 Wing flew flew 39 sorties dropping 56 x 500lb bombs on barges, buildings, transport and military installations. A tragic day for the Wing, no less than eight of their Mosquitos failed to return. Wing Commander Witchett Commander of 418 Squadron was one whose aircraft went down. He and his navigator became PoWs. This was the first daylight raid 418 Squadron had been on, all previous had been by night. At 1115 thirteen Mosquitos took off from RAF Blackbushe crossing the North Sea at low level in echelon formation. Wing tanks were jettisoned before making landfall.. At a designated point each aircraft broke formation to bomb their own designated targets. In addition to the sad loss of aircraft and their crews a number of aircraft were damaged when homeward bound flying low over flooded Holland. The ducks they hit came off worst..

Today, 23 February, 1945, Sqn Ldr Annan took command of 418 Squadron amid sadness over the previous day. Morale took a further blow when yet another Mosquito failed to return. The crews who flew from Blackbushe throughout her wartime operations paid one hell of a price. We MUST NEVER forget them..........

Elsewhere on this day in 1945 the Luftwaffe sank an allied ship for the last time. The Liberty ship SS Henry Bacon was torpedoed in the Barents Sea.




Wings of Victory.. The Memorial Flight joined in celebrations to mark the opening of Aerobility's splendid hangar at Blackbushe back in 2015. We must hope beyond hope that the next two days bring about the victory and justice that Blackbushe Airport has sought for sixty years. Victory and Justice, maybe Blackbushe will celebrate her own "VJ Day" before too much longer?



PB

[PB]

"Photo of the Day"
24/02/21


Just another February day has dawned. A very pleasant +12C awaits those who have ventured forth so far, the nation champs at the bit waiting for Boris's green flag to drop and agree to life's return to somewhere near the land of 'Norm'.. For the lucky few today permits witness to Blackbushe Airport's second and final day under Court of Appeal Judges' scrutiny.

We hope that 23rd and 24th February, 2o21, will go down in history as days that made a difference to the fortunes of Blackbushe. No doubt they will, one way - or another. For now patience as to exactly what.

Elsewhere 24th February recalls some famous first flights. In 1935 this day witnessed the first flight of the He111, a shape that would become familiar at Blackbushe during the peacetime era of 'Warbirds of Great Britain'.. On this day in 1940 the powerful and robust Hawker Typhoon took to the sky for the first time while in reasonably peaceful 1956 another robust combat aeroplane first flew, the delta winged Gloster Javelin. The Javelin, the first aircraft in which your scribe was able to occupy the pilot's seat. Think I was 12/13, RAF Odiham wouldn't let me have a go, but what an amazing moment. The smell of a cockpit and all that stuff pilot's had to keep an eye on. Climbing up and over that great big scary port air intake was helped by those who would be flying it a few hours later.




The road to Blackbushe, 1930's style, from 1942 known as RAF Hartford Bridge, today the left hand side is what we know as Blackbushe Airport today, the right had side used to be Blackbushe 'south', today its just unused open land.




The 1950's road through Blackbushe Airport from an artist's point of view. Airliners crossing the road under tow was not at all unusual.




Departing the main Terminal area in the early 1950's and heading west..




1964. In transit. Snapped from the A30 aboard my Dad's MG1100 the forlorn Blackbushe Terminal stands alone, the sole survivor of the almost total devastation of what had been one of the UK's most valuable airports.




Great view of the A30 and its users when we were able to land on zero-one! Note the service road parallel to the fence, it was our route to reach the west end of the airfield without bumping into aeroplanes on the taxiway.




Straight as an arrow. The A30 was unique in being a major UK trunk road that disected a major UK airport. Once scheduled to become a dual carriageway in keeping with the roads development both east and west of Blackbushe it has remained a single carriageway. Examination indicates the scope the airfield provided for the 10,000 and 7,000ft runways once planned for the site.



What views will the A30's journey through Blackbushe Airport afford in the future? Today's forthcoming hours in the Court of Appeal will perhaps help fashion the answer, beyond that........?

PB

[PB]

"Photo of the Day"
25/02/21



Six am and back in the POTD chair.. The past two days having witnessed higher than usual patronage of the faithful seat whilst absorbing every second of remote proceedings at Blackbushe's Court of Appeal hearing. Twelve long months since the Judicial review in the High Court, and now further time awaiting the outcome of the latest legal encounter with Hampshire County Council and their associates withing the Open Spaces Society. POTD will not presume to give any form of prejudgement or opinions on the past two days except that the focus remained on aspects of curtilage and its relevance to Blackbushe's Terminal Building and associated land acreage. Consideration as to the Airport's relevance to aviation and its outstanding suitability relating to operational, environmental, and economic potential are not matters for concern in law so far as Common Land de-registration is concerned.

No date is set for publication of the Court's final decision, we must spend more time adding to the sixty years just spent doing very much the same! "Dare Mighty Things" are the words employed by NASA supporting their current extraordinary events on Mars, there is no doubt that back here on the good Earth Blackbushe Airport is employing very much the same quality under the guidance of her owners and Management. The Mars lander's title is "Perseverance", a fitting description of Blackbushe's decades of fighting for her rights to survive.




22,185 days have now passed since the Government closed Blackbushe Airport for commercial air transport and reduced all to rubble with the exception of the Terminal Building and the US Navy's hangar. The hangar suffered a fate similar to the rest of the Airport, only the Terminal survived by a technical miracle. The County Council currently financing their litigation and endeavours to crush Blackbushe destroyed two thirds of the precious Terminal while the local Parish Council of the time destroyed the east end of the Airport over which they then had claim.



The sad story is only too well known and obvious to those who frequent this old and precious airfield. It is not difficult to stand on its green acres and imagine two things. One is to play back from boyhood recall the transports of delight for whom Blackbushe was home, the hustle and bustle of a busy airport that was London's Blackbushe Airport until 31 May, 1960. The other is to imagine AVM Bennett, Doug Arnold, BCA and today's owners of Blackbushe and their collective dreams of the new Blackbushe and how the airfield would look today with hangars, permanent offices, aircraft engineering facilities, improved Terminal facilities and all aspects of a fully equipped airport. Many jobs and careers would have been fashioned around the Blackbushe enterprise, the local economy would have been receiving the benefits for decades!! Sadly, local bureaucracy insists on the perpetuated pain of blocking the Airport's pathway to success whilst similarly neglecting the pathways on the overgrown tangle we call Blackbushe 'east' which, of course, is owned by Hampshire County Council. Under today's ownership Blackbushe has the greatest hope of rising above the powers of local mysterious bureaucracy, we can but hope the past 48 hours will unlock that hope..

PB

[PB]

"Photo of the Day"
26/02/21


If it were possible to create a single image of the combined and extraordinary numbers and variety of aircraft that have occupied the skies of Blackbushe and nearby Farnborough from the beginning of 'aviation time' you'd need a reasonable sized canvas for its mind boggling content! Farnborough spans the bridge that leads from the earliest lighter than air days and this country's first heavier than air sustained flight, experimental flying and its air shows, Blackbushe the gamut of wartime operations fighters/bombers and, of course, the facility for the growth and mushrooming of post war civil independent air transport.

Such a vision came to me last night whilst reading "Wings on my Sleeve", the life story of Captain Eric "Winkle" Brown CBE DSC AFC RN. If you have not read his book you have not read the book by one of our most outstanding test pilots with probably more types in his logbook than anybody..487 to be exact. Much of his wartime test flying circulated around RAE Farnborough, one passage of which that caught my attention last night was regarding test flying the Tempest 5. "Speed course flying runs were usually done in the flat calm of evening at very low level along the straight fourteen mile stretch of railway track between Farnborough and Basingstoke". Whenever I use Fleet Station in the future there'll be new and extraordinary visions going through my mind!




The Sea Fury was one of "Winkle" Brown's test flying steeds back in 1945. The big Centaurus engine and its five blade aircscrew giving a severe swing to starboard with a rudder too small to safely counteract this effect. Something that had to be fixed! He describes the Sea Fury as a "splendid aircraft". We see Mike Stow's Sea Fury at the 1977 Blackbushe Air Festival.



On this day in 1945, RAF Blackbushe was still launching her aggressor sorties against enemy targets as the faithful Mosquitos went about their business. On 24th February, one of the days spent plugged into the Court of Appeal this week, but back in 1945 targets between the Maas and the Rhine were attacked, while today, 26th February, troop concentrations in the woods near Xanten were hit.

So much history has been written in the skies of northern Hampshire throughout the span of flight in this country. Blackbushe, of course, continues to write her history as the sixty year war rages ever onward in her bid for common sense..

PB

[PB]

"Photo of the Day"
27/02/21


At 02.30 this morning the world of northern Hampshire was engulfed in a ghostly pale light, the "Snow Moon" beaming down its reflected solar light through cloudless skies to a very still and silent world, a whiter shade of pale that I'm sure would have done nothing for one's complexion other than confirm suitability for a horror movie..!

February marches toward its end, although as one reaches ever more mature years the urge to wish time away should not be engaged too often perhaps, there is a strong leaning toward the next month or two passing. (a) comprehensive vaccination programme in the UK pretty much complete, (b) the Court of Appeal making public their considered judgement on this week's Blackbushe hearing...

Taking the time machine back to RAF Blackbushe in 1945. On this day and tomorrow a very busy February would be coming to a close. The resident squadrons giving their attention to targets at Meppel, Essen and in West Germany.. The words of F/O Brittain as recorded by Stuart Marshal in his account of wartime Blackbushe.. "My stay at Blackbushe was only three months. Even when I revisited the airfield in 1960 I was disoriented by the changes and could barely trace anything recognisable - except the pubs in Yateley and Hartley Wintney. Yateley was nearest our to our squadron's domestic area where two or three crews shared a nissen hut. The sole heating was a black 'backwoods' type stove in the centre and for which anything burnable, with reason, was scrounged that winter".

Testimony if there were such needed as to the blitzkreig destruction employed on poor old Blackbushe by the 1960's Government and subsequent bureaucracies of Yateley and Hampshire County.

I've added a couple more items within the Forum's "None Blackbushe" department. One looks at how happily light aircraft sales survived 2020, the other at a 'flying car' that has just received EASA certification.

blackbusheairport.proboards.com/post/15203

blackbusheairport.proboards.com/post/15204





It is with much sadness that Phoenix Helicopters have ceased operations and subsequently evacuated their Blackbushe premises. We had an excellent working relationaship when staging public events such as Air Days and the Airport's 75th celebrations. Very nice office space for someone...





Spring is coming, dining al fresco, and changes on the Blackbushe dining scene may be expected too!!




Days gone by..your scribe 'caught napping' adjacent to the Three Counties Aero Club who also appear to be taking a nap!




Days gone by.."Nanni Anne". G-AHNA the beautiful Proctor of the Paine family and the very last fixed wing aeroplane to take off from Blackbushe before the Govenment closed the doors on Blackbushe for ever. Never again would an aeroplane fly from the aerodrome on Hartford Bridge. Oh no? Here she is back on Blackbushe later in the sixties! "Nannie Anne" had been a long term Blackbushe resident happily living under the protection of Airwork's hangars that once lived on Blackbushe 'east'... She first flew into Blackbushe in 1949, living happily there until 31st May, 1960 when she was Blackbushe's very last movement.



Have a great weekend, stay safe, the virus has turned around in Hart and on a slight increase..

PB

[PB]

"Photo of the Day"
28/02/21

February has less than 24 hours to live. Another month of tragic consequences for so many families, let us hope beyond hope that we are on the route to overcoming the virus responsible. Your scribe passed a milestone birthday and happily has not yet yielded to the various consequences of gained years. The aerodrome known as Blackbushe has remained operational throughout albeit under some limitations but unlike various grass airfields in the south-east where relentless rain took its toll on their usability. We had snow, very low temperatures and also some high temperatures for February in England. The week just ended also witnessed Blackbushe in the Court of Appeal, the consequences of which hopefully will be revealed in March? Either the sixty year war will end and the Court will overrule Hampshire County Council's legal endeavours to spoil General Aviation's brightest potential or we'll perhaps endure more long months - another year - awaiting the next round?

Hampshire. despite the antics of its County Council, remains a delightful county in which to dwell.... Should you be considering a move within the County or moving into it perhaps POTD could suggest a possible location you may find suitable? Not too far from Blackbushe Airport, an excellent start, the dwelling known as Bramshill House is on the market for just £10 million. It does bring with it 92 acres of land... Mentioned in the Domesday Book it is one of England's finest heritages. However, being old it has acquired some live in guests, it's said to be the most haunted house in England. The estate was sold to Henry VIII while having also been home to King James and Charles I in the 17th Century... From 1960 it became the National Police College and the European Police College until it moved to Budapest in 2014. The Home Office sold the house and estate that year. It comes with Planning consent for restoration to its former glory with plans for a cinema, gym and wine cellar. It even comes with its own herd of fallow deer, so if you wish to move to the Blackbushe vicinity Bramshill may be offering just what you need?




Close to Bramshill, Blackbushe is used to well known celebrity movements.




Ol' Blue Eyes described the airfield as "Quaint"..





..and should you be considering buying property in the area, Blackbushe offers somewhere convenient to keep your private jet. The airfield might even be able to offer you a suitable choice of hangars at some point.



Meanwhile, it's farewell to February, hello to spring flowers, March hares, more daylight, and the ongoing march of millions of needles ready to inject hope into all. All except those who refuse a life saving shot and place the whole vaccination campaign and escape from lockdown- and us - at risk.. Within Hart district the known active Covid cases have reached 343, an increase of 255 over last week. Figures provided today by "C-19 by ZOE".

You could always join ZOE too, log your vaccine, help the NHS... covid.joinzoe.com. An excellent webinar on Wednesday, 3rd March at 1600 GMT subject "covid vaccines and the immune system" with Prof Ellis Barnes, University of Oxford, Dr Anna Goodman Guy's & St Thomas' Hospital and Prof Tim Spector, Kings College, London.

Mind how you go...

PB

[PB]

"Photo of the Day"
01/03/21


March. An inconclusive kind of month. Spring tempts us occasionally by turning up her temp gauge to "warm" while waving a few daffs in the breeze to make you feel summer must be on the approach, but bitter east winds are famed for spoiling the effect.. At Blackbushe we can but look forward to restrictions easing while scanning the horizon in hopes for news regarding the Court of Appeal's conclusions. No time scale, just got to continue the six decades of waiting, and hoping!

Turning the clocks back to 1945 once more, the beginning of March 1945 at RAF Blackbushe operations were busy and focused on enemy transport targets. As the enemy retreated further into Germany Blackbushe sorties lasted longer with airborne times recorded between 3hours 30 minutes to four hours 50 minutes. River barges, railway stock and railway lines. POTD tomorrow will recall some 'unusual' crew training bestowed upon 418 Squadron's crews..




1950. Peacetime operations at Blackbushe. PH-TBU, KLM DC-4 taking a breather having diverted from London Airport due to bad weather.




USAF T-33 Shooting Star. Date unknown, but reflects Blackbushe's varied traffic types in the fifties, especially during Farnborough Week..




Farnborough Week post closure. Back in the sixties, it was particularly rewarding to receive slightly heavier aeroplanes as this Skyvan confirms. In the background Yateley Parish Council having completed their job of destruction the old apron has started the decaying process leading toward the uncared for mess that has been growing ever since..



On another sombre note, there seemed to be a lot of road traffic passing my front gate over the weekend while numerous reports suggest an almost pre lockdown numbers of people 'out and about'. Let's hope that spring fever does not lead to bad things so far as Covid 19 is concerned. Today's figures from ZOE indicate a worrying 311 cases in the Hart district, up 220 from last week... We are not out of the woods just yet.

PB