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Post by PB on Sept 13, 2021 7:19:01 GMT
"Photo of the Day" 13/09/21Nearly half way through September, a fact confirmed by the ever more early sunsets and the looming images of Boris tomorrow as he reads out his considered plans for living with Covid in the coming winter.. Referring to the ZOE Covid study, something POTD has not mention for a few weeks, it's perhaps worthy of note that our Hart District currently has 495 active cases within its bounds, up 66 from last week. A descent from nearer 800 around mid August. The application of common sense and being vaccinated will hopefully take us through the winter and toward Blackbushe Airport's 80th year of operations! Yes, 2022 will be all of five years since we celebrated Blackbushe's 75th.
Talking of dates, on this day in 1974 a United States Air Force SR-71 Blackbird departed Farnborough's Air Show and flew the 5,437 miles London to Los Angeles in a world record breaking 3 hours 47 min 39 seconds at an average speed of 1,435.59 mph. Figures that would have made the 707 sit up and rub its eyes, relentless headwinds at our height westbound, and a fuelling stop in Winnipeg before LA appeared on the nose although LAX-LON was managed nonstop in around 13 hours.
On this day civilian air traffic resumed in the United States after the September 11 attacks in 2001.
Slipping back to Blackbushe Airport's history and the days in September 1945 as the airfield converted to passenger and freight duties rather than wartime aggression, Squadron Leader Vincent had on 11th September arrived from the Air Ministry to discuss the provision of enhanced radio and navigation aids. The benefits of Blackbushe as a civil airport serving London and the outer regions were clear cut. Excellent surface transport links, a long tarmac runway, and a proven good weather record. The need to suitably equip her for the essential role she would play in the development and growth of post war civil air transport was obvious. It was not just the British who recognised Blackbushe's potential, the Americans would in the future propose taking over the airfield and putting in the longest runway in the UK to serve their strategic bomber force, the UK government actually viewed this as a stepping stone to eventually setting up a new London airport at Blackbushe and closing Heathrow. You may have noticed the plans never materialised.. In 2021 we can fly helicopters on Mars, but still we cannot build hangars on Blackbushe to protect and preserve her precious resident flying machines. Somewhere something is deeply wrong with the mechanics of democracy. Massive investment is going into the aeroplanes of tomorrow, quieter and fuelled by new power sources, aviation will be ever more important to move goods and people as the population expands relentlessly, a policy directed toward maintaining a suitable airfield infrastructure in the UK is an imperative. A policy that directs local government to respect and preserve suitable airfields that will serve our transport needs long into the future. Hampshire County Council could well take heed of such instruction?A recent image of Blackbushe's increasingly significant role in business flying comes courtesy of Neil Randell. There is no argument, Blackbushe still stands as an airfield of choice for tomorrow's General Aviation needs, she just needs that 'choice' to be comprehended by the faceless bureaucracy and their stubborn adhesion to ancient rights that continues to blight her progress and cause the hapless residents of Hampshire to fund the galactic legal costs involved in local bureaucracies battle with Blackbushe. Something has got to change. Answers on a postcard...
PB
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Post by PB on Sept 14, 2021 7:05:34 GMT
"Photo of the Day" 14/09/212021, at 06.00 the day was dark and rain fell from above. No doubt about it, the year is getting old, this morning we'll reflect on this day returning to RAF Blackbushe on 14/09/1945.
Sadly, not a day to remember from operational reasons. Seven RAF Halifaxes prepared to depart Blackbushe on trooping flights to Larges in the Azores, already the airfield's location was proving valuable for personnel transportation. Tragically, one of the Halifaxes came down in Cornwall with the loss of all onboard.
Also on this day in September, 1945, Squadron Leader Tussard, the Command Resettlement Advisor, visited RAF Blackbushe..
One of Blackbushe's well documented plus points is her excellent good weather record, suffering from fog closures less frequently than other airfields in the south. In September, 1945, a new service using RAF Dakotas between Prestwick and Blackbushe was inaugurated. Both airfields boasted excellent weather records, the service operating daily for at least a year with only one flight cancellation due to inclement weather. Operated by Dakotas of 24 Squadron the personnel involved were usually based at RAF Hendon. For passengers, the converted manor house in Hartley Wintney was used as a transit hotel.
Another aspect of war in the month of September 1945 at Blackbushe was "Operation Jane". An idol of British troops, 'Jane' was a strip cartoon series in the Mirror newspaper. In an effort to boost morale of our troops still in Germany the decision was taken to drop newspapers including the Mirror with 'Jane' along with mail from home.. To speed things up it was decided crews should throw out mail and bundles of newspapers at very low level. Sadly, at this time F/O Phillips and F/O Dick Sergent were killed when their 162 Squadron Mosquito from Blackbushe struck high ground near Detmold, Germany, a dropping off point for 'operation Jane'.Just a reminder of how Blackbushe looked before she was closed, partly destroyed and allowed to become overgrown..PB
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Post by PB on Sept 15, 2021 6:50:31 GMT
"Photo of the Day" 15/09/2115th September... Only one thing comes to mind, another year has slipped by leading to Battle of Britain Day. 81 such days have passed since Hitler's Luftwaffe launched its heaviest all out assault on London on this day in 1940, the day when the Royal Air Force's young pilots took on the iron cross and finally delivered the message, the British Isles are not for the taking. Massively outnumbered, the Hurricanes and Spitfires of Fighter Command rose to the challenge and finally pinned the message on Hitler's nose.
Five years later, 15th September, 1945, a flypast of 300 aircraft took place over London to celebrate Battle of Britain Day's fifth anniversary. Two-thirds of the fighter squadrons defending Britain in the battle operated Hawker Hurricanes, not a single Hurricane was seen to participate in the victorious flypast.. The Second Word War had finally ended in Europe no more than two weeks prior to the fly-past that was lead by Douglas Bader flying a Spitfire.Although Blackbushe is too young to have participated in the Battle of Britain, she was not battle ready until November 1942, we have remembered the Hurricane at our more recent events. The Biggin Hill Hurricane joined for the weekend celebrating Blackbushe's 75th birthday in 2017....and the Royal Air Force's Battle of Britain Memorial Flight joined us with their Hurricane who had a grip on our airspace for a few precious minutes.Hurricane support also came from Biggin Hill for the first Blackbushe Air-Day in 2016. How can you ever thank anybody enough for providing such a generous gift as flying a Hurricane to the event you're putting together? Battle of Britain Memorial Flight making a technical stop at Blackbushe a few years ago, the Hurricane showing off her sting to good effect..These two Hurricanes came to Blackbushe for a couple of days during the making of the movie "The Battle of Britain".. The movie of so many immortal lines such as, "Don't just stand there, get one up!!""The Battle of Britain". The Hurricanes lined up on Blackbushe's apron were here to shoot one of the movies opening sequences, the scene of refugees making their way through a forest whilst Hurricanes flew overhead. Blackbushe's forestry environment provided the trees, Blackbushe provided the Hurricanes.The Hawker Hurricane. We owe her, and her pilots, a great deal...together with their immortal partner, the Spitfire.During the Battle of Britain, between July and September 1940, 19 squadrons of Spitfires (372 aircraft at peak on August 30) and 33 squadrons of Hawker Hurricanes (709 aircraft on August 30) faced the Luftwaffe from the once peaceful scene of Fighter Command's aerodromes across the south of England.
Blackbushe missed the Battle of Britain, but she made up for it soon after.. PB
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Post by PB on Sept 16, 2021 6:21:00 GMT
"Photo of the Day" 16/09/21Bit of a busy day ahead, hence just a couple of images from the sixties, the same but different..The mighty Skywagon/ Cessna 180, nice in red and white. An introduction to the new powerful singles coming over from the USA. Photo tells the story of those strange but wonderful nineteen sixties. Yateley Parish had destroyed the apron and their runways, the apron can be seen preparing to grow the jungle that has sadly replaced it, the US Navy hangar still stood proud as evidence of the now past Blackbushe. Our red Land Rover adding true glamour to the scene..The same but different... The sad eastern apron courtesy of the Parish, those wretched scrap Navy helicopters that blotted the landscape for many months, the vast US Navy hangar that AVM Bennett wanted to acquire but the Council wouldn't play ball, and aeroplanes were now secured via tie-down points and lumps of old Blackbushe left by the airport breakers.Popular colours. Same place, same era, just more engines, the gorgeous Riley Dove.See you tomorrow!
PB
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Post by PB on Sept 17, 2021 9:19:47 GMT
"Photo of the Day" 17/09/21Running late in the POTD Editorial Dept... but what a beautiful day!! ..but what a beautiful day!! Earlier the sky spoke of lifeblood returning to the world of air transport, eight decades ago September skies would have portrayed the whirling circles of dog fights and mortal combat in our southern skies. As optimism for better times in the use of air travel for our island's commercial well being continues to rise, but it must be hoped that such optimism may be applied to the survival of our vital airfields where untamed bureaucracy can achieve terrible damage.In Parliament the Transport Committee is launching a new inquiry into the aviation sector's 'route to recovery'... They state, "Before the pandemic, the UK had the largest aviation network in Europe and the third biggest in the world following the US and China. The UK Government estimated the aviation sector contributed at least £22 billion to the UK’s GDP each year and supported some 500,000 jobs.
By September 2020, seat capacity in the UK had fallen by around 92% compared with the previous year. In mid-2020, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) predicted losses of up to £20.1 billion in 2020. In January, IATA estimated that 860,000 jobs have either been lost or are being sustained by the Government’s ‘furlough’ scheme. The Airport Operators Group (AOA) reported that its members were losing £83 million a week in 2020.
In Airlines and airports: supporting recovery in the UK aviation sector, MPs will explore what is required to create a financial and environmentally sustainable recovery for the UK aviation sector. MPs will also consider regional connectivity in the UK and the resumption of transatlantic travel.
The inquiry will begin with a scene-setting evidence session on September 21 with airports and airlines who have argued that the uncertainty over the ‘traffic light system’ and how country classifications are made is depressing demand for international travel. Representatives from Heathrow, Gatwick, British Airways and easyJet will attend.". The UK General Aviation industry may not be as massive as that that flies the very heavy metal, but before the pandemic it was worth some £3billion per annum to the UK GBP. Not something to overlook. The All Party Parliamentary Party on General Aviation seems to have gone a bit quiet lately. Grant Shapps was a great force within until his rise into higher ranks in HMG.VoltAero Hybrid-Electric Demonstrator made its first Channel crossing recently. One way, or another, General Aviation may expect big changes in its future propulsion, is this an example of what we can expect?AvWeb's 14th September report on the flight reads, "On Monday (Sept. 13), VoltAero’s Cassio 1 demonstrator hybrid-electric aircraft made its first English Channel crossing, and is participating in this week’s ACE21 Air Charter Expo at London Biggin Hill Airport. VoltAero CEO and Chief Technology Officer Jean Botti is participating in the expo’s Green Charter 2021 panel discussion.
The Cassio 1 flight originated at Calais in northern France. VoltAero’s facility is 500 miles south in Medis, southern France. The aircraft made a stop at Cranfield University in Bedfordshire, U.K., for inspection by engineering students and faculty before continuing on to Biggin Hill for the expo.
In 2015, VoltAero’s E-Fan aircraft, developed as part of an Airbus-led program, made what the company says is the “first end-to-end English Channel crossing with an electric airplane.” While the E-Fan’s batteries provided 60 kilowatts for its two all-electric motors, the Cassio 1 is powered by VoltAero’s 600-kilowatt electric-hybrid “power module,” which combines electric power with an internal combustion engine. “In providing dual sources of energy, the electric-hybrid power module is reported to provide highly safe and efficient operations by using one source of power—electrical or mechanical, or both—depending on the flight scenario,” according to VoltAero. The idea is to take off “nearly silently” on electric power, then use the internal combustion engine for en route cruise while charging the batteries—and serving as backup power.
VoltAero anticipates its four-seat Cassio 330 will be its first production aircraft with 330 kilowatts of hybrid-electric power. Service entry is targeted for the second half of 2023. The follow-on six-seat and 10-seat Cassio 480 and 600 (respectively) are expected to generate 480 and 600 kilowatts". NO MATTER how or in what you choose to approach Blackbushe Airport, it is beyond any doubt that she is an airfield essential in support of tomorrow's General Aviation in the south. She comes with affordability and outright professionalism, but above all a new comprehension is required amid the local bureaucracy as to the asset it is that they currently frustrate with a dogma tied to ancient laws that flowed from the quills of the era of Henry VIII.
PB
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Post by PB on Sept 18, 2021 7:17:16 GMT
"Photo of the Day" 18/09/21Yesterday's POTD concluded with these words, "NO MATTER how or in what you choose to approach Blackbushe Airport, it is beyond any doubt that she is an airfield essential in support of tomorrow's General Aviation in the south. She comes with affordability and outright professionalism, but above all a new comprehension is required amid the local bureaucracy as to the asset it is that they currently frustrate with a dogma tied to ancient laws that flowed from the quills of the era of Henry VIII". A paragraph preceded by a series of photographs depicting some of the assortment of aeroplanes that have approached Blackbushe during the six decades of uncertainty that followed AVM "Pathfider" Bennett's successful acquistion of 365 acres of what had been the commercial Blackbushe Airport until May, 1960.
Although no comments have been made regarding that paragraph it is to be hoped that most of our Forum followers will be in agreement with the sentiment? Each of the photos have a story attached the details of which would require more hours of click clack on the keyboard. Yesterday I just wanted to convey something of the variety performances dear old Blackbushe has put on during her years of political impoverishment.As it was in the beginning... 1962/3, The Blackbushe Aero Club's Piper Colt, G-ARNL. In those days of rugged austerity Blackbushe had very little to offer. The runways and taxiways had been cleared of demolition debris but the place was in one hell of a mess following the political sabotage foisted on the airport by her previous political owners whose investment in West Sussex realised Blackbushe could have been an embarrassement. Anybody who visits Blackbushe today born around 1970 or thereafter will have no idea of the trials and tribulations that confronted Blackbushe in her first years of private ownership. More than three aircraft on the ground was an air rally to us while the neighbouring gentry spread nails on the runways by night and rode their horses across the airfield by day. T'was a truly bloody war where local politicians spent many thousands of their rate payers pounds further destroying all they were able of dear old Blackbushe. Those of us lucky enough to remember Blackbushe in her government owned prime held precious memories tempered by visions of what might/could be in the future.
Watching today's aviation enthusiasts with super powerful lenses to capture the day's Blackbsuhe visitors is something of a miracle. Compared to those endless years in the dark ages the thought of anybody coming to Blackbushe to see and report on the day's air traffic was something those of us involved in the blunt end of Blackbushe's days would have considered most unlikely, yet today it happens. I guess today people come to Blackbushe to see the aeroplanes, not like those days when we came to Blackbushe to dream and clear rubble.. Air traffic was mainly seen passing via Green One, or Farnborough movements that skirted to the east or west of Blackbushe back then. Also used yesterday, this image rather conveys times in the early nineteen sixties. A small fly-in where some indulged in 'fly-pasts', no radio, all on the mark one eyeball. The point of this image, however, is recall of the intense camaraderie that engulfed all who spent endless weekends in the cold, and too often wet, huddled in groups where conversation orbitted the old days and our hopes for the new days to come. Most weekends there would be no flying, or maybe one or two would drop in from Fairoaks or White Waltham. The small army of volunteers did wonders in helping de-rubble the land surrounding the Terminal, with just the Terminal left standing one could easily imagine the WW2 bombsites that many of our cities suffered for years after the war came to an end. Pretty bad way for politicians to behave on an airfield of such value. Spanning back further in time to September in 1945 once again... On 17th the last of the series of trooping flights to Larges in the Azores departed, these all being operated by RAF Halifax aircraft. Today, 18th September, one of DDL Airline's Focke Wolf Condor transports arrived from Copenhagen with an unserviceable engine, and tomorrow, September 19th, Archbishop Danaskinos departed Blackbushe aboard an RAF York.
It's sad that today's visitors to Blackbushe can have little idea of the great sweeping Hartford Bridge plateau that provided RAF Hartford Bridge, RAF Blackbushe, the Blackbushe Airport that became second to Heathrow as a London airport, or the bomb site Blackbushe in the early sixties. However, today's visitors who enjoy once again coming to watch aeroplanes in action may be assured that the owners of Blackbushe today will be doing everything possible to overcome the 'political impoverishment' and provide a Blackbushe that will be totally suited to the needs of tomorrow's General Aviation both operationally and visually.
We can but hope scenes like this are never reenacted as the Parish Council's blizkreig operations left many speechless as to how they could afford such vandalism..
PB
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Post by PB on Sept 19, 2021 7:40:39 GMT
"Photo of the Day" 19/09/21"Yesterday" as the Beatles once sang, "..all my troubles seemed so far away", while "Just a Perfect Day" by Lou Reed performed a few cranial circuits after yesterday's sortie to Blackbushe .... Why? Simply spending a couple of hours at Blackbushe's super "Pathfinder Cafe"! The weather offered relaxing September warmth, blue skies and fair clouds in transit while all the al fresco tables were in use by families and folk just having a relaxing time as aeroplanes taxied by and now and again a passing pilot would wave to the young generation who watched with excited eyes at the passing aeroplanes - where else would you find such a perfect setting at an airfield that is so easily accessible? Perfect partners, Blackbushe Airport and her Pathfinder Cafe... Aviators, families, the young and the not so young, aviation enthusiasts, people passing by, the Pathfinder is the perfect place to pop-in for a cuppa, or something more substantial, served by the friendliest crew you could wish to meet.. eat inside, or eat outside, and enjoy the clean fresh air of Blackbushe. Great catching up with some 'old' faces yesterday, seeing Blackbushe thriving with flying and the busy Pathfinder Cafe it seems ever more tragic that this so popular and perfectly sited aerodrome still lives under the dark clouds of County bureaucracy. The airfield speaks for itself, it's truly time the County Council sat up and listened.
See you at the Pathfinder.....
PB
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Post by PB on Sept 20, 2021 7:05:28 GMT
"Photo of the Day" 20/09/21Ever darker morning and evenings continue to prove that winter is gearing up, a season that holds some degree of concern as to how viral influences will affect us. The POTD editorial department will be having its third Covid shot to hopefully steer us through to next year? It's becoming too easy to be Covid complacent as more 'normal' life has returned, as to how the severity of the bug in our Hart district is manifesting itself the ZOE Covid study indicates we now have 756 active cases, that's up 143 from last week. A lifeline comes in the form of a vaccination, why would anyone snub it? The "Delta variant" is described as a 'hunter' by No 10's scientific advisers, if you have not had had both jabs it is almost inevitable the "Delta variant" will "hunt you down". Scary stuff, science fiction becoming science fact...
More cheerful words come from this day in 1945... An experimental Gloster Meteor with Rolls-Royce Trent engines made the first turboprop-powered flight, while earlier in 1943 on 20th September the delightful DH Vampire made its very first flight. We could have had two Vampires attend the Blackbushe 75th, but, I won't even venture into why not... Martin Baker were reluctant to send their Meteor as they were concerned as to runway length and the Meteor's aged braking system, they always flew from longer runways where braking action is less of a concern, and this Meteor was of immense value to them. Putting together events involving aeroplanes can be a pathway fraught with frustrations! Warbirds of Great Britain acquired a Meteor! Seen here on the apron she was flown in by Neil Williams. The Museum never happened, the Meteor moved around from one location to another performing 'taxi runs' at Bruntingthorpe during some of her post Blackbushe life. I believe she now lives amid another collection in the UK? These five B-25s arrived not long after the 1977 Blackbushe Air Festival. Imagine if they'd arrived on 30 or 31 July, 1977, en masse as they did when they first arrived at Blackbushe!Blackbushe assortment in the Arnold era, museum pieces acquired from the Spanish Air Force, and a host of piston twins that once were the lifeblood of the air taxi business..and a much needed new taxiway that took you directly to the 25 hold. The distant fencing was purely a prop for some movie work, Blackbushe having many times been the airfield of choice for the motion picture industry.Have a nice Monday...
PB
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Post by PB on Sept 21, 2021 7:39:17 GMT
"Photo of the Day" 21/09/21Today belongs to one person. The then young Roger Russell.
To lose a closest and dearest friend can leave a life long scar, to lose such a person due to a needless accident makes it harder for family and friends to endure.
On this day forty one years ago Blackbushe Airport lost one of her greatest aficionados and friends, taking my very closest of friends to an untimely death when the Invader crashed at Biggin Hill on 21st September, 1980. Roger Russell was just in his early twenties when we bade each other a final "Farewell" on the apron at Blackbushe.
Roger moved to Yateley in the 1970's when his parents returned to the UK from a posting in Germany. Already a great aviation enthusiast living within reach of Blackbushe was real bonus for him. Having got to know him well his enthusiasm for Blackbushe grew ever more perhaps infected by my endless talk about the place and its many merits.
He gained his PPL with Three Counties Aero Club, I was his first passenger as we ascended from Blackbushe's runway 19, and in his spare time he became one of Blackbushe's air traffic voices from the old wooden Tower. While putting together the 1977 Blackbushe Air Festival Roger was of massive value in terms of moral support and our night time poster sorties...poor old Roger, he had truly caught the Blackbushe bug living and breathing the place much as one or two others did!
Due to associations that developed from air shows and Doug Arnolds warbird activity we had something of a contest as to who could fly in the greatest number of warbirds. We chalked up a goodly number, and on this day we planned to fly to the Battle of Britain Air Show at Biggin Hill in the one airworthy B-25 at Blackbushe. I felt more than a little guilty as my wife, two month old son, and myself had been invited to Sunday lunch with friends in Hertfordshire. The B-25 eventually got both engines turning and burning but as we taxied for Blackbushe's departure runway the nose wheel tyre burst. My guilty feelings got the better of me as time would surely not see the tyre fixed and a timely flight to Biggin Hill? Roger was last seen by me riding in the boot of a Ford Granada as a human tow hook retrieving some equipment necessary for the sick B-25, I bade him "Farewell...see you on Thursday". Roger worked for Dan-Air at Gatwick on various shifts at the time.
The rest is history. The B-25 went to Biggin Hill and Roger joined Don Bullock in the Invader ready for their slot in the flying programme. The first inkling I had was watching the BBC News on returning home from Hertfordshire. Shortly after Roger's Mum rang me to ask if he was with me. That remains one of the most terrible phone conversations either of us could have had. His wallet had been found.
Had I not gone to lunch perhaps the Blackbushe Forum would never have been...life's course can be hard to plot, it has so many twists and turns.
One thing is for sure, we and Blackbushe are the poorer for the loss of guys like Roger. Today he rests in the Yateley cemetery close to Blackbushe, the airfield he loved.Always young. Roger at Blackbushe....PB
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Post by PB on Sept 22, 2021 5:57:54 GMT
"Photo of the Day" 22/09/21How the years speed round, today's 06.00 start illuminated by moonlight..must be an age thing, but where did summer go this year?
Yesterday's "POTD" was devoted to remembering one of Blackbushe's most devoted associates, Roger Russell. I know some of our members knew Roger well and shared his appreciation of Blackbushe and things that fly.. Pauline, my better half, and I visited his resting place at Heathlands Cemetery yesterday to place flowers on his grave and spend some quiet moments. Aircraft drifting overhead on final approach to Blackbushe's runway 25 provided a very moving moment, Roger will always be close to the airfield he loved.Roger's view in the late afternoon.Also late afternoon yesterday Blackbushe once again demonstrated her suitability as the affordable alternative for business jet operations with two PC-24 aircraft arriving, one from Greece, the other from Belgium. Once again the folly of bureaucratic opposition to Blackbushe and her opportunities comes across loud and clear!Thanks go to Rob Belcher providing evidence of two PC-24s sharing the apron along with what looks like a Honda Jet at the end of the line last evening.Slipping back once more into the deeper history books of time, on this day in 1945 quoting from Stuart Marshal's records of Blackbushe at war, a Mosquito XXV of 162 Squadron flew up to Kastrup in Denmark on a mail delivery flight. Unlike in this country, fresh eggs were plentiful in Denmark, understandably runs such as this were very popular as several cases of eggs would arrive back at RAF Blackbushe, 'airmen for the use of'.......... Meanwhile the new daily Blackbushe-Prestwick service using RAF Dakotas was going well, the season of mists had not caused any delays to this point, the daily service continued for a year with only, I understand, one cancelled flight due tech issues. Looking at other aviation events linked to 22 September, the first jet fighter crossed the Atlantic on this day in 1950, a USAF F-84, while a little later in 1972 Boeing announced the sale of their 1,000th Boeing 727 a record for airliner sales at the time.
Catch up again tomorrow...
PB
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