PHOTO of the DAY...

[PB]

"Photo of the Day"
20/03/21



Greetings Blackbushe people, guess who over slept? Unforgivable but I guess it's the weekend. Days all seem the same, I remember didn't weekends offer something different to the rest of the week?

"Welcome to spring", it may be a tad just above freezing outside but the promise of warmer times and - maybe - a more free lifestyle? Maybe??? Happily from 29th March General Aviation returns to solo flight being permissible although with limitations, Blackbushe will again be open 0900 - 18.00 seven days a week..Nine days to go!! No earlier than 12th April flying training will resume in all categories.

The pandemic has had us all in its midst now for one whole year. "Photo of the Day" has happily emerged from this lonesome desk every single day of the disease, hopefully it's sparked some alternative to the daily world news and its tragic contents for you??

Rob Belcher has invested time in producing his 2021 listing of Blackbushe's resident aircraft, it's located here blackbusheairport.proboards.com/post/15352 in the Members' section. If you're not already a Member, now's a good time to sign up!! Rob's tenacity never ceases to amaze! The number of aircraft now based at Blackbushe Airport is quite staggering, despite the endless bureaucratic opposition that festers within certain councils of the region..or should it be certain regions of the councils?

Dear old Blackbushe, she fights on with no signs of weakening, quite the opposite. When the Forum was quite new I wrote a piece which turned out to be a potted history of Blackbushe in peacetime. If you'd care to take a look it's here.. blackbusheairport.proboards.com/post/1001

The past is always in the Forum's focus, as is this day in 1945. Things were changing!! 20th March, 1945.. RAF Lasham ceased to be a satellite of RAF Blackbushe and was handed over to RAF Odiham administration, while Blackbushe itself was handed over to 46 Group, Transport Command, on this day. Blackbushe's future air transport role was starting to materialise.

Work was rapidly put in hand to construct suitable facilities for the airfield's new transport role. Change was indicated by the arrival of the advanced working party of 167 Squadron personnel from RAF Holmsley South in Hampshire in preparation for the arrival of the Squadron with its Vickers Warwick aircraft..




..and now it's Spring 2021. Dare we hope for warm summer days and gatherings like the happy official opening of the Aerobility hangar?








The incredible work of this most extraordinary Blackbushe operator was plain to see..




The Royal Air Force Memorial Flight paid their own special tribute..




The joys of flight for all...Aerobility and Blackbushe Airport working together.




Dare one hope for the pleasure of inviting aviators to attend future "Picnic by the Planes" evenings? I don't know, the future still holds its intentions very much in reserve...



Have a great weekend now that spring has sprung!

PB

[PB]

"Photo of the Day"
21/03/21


Time is a strange creature, take the space time scenario where the three dimensions of space have time added as the fourth dimension..anyway, moving on, 2,241 days have now occurred since the first POTD streaked into the elements of time and space, while 22,209 days have elapsed since Blackbushe Airport was closed to flying for all time. Well, that was one theory that didn't work out!! Within a year 365 acres had been saved by one of aviation's most revered airmen Air Vice Marshal "Pathfinder" Bennett. The man who pioneered numerous long haul navigational achievements, founded the Royal Air Force's 'Pathfinder' units of World War Two that turned around Bomber Command's ability to strike the target with accuracy, a man who despised state run airline monopolies, formed his own airline, founded the Fairthorpe sports car company, produced the Fairtravel Linnet light aeroplane and purchased all he could of Blackbushe Airport. He, as many others did and still do, realised totally the potential that remained in Blackbushe's unique position to serve General Aviation.

AVM Bennett's move was life changing for the Airport and the many who would be linked to its progress over the coming decades. Where those years have gone is hard to say. The airfield has evolved very slowly over six decades to reach the state it is in today. Clean, well manicured with over seventy resident aircraft, AOPA Aerodrome of the Year in 2019, and fighting her fight to survive as relentlessly as ever. I guess to those of us who have had involvement with Blackbushe throughout the time since 1960 the years simply span into a period within which time has rather lost its meaning, it's just been Blackbushe time where the final destination seems eternally just out of reach..so far.

Talking time and achievements in aviation, it was on this day, 21st March, in 1928 that Charles Lindbergh was presented with the Medal of Honour for his headline grabbing achievement of the first trans-Atlantic flight. On his own too..




Time. 1942. In the beginning, just a short time before RAF Hartford Bridge would be officially declared 'open'..




Time. 1963, a Poll to be held in Yateley(then a small village community)regarding the airfield's future. My Blackbushe office where press cuttings were on display showing both sides of the Blackbushe argument, for or against..





Time. 1992, now we are 50, Blackbushe celebrated her half Century and old friends came back to join in..





Time. 2017, now we're 75!! Friends of days gone by came home..Dakota, Anson, Pembroke, Beech 18 etc. The Airport's biggest birthday party yet!



Time, 2021. Hampshire County Council chalk up another notch in their war against Blackbushe following last week's decision by the Court of Appeal. Some parties celebrate on social media joyful at people's livelihoods being threatened by the decision, and another blow to a great opportunity that would keep their open spaces open - as an airfield.

Right now time is having its say, 2021 Census Day today, although details will be kept under wraps for 100 years apparently.. Another meteorite has exploded into British airspace, again in the West Country when a couple of weeks back another cosmic visitor landed on a front drive in Cheltenham. Today we read of an Icelandic volcano who has blown his stack after an 800 year wait.

Whatever will happen next? Only time can tell, where would we be without it?

Blackbushe Airport has surely served her time, after almost eighty years of operations surely the time cannot be far away when she can offer shelter for some of her seventy plus flock of aeroplanes who suffer all the climate can throw at them because of bureaucracy wasting her time for the past 22,209 days...

Enjoy today, there's still time!!

PB

[PB]

"Photo of the Day"
22/03/21


March 2021. A seasonal chill airflow produces conditions common to the time of year, chilly with a grey blanket of cloud reluctant to let the sun shine through.. Looking backwards, it's so much easier than looking forwards nowadays, the weekend weather just gone minded me of weekends largely spent at Blackbushe in the early spring days of the 1960's. No aeroplanes back then, the new Blackbushe Aero Club had established in the ground floor office of the Terminals extreme western end affording great views of the generally empty apron. I was a schoolboy who had become enmeshed in the atmosphere of hope and anticipation that Blackbushe would soon be on her way to great things! AVM Bennett had secured ownership of most of the Airport, permission to build the General Aviation centre he visualised would be a straight forward formality...

As we know, it has not been quite so straight forward and almost 60 years later the anticipation remains in circulation.. But, those weekends from 1962 were quite amazing from the point of view of camaraderie amid the new Club membership and the main body of 'activists' who lead the show with enthusiasm and determination. School examinations would limit some of my time but nonetheless Blackbushe's latest form of addiction was ever harder to fight, the airfield having a pull that remains irresistible.. Attending Club founding meetings at the long defunct Hawley Hotel getting to know the Club's key players I found myself elected onto the Club's Committee and able to play some small part in developments and events at the airfield, fly-ins and the such like.




Occasionally an aeroplane from Fairoaks or White Waltham would drop in on a Sunday morning. Guaranteed a warm welcome and equally warm cup of tea our visitors showed much hope for Blackbushe's future. The Tri-Pacer of John Cooper was one of our more regular guests. You may recall the Cooper name and its attachment to the Mini and the Mini Cooper 'S'. He was a delightful guest and one we were always pleased to welcome back!



The strange thing about Blackbushe in the early 1960s was that where many young enthusiasts had gathered by the Terminal during the years prior to the Airport's closure in 1960 to observe the array of civil airlines and US Navy movements the apron was, of course, somewhere our feet would never tread... Yet, here we were, now able to wander across the famous tarmac at will.. Just the Terminal and rubble left behind. Just the memories of the most incredible variety of aircraft and airport life remained, all but extinguished across the wide open plain of Hartford Bridge..




USAF bases, such as Upper Heyford, produced the occasional visitor..




Kemps Aerial Surveys popped in for fuel with the one and only Desford, originally conceived as a test bed for prone pilot operations.. Proved not to be a good idea.




Robin Page-Blair provided entertainment on otherwise dull days with this device.. I'll never forget one afternoon when just north of the airfield he and his contraption developed a serious phugoid flight path, alarming for the two of us watching feet on the ground, more so for Robin! All was well, and there were NO houses north of the airfield then. Between Blackbushe and Yateley village there were primarily open green fields and very pleasant it was too. Since then an entire new community has changed the village outlook completely.




A busy Sunday at Blackbushe, 1962 style... the Tiger Club boys from Fairoaks brightened up the weekends from time to time....




The late and much missed Ken Gray. Club Secretary to the new Blackbushe Aero Club, a revered master from France Hill School in Camberley, ex Air Force, the coolest and most unflustered person you could wish to meet. Refuelling the Club's rented Piper Cub, no fuel at Blackbushe, bring your own... Ken was tragically lost in a car accident, a massive loss to his lovely family and all at Blackbushe.




..and all these years later, pandemic, lockdown, bureaucratic opposition to Blackbushe still as damaging as ever, but still she perseveres. Visitors still arrive on Sundays, but no longer are they the rare event of the early sixties, today business flights are a part of the Blackbushe scene as conveyed by this excellent photo by Neil Randell taken yesterday.. Turbo Piper Cheyenne. He was happy for me to borrow his photo, we'd always welcome more visitor photos from our Forum Members who regularly frequent the airfield...



Life goes on at Blackbushe, for some of us it is the most varied blend of memories you could wish for gathered over too many years. Question marks as to the future continue to dangle overhead, but nothing outshines the miracle that Blackbushe remains an essential cog in the UK's aerodrome mechanism having survived sixty years of blinkered opposition from a faceless bureaucracy. Wherefore art thou dear missing common sense?

PB

[PB]

"Photo of the Day"
23/03/21

23rd March, 1945....For those who were not available, or born, on that day but would have liked to note any unusual movements had they been free to do so, Handley Page Halifax NA631 arrived. She diverted to RAF Blackbushe due to becoming short of fuel. Such emergency arrivals were becoming becoming quite frequent, airfield ground and emergency crews being drilled into being capable of handling 'anything' that might arise.. A section of the Casualty Air Evacuation Unit (Canadian) arrived from Farnborough to undertake reception of casualties evacuated by air and who arrived at Blackbushe. The unit consisted of one officer and thirty other ranks.. In the coming days increasing numbers of transport aircraft would arrive reflecting the airfield's new role under Transport Command.




A shape that would become increasingly familiar at RAF Blackbushe in March, 1945...




"Welcome aboard".. passenger comfort afforded by the Warwick.



Yesterday afternoon produced blue skies, warm sunshine, birds singing seemingly pleased by the improved conditions and the prospect of Easter eggs, while all around buds are beginning to advance their annual swelling process. As your scribe ventured forth attending to the garden's post winter demands never before has nature's 'rebirth' felt so welcome! Even a few vapour trails crossed the skies with their silver white signature although I fear air transport's 'spring time' recovery is still tragically some way out of reach..

For those who have not yet read it, the Blackbushe "Spring update" is available on the Airport web site. This link should take you there.. read it! www.blackbusheairport.co.uk/news

Wishing you a pleasant day wherever your fortunes should lead..

PB

[PB]

"Photo of the Day"
24/03/21


Happily the tried and tested "POTD" continues to enjoy its regular 200 to 300 daily visitors, as always much appreciation from this end of the "POTD" production machinery for your dedication!

As advertised on the Blackbushe Airport website and on the Forum's POTD and 'Forthcoming events' pages, yesterday afternoon witnessed another Blackbushe Airport Consultative Committee meeting, this one being via virtually via MS Teams due to the ongoing pandemic and its reduction in human face to face interaction.

Chris, as ever, gave an excellent review of the Airport's situation, fortunes, 'complaints' and traffic movements. Considering how many local councillors and members of the controlling bureaucracy were invited to attend the actual number of Council representatives tuned in numbered less than the fingers on either of my hands. Considering the battle forged by Hampshire's legal battalions to keep Blackbushe on her knees the minimal attendance level was something of a mystery. Public attendance was also next to none, again strange considering the noise that certain local parties are known to make over airfield noise, or for that matter parties who are supportive of the Airport and wish to see her survive.

The Meeting was fairly brief, no members of the public expressed questions as was their opportunity. I had a couple of questions but held them for use elsewhere.

The two Lib Dem Hampshire Councillors who have long been associated with the fight to block the Airport's de-registration via the Public Inquiry in 2019, the High Court Hearing last year and the Court of Appeal just recently were somewhat low profile. One did not show up, the other announced he would not be standing for re-election come the May Polling Day... The apparent lack of apparent bureaucratic interest in the airfield seemed an odd partner with the massive and damning efforts of Hampshire County Council to bring Blackbushe to her knees in the land's Courts of Law?

Another moment of significance extracted from yesterday's meeting was one pertaining to the airfield's local relationship with the people of Yateley. Account was given as to two requests placed on social media by prospective new Yateley residents. They wished to know whether, or not, the airfield produced significant or disturbing noise. The responses made resulted in over a hundred replies to the effect that Blackbushe was of no concern and did not produce disturbing noise levels, I think it was two who replied that it did!! One of those being a regular habitual complainer.

Yesterday's meeting left one self questioning as to why Blackbushe is being so dogged when neither local bureaucracy or the local public made any efforts to raise their issues on the platform designed for them to do just that?

Moving on to a world where one can fly to one's heart's content, flight simulation. Home flight simulation has grown up to seriously high standards, none less than Microsoft's new FS2020 where the ability to simulate flight has become closer to reality than ever before. POTD recently referred to the new Blackbushe scenery now on the market and developed with the assistance of some local names well known on matters Blackbushe! FS2020 still has some teething problems to sort out and it will no doubt take a while before the FS devotees give it a 100% bill of approval, but I'm being a bit picky saying that because basically it is the most astounding product for anyone wishing to fly the world with the most incredible realism..





I'll leave you to escape into the realms of flight simulation and this very accurate rendition of Blackbushe. No landing fees either!

PB

[PB]

"Photo of the Day"
25/03/21

Yesterday's "POTD" provided a link to a recent add-on product to Microsoft's FS2020, the product being a an scenery item featuring Blackbushe Airport. Before we go one step further I must add that the surprise of seeing this video and my enthusiasm to bring it before your eyes sadly clouded me in confusion. There are now TWO Blackbushe products for the new Microsoft FS2020 flight simulation product. The one given in yesterday's POTD and the one produced by LN Designs by our good friend Chris. Chris's product is available here secure.simmarket.com/ln-design-eglk-blackbushe-airport-(raf-hartfordbridge)-msfs.phtml and is a more detailed version for which various Blackbushe sources provided photographs and data for its development. Further, Chris whose very hard work has produced Blackbushe in stunning detail is donating to Aerobility from sales of his Blackbushe product. I should have made that clear when adding the video of the Flightsim product yesterday..

Here's a review of the LN Design's product from Flightsim.com a website dedicated to all things flight simulation www.flightsim.com/vbfs/content.php?22265-EGLK-Blackbushe-Airport-By-LN-Design-Released-For-MSFS

Whilst another version of Blackbushe is available as you know from yesterday's "POTD" the more detailed product awaits you at Simmarket, and that's the one that we gave full support to during development and also donates to Aerobility from its sales... Hopefully that eliminates any confusion and guides our flight sim enthusiasts as to which way to turn when they go to buy Blackbushe...

Looking back in time as that's a little more clearly focused than the future I note that on this day in 1979 QANTAS retired its last Boeing 707. Named the 'pocket rocket' by QF crews it's quite shattering to rad how long has slipped by since the 707 graced our global skies. I recall various positioning flights on QANTAS years ago on the 707 which were always quite fun and enjoyable. With so many hours locked away in the bendy Boeing it's very dating to realise how today's generations will have never even seem a commercial 707 overhead.. The type never graced Blackbushe either.

The biggest Boeing products to land at Blackbushe would have been the double deck Stratocruisers on crew training with BOAC - no photos!! - and Pan Am full of passengers on weather diversion from London Airport.




If size matters, the Douglas Globemaster must retain the 'largest aaeroplane to land at Blackbushe' award! September, 1959.



..and that is enough from me today.

PB

[PB]

"Photo of the Day"
26/03/21

STOP PRESS... The very latest Flight Sim test is here out this morning, hot off the press you MUST check it out, the product that Blackbushe people contributed to with images and data..




A sign of the times, the similarity of days under lockdown, thought it was Saturday. Maybe the wind and rain suggested it must be, but my 21st Century time pieces suggest it is still only Friday. 6am and +9C OAT beyond the front door suggested it's a tad warmer out there?

Monitoring Southern news last night no decision reached on Southampton Airport's request to extend their runway by a miserly 160 meters. The fate of the Airport, 2000 staff, the future of regional airlines in the south resting on the deliberations of eight local councillors!! They'd been deliberating all day yesterday and by late no decision taken except for the TV news saying the Airport's situation was a 'climate emergency' the end of the world seemed to beckon if EGHI stuck a bit more on their runway to allow longer take off runs for heavier aeroplanes such as the A320. "Climate change", the words ring forth with no explanation as to what 160 meters would actually do to the world. I would suggest that the 24 hour transit of traffic along the M25 that runs past the runway's southern end 7 days per week has much more to answer for?

Another airfield of significant importance to the south's well being under threat of closure due to the deliberations of local bureaucracy. Something Blackbushe is all too well aware of!

As reported earlier, the Blackbushe Airport Consultative Committee met again this week. A link to the 'Minutes' follows this paragraph.. You will notice from the list of attendees that only two members of the public took time to attend, one of whom is writing today's "POTD". Considering the supposed concerns over the Airport's future from parties dependent on the Airport and both for and against Blackbushe's survival the almost total lack of public interest in the meeting is more than just a little surprising!! Here's a link to the Minutes. static1.squarespace.com/static/593e87342e69cf4a3e148bb4/t/605c622101304661167a8565/1616667172862/2021.03.23++Blackbushe+Consultative+Committee+Minutes.pdf





While the RAF may be about to lose lots of aeroplanes under the latest Government thinking, the nation's fleet of historic aeroplanes will soon be adding another Proctor to its fleet. Somewhere up country a long restoration project nears its conclusion. Wearing very apt colours it will descend on Blackbushe very early in its new flying career. Not for a while, but she will be coming..




The late and much missed Symon Biddulph. Symon stands upon G-AGTC his Blackbushe based Proctor back in the good old 1960's.. A strong genetic link runs betwixt this photo and the one above.




Army tactics. Back in the sixties various Army activities took place on the airfield, the airfield being considered as a new Army Air Corps base. Money said "No". Happily we maintain close links with the Army Historic Flight down at Middle Wallop.




Ahh..November Lima. Blackbushe Aero Club's only aeroplane back in the very early days. Kept at Southampton for hangarage during the week, she positioned to Blackbushe for the weekends. On 18th March, 1962, she took your scribe by the hand and took him into the sky for the first time.. That first moment as the world falls away from you you just know life will never be quite the same again. I must have been the school bore next day reliving events of the previous day.




Three Counties days. "Temporary Planning Permission" allowed the construction of our lock-up hangars giving snug accommodation for twelve aircraft. Three Counties occupied some of the spaces requiring much taxiing of aeroplanes from one end of the airfield to the other. No idea of how much taxiing time I logged on summer evenings. A Three Counties 150 and my much loved MG complete the scene! Today, of course, all traces of aviation removed, the site is now BCA's whereupon used cars and vans seek new owners under the auctioneer's gavel..



..and so the years roll on by!

PB

[PB]

"Photo of the Day"
27/03/21

The hour sweeps around to 06.00, a refreshing +2C and frozen condensation across the windscreen. It's spring so warmer times ahead, according to the Beeb last night a 'heat wave' is coming next week... Seemingly any significant weather changes nowadays have a degree of underlying alarm attached, as if the suggestion of a weather event that might well be expected at the time of year is in fact a manifestation of the green society's enthusiasm to proclaim 'climate change'? Maybe scribe's imagination attempting not to be steam rollered into hysteria. Looking at weather events over the past 100 years the climate has bashed us pretty hard for a long time, they're certainly not just a 21st Century 'thing'.. The drive toward a utopian all electric digitally controlled world might be a brave ideal, but ...no doubt the multi coloured Met Office weather warnings will continue to decorate our TV screens regardless of whether we're propelled by a tank full of fossil fuel or a battery full of electrons...

Covid continues its downward trajectory across the Hart district. This morning the ZOE C-19 report indicates 39 active cases, down 9 from last week. Also this morning the weekly update from Prof Tim Spector indicates that infections are now primarily affecting the under 50 age group, returning to school is showing increases in younger age groups, but the value of the vaccination programme is irrefutable.

So far as Blackbushe is concerned, just a couple more days and flying can start to resume some form of normality!! From Monday this will allow the safe restart of GA flying for non-professional purposes for solo pilots, or individuals flying with a member of their household or bubble. No earlier than 12 April flight training for all pilots, and flights with an instructor, can resume.

The Blackbushe Forum's "POTD" has delivered some form of message every day throughout the pandemic, when locked away in the padded cell for weeks on end what better way to keep the grey cell alive? Contemplating an airfield providing this kind of 'thought for the day' process is this Blackbushe devoted machinery unique to Blackbushe or have any other airfields found their own scriber with a bee in his bonnet? All airfields have some unique selling points, but I would suggest that Blackbushe has more unigue unique selling points than many due to her history, the wartime exploits, the fact that she became second to London Airport in civil airport status, and has endured a six decade battle with bureaucracy to get where she is today. From a photographic perspective Blackbushe opens a very wide screen! Hopefully POTD will be able to carry on a while longer..




Fighter boys and bomber boys. Wartime, the spirit of Blackbushe first reached out, from an aviation standpoint it's done so for almost eighty years now..




The 1950's. Blackbushe gave wings to this nation's independent civil aviation growth, becoming the birth place and home of numerous commercial airlines, fostered FIDO, and offered a weather alternate for London Airport on foggy days. The spirit of Blackbushe was undeniably tangible.




The spirit of Blackbushe was shared by her unique resident, the United States Navy. She provided the perfect base, close enough to London with a long runway and plenty of room...




Despite closure by the Government in 1960 and subsequent bureaucratic mayhem, the spirit of Blackbushe dusted itself down and resolutely took on all who wished to vanquish this great aviation asset and its proud history. This was Yateley Parish Council's attempt at airport annihilation..




1960, the Government tried to eliminate Blackbushe. They hadn't reckoned on her resilient spirit...




1970's and Hampshire County Council were still trying to wipe out the Airport and her undying spirit.. they're still trying in 2021.




Today Blackbushe flies on, her spirit and her runways hungry for aviation, hungry to provide General Aviation a new and fully equipped centre wherein the value and joy of flight may join hands with the spirit of Blackbushe and together soar for decades to come.

It just needs common sense. That's all....

PB

[PB]

"Photo of the Day"
28/03/21

A sure sign that summer's on its way, the mornings are darker! Judging by the athletic waving of the local tree population it's going to be pretty windy as well. Today, hopefully, is the last day of the chain and ball on private pilot's legs, from midnight tonight the chains will be cut and maybe a taste of how things used to be? 38 active cases of Covid in the Hart district this morning reported by the ZOE app...no doubt there will always be a trace but the vaccination programme is surely heading us toward the 'near normal'?

Today there's something on my mind, not just Blackbushe, although the overall sentiment still applies...

This data from Associated British Ports.. "The Port of Southampton supports 45,600 jobs and contributes £2.5 billion to the nation's economy every year. As the UK's number one export port, Southampton handles exports worth £40 billion annually, including £36 billion destined for markets outside the EU".

OK, a seaport of massive value to the United Kingdom and life and work in the south. Southampton, an area of prosperity and employment opportunity, famous the world over... a leading cruise ship terminal in addition to the freight that comes and goes from its docks. It's the 21st Century, aviation has shaped our world and will continue to do so, and yet eight councillors representing the Southampton area have, after weeks of inquiries and hours of deliberation, voted to reject the Airport's application to add 160m of runway giving aircraft of A320 size the opportunity to bring business to the Southampton area. Scrapped on grounds of noise and climate change!! A handful of flights to destinations offering more scope than of recent to destinations a little further away.. The Airport may close as a result. 2,000 jobs slung away, traded on the whim of local bureaucracy, the politically correct, one local council called it a 'climate emergency'. How much of the easily used word 'pollution' would come from a few extra flights each week by an A320 compared to the road traffic that skirts by on the M25 each and every day - all day? Or for that matter compared to the output of the nation's busiest sea port and the massive vessels that transit all the time? The BBC issued a report yesterday and now included in the Forum's consideration on matters Southampton. If you wish, it's available here with one deft click >>> blackbusheairport.proboards.com/post/15398





Here at Blackbushe we have another airfield of supreme potential for aviation and business travel, here again we have an airfield balanced on the scales of bureaucracy where the value of the asset is buried under bureaucracy, legal judgements pertaining to conditions that traced back would lead to Henry VIII and his bestowing of the land, and the woke and politically correct where the end of the nose is too far away to see.. The environment needs protecting, but it must be done in a way where our feet are not riddled with bullet holes.




Blackbushe has fought for her life for six decades... I was at school when all this started, funnily enough studying Shakespeare's "Macbeth" at the time when bulldozers and destruction shattered the order of the Blackbushe day. "Macbeth", when Birnam Wood took to moving, the sign that Macbeth would be defeated and his head in due course destined for a spike. One can but hope the forest growing on Blackbushe 'east' is not seen to move in a similar way and thus consume our aerodrome? Should that ever happen heads on spikes would surely become popular once more?





There lies in our midst a faceless bureaucracy who would have this consume the entire airfield - Blackbushe 'east', the ultimate fate of all of Blackbushe Airport - if they and inflexible common law cannot find a passage to common sense?



At least we can see the light, a whole extra hour of it. Enjoy..

PB

[PB]

"Photo of the Day"
29/03/21

A long awaited day. The Covid shackles are loosened and General Aviation can rise to the occasion as solo recreational flying is permitted albeit with limitations, flying, that is, with a member of their household or bubble. Recreational flying training remains off the agenda for a while, no earlier than April 12th.. Hart district indicates just 37 active Covid cases as of this morning according to the ZOE study app.

Taking our flight to the past for a spin once more, continuing our periodic tracks back to RAF Blackbushe, returning to 1945 and the transitions that were happening as peace became the likely outcome of WW2.. Transport Command had the airfield under their control by the end of March, 1945. Numerous Avro Ansons had moved in, on 27th March twenty-five Vickers Warwicks of 167 Squadron arrived. 55 officers and 158 other ranks also arrived. These aeroplanes were dispersed to the south side of the A30, an area today lost to nature's remarkable ability to reclaim. Flight briefings took place in the passenger and/or freight buildings. The Warwick aircraft were delivered to 167 Squadron in 1944. Earlier in 1942 an order for Warwick transport aircraft had been placed by BOAC for use on Middle Eastern routes, these were the aircraft that now found themselves at Blackbushe with 167 Squadron.

On 28th March, 1945, Group Captain Makowski, Command Polish Liason Officer, visited Blackbushe in connection with the arrival and reception of 301 Polish Squadron. Also on 28th March, Flying Fortress, 46937, arrived from RAF Molesworth arrived with engine trouble. Group Captain Constable-Roberts, AOC 110 Wing, paid a visit to the station on the same day. Throughout March, 1945, RAF Blackbushe remained open and operational despite the upheaval of 136 Wing's departure and the arrival of 167 Squadron. All flying units had been very busy with some 635 visiting aircraft serviced by the station flight. Other lodger units including 416 and 417 Aircraft Repair Flights had contributed to Blackbushe's impressive March figures.

One can but dream of a fully fledged aircraft maintenance organisation adding to the attractions of 21st Century Blackbushe. Funny how the airfield that did so much toward the successful outcome of World War Two has had to fight with local British bureaucracy for so long for her own liberation?




In the 1950's hangars that witnessed much wartime activity at Blackbushe served great peacetime purpose for her numerous light aircraft residents who mingled with the heavier transports of the day.




South of the A30 where the Vickers Warwicks of 167 Squadron would no doubt have been assembled. In peace this hangar at the east end of Blackbushe 'south' served Britavia, Falcon, Orion, and Silver City.




The very large hangar located at the western end of Blackbushe 'south' provided peacetime home for Westminster Airways initially before becoming the domain of Eagle Airways and years of intense activity including maintenance of aircraft from a wide variety of locations and operators..




The US Navy built a new and massive hangar in the 1950's located on the airfield north-eastern quarter.




On Blackbushe north of the A30 and what is now Blackbushe 'east', Hampshire County Council's overgrown remains of the airfield, there stood the two mighty hangars of Airwork Ltd. In war the RAF's technical centre..




After years of struggle with local authorities, in the 1970's Blackbushe was able to build some new hangars. During their short life serving aviation they breathed new life into old Spitfires. Sadly these hangars were destined for a short life serving the needs of aviation, British Car Auctions clung to them while selling most of the rest of the airfield.



..and here we are. 2021, old Blackbushe's historic recall is pretty much resigned to the history books and Rob Belcher's excellent publications covering the magnificent past. For whatever reasons, local bureaucratic pressures continue their extraordinary six decades of opposing any progress at this 'golden egg' of opportunity for aviation and its local community.

All is not lost, an excellent new Airport cafe is soon to arise from all this, great food, greater comfort, and more space for those al fresco days when one can munch and marvel at Blackbushe's continued life as an airfield... somewhere where all are welcome and passions for our historic aerodrome may be shared at leisure!

PB