PHOTO of the DAY...

[PB]

"Photo of the Day"
13/01/23

Friday the 13th... For some supposed to be a day of dire consequences, when the 13th coincides with a Friday? Some people pretty much invite trouble, take Brazilian priest Adelir Antonio de Carli who on decided to fly on 13th January, 2008, suspended under nothing more than 600 helium filled party balloons. It was a Sunday, so perhaps a degree of providence was sought after? An altitude of 5,300 m (17,390 ft) was achieved before landing safely at San Antonio, Argentina, after a four-hour flight.

Lucky or unlucky is the only way to consider another event on 13th January, 1964, a Monday... A USAF B-52 carrying two nuclear bombs came down on Savage Mountain in Maryland. The vertical stabilizer detached during severe storm turbulence. Sadly two of the five crew died in the accident, the nuclear weapons were recovered some two days after the incident... On a brighter note, on 13th January, 1913, a Harry Jones got airborne in his Wright "B" aeroplane to launch the first regular air cargo service in the USA. His cargo was baked beans flown from Boston to New York. One is tempted to wonder if the wind was behind him?

Back to Blackbushe on this January morning, the month continues in its mercifully mild manner, the horrors of the arctic winter of 1962/63 are still all too easy to recall. Snow first fell on Boxing Day, 1962, and it thus fell for ages after... The freeze and very low temperatures persisted until the following March. Blackbushe was a frozen waste land, the runways were not seen for weeks on end, nothing flew until half way through February when the main runway was cleared sufficiently to allow some flying. After that long runway closure I was back in the air on 17th February with David Rimmer of Rimmer Aviation, popping up to Birmingham Elmdon in Comanche 180 EI-AMM. The snow covered world was quite a sight. Birmingham was well clear of snow and we parked next to a BEA Viscount! One of those days you don't seem to forget.




You've seen it before, the great freeze! Endless weeks, but the spirit of Blackbushe clung on. Weekends witnessed routine gatherings in the Blackbushe Aero Club's rooms in the Terminal while exercise was to be had running up the resident aero engines to remind them that life was not over! There was a good reason for doing this, great fun having to start the residents of the early sixties standing on icy apron and swinging the props by hand. Electric starters were a luxury to dream of on the few resident flying machines..No injuries sustained, and the engine oil was reminded of its operational viscosity..




A Viking in that classic Blackbushe position, parked close to the A30 while the airfield offers a huge white flat expanse..



Talking of cold winter conditions, there's one evening this coming February where you're assured of a warm welcome... The Blackbushe Heritage Trust will be holding another evening talk where all are welcome. This time Rob Belcher will be delivering a talk on "RAF Hartford Bridge at War".. the notice below gives all the necessary information. If you would like to learn even more about our airfields's brave past you would be well advised to enjoy Rob's presentation. All funds will, as always, be in support of the Trust's work returning Viking G-AGRW home to Blackbushe.





See you there!!

PB

[PB]

"Photo of the Day"
14/01/23

While this Saturday morning may not be the perfect model of the day so many look forward to as driving rain is thrust at us with a powerful westerly in the driving seat it's quite a good one for catching up on the news and the state of the nation.

In aviation, today marks a significant event in the story of successful light aeroplanes. The story comes from the other side of the Atlantic, and the advent of light aeroplanes where canvas wing skinning is replaced by all metal structures. On this day in 1960 the Piper PA-28 Cherokee first took to the skies! Since then almost 33,000 examples have been built, the fourth most produced aircraft ever. Power up front has ranged from 140 to 300hp and twenty four variants have been produced although the Archer is now the only model still in production.

The Cherokee is the same age as the Blackbushe story! In all those years since daylight was first seen beneath the wings of a Cherokee, Blackbushe Airport has been endeavouring to see some daylight in her bid to construct hangars and move on with her plans of providing a first-class General Aviation facility. It is to be hoped that before too much longer the veteran Cherokee might enjoy the reassurance of nights secure in permanent hangarage along with many other GA types who'd like some cosy coverage on the airfield that is so suited to General Aviation's needs....




The Cherokee and Blackbushe. They've lived and worked together for six decades, together they've taught many a new PPL holder, seen so many first solo flights, provided wings for Blackbushe residents old and new including Aerobility, Aeromart Flying Club, Air First, Blackbushe Aviation, Blackbushe Flying Group, European Flyers, ICL Flying Club, SEMET Aviation, and Three Counties Aero Club.


Here's to many more years of Cherokees and Blackbushe living together!

PB

[PB]

"Photo of the Day"
15/01/23

Sunday, half way through January, no snow drifts encountered as yet just a series of bumpy days blowing in from the Atlantic with temperatures so far avoiding too many frosty fingers..

It's at times like this when I cast the surviving grey cell back to those rudimentary days at Blackbushe in the early sixties. Sundays, 61 years ago. After AVM Bennett had acquired 365 acres of Blackbushe the long job of making the airfield airworthy again would start. In the beginning a small but priceless band of volunteer enthusiastic like minded people would congregate on Sunday mornings and amid the mayhem left behind by the demolition contractors would happily work toward the clean-up that would eventually see Blackbushe become operational again.

Amid this team I was perhaps the baby, still at school with a couple of years yet to serve under the education banner, I was proud to be getting involved with various airline people, high management, pilots, engineers, plus a good cross section of others from all walks of life. The AVM wanted to see a flying club established, and from this nucleus of Sunday people came forth the elements of what would soon become the Blackbushe Aero Club. The Blackbushe story was gathering momentum, what had been a vast airport second only to London's airport needs that had been destroyed by the government despite the clamour to save it by airlines who wished to form a Blackbushe consortium..

I remember one of those early Sundays with such clarity. A perfect day, the sky blue as can be but the temperature was far from comfortable, but the "team" set to work clearing pile so rubble, broken tiles, etc from around the west of the Terminal. It nipped the fingers but the new spirit of Blackbushe was finding its feet! From this point on Sundays became increasingly Blackbushe days where camaraderie, some hard work, and lots of tea drinking combined to make memories that today are highly precious. From those days I can see so many faces, hear so many voices, recall how enthralling was their company, but sadly no longer able to enjoy their company. Such is life.

I know I shall cherish those memories until my time is served, rarely do I set foot on the airfield without giving them a thought. How delighted they would be to see how the Airport has improved, although the passage of six decades under 'circumstances' that have prevented any serious development might come as a surprise? In the early sixties Blackbushe was a huge flat expanse covering both sides of the A30. The passage of six decades has witnessed nature's relentless endeavours to go back to the drawing board...

The Blackbushe Aero Club was formed whereby a Piper Super Cub was rented and flown up to Blackbushe at the weekends when the weather suited. No fuel, no food, the Club took over the offices in the Terminal that faced the airfield and were at the building's extreme west end ground floor. Therein dreams came to life. The new Club came to life, weekends got busier, we had evening lectures on flight for the budding aviators, the seeds had been planted. Today, with a variety of excellent flying schools at Blackbushe it's wonderful to see and hear of the continuing numbers of new PPL holders for whom the airfield has provided the necessary opportunities and facilities.

We've come a long way from those freezing Sundays clearing rubble!!




After the Super Cub, Blackbushe Aero Club operated Piper Colt G-ARNL. This photo gives an idea of those days in the early sixties. A very large airfield, quite often just the one aeroplane on the ground, but at least we had the panorama of Blackbushe's full size - and the mighty US Navy hangar who lingered impressively in the background before it too was demolished.



PB

[PB]

"Photo of the Day"
16/01/23

Until the end of May 1960 Blackbushe was a busy international airport wherein a number of independent commercial airlines operated very happily with Vikings, Hermes, Bristol Freighters, Dakotas, Ambassadors, Yorks, Doves and Herons... British airlines flying mainly British built aeroplanes from what had been a very suitable base.

Sadly, the demise of Blackbushe lead to the demise of some of its resident operators, but with amalgamations the British independent airline scene remained viable although casualties would continue and household names one by one were removed from the scene. We can but speculate on Blackbushe had she remained open and developed as some plans in the nineteen fifties proposed, but the skies full of orange tails indicate how non-state operations have expanded since 1960..

For the record, it was on this day in 1980 that British Island Airways and Air Anglia merged to form Air UK.

Also on this day back in 1963, while Blackbushe languished under clouds of uncertainty as AVM Bennett did all possible to save the airfield, the independent airlines gained another feather in their caps as Yvonne Pope flying for Morton Air Services became the first female commercial pilot to fly international routes flying Gatwick to Dusseldorf.


Meanwhile, this link takes you to the latest General Aviation Advisory Council report on the state of British airfields. www.gaac.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/AERODROMES-UPDATE-1Jan23.pdf

One or two bright spots whereby Plymouth Airport continues to move toward operations again, including regional airline operations, and Wycombe Air Park is not now under threat of closure. However, the general scene for airfields in depressing with an awful lot of house building anticipated in the coming years... 3,000 houses on Popham! Happily, Blackbushe is not amid the list of airfield sites under threat of closure due to proposed housing development.




A step back to 1948, an Air Transport Charter Dakota at Blackbushe, Channel Isles based, existed from 1947 to 1950.


In 2023 Blackbushe remains a player in the air transport business, the past few days seeing assorted PC-12s, PC-24, Cessna Mustang, Beech 200, and Piaggio P180 traffic.




A flash back to Blackbushe's "Farnborough Weeks" in the seventies and eighties when assorted business flights came and went in significant numbers. The image of passengers boarding a flight at Blackbushe brings back memories of old and also portrays Blackbushe today and optimistically into the future as the airfield secures its future and convenient suitability for this level of air transport.



If I may draw your attention to the above photo again, with a red stripe down his sleeve, the late Airport Manager Stuart Marshall no doubt enjoying the moment as his apron shows how productive it can be! It's hard to believe that twelve months have passed since we said our final goodbyes to Stuart. I know he lives in the hearts of many, he certainly continue to help me on many a morning with the history and photos of Blackbushe...

PB

[PB]

"Photo of the Day"
17/01/23


One of the outstanding moments we are looking forward to at Blackbushe this year is the return of an old friend, a classic piece of British aviation heritage returning to Blackbushe where from all of the airports in the United Kingdom this example of British aircraft engineering combined with its history of pioneering post-war route building this aeroplane belongs perhaps more than any other.. The VIKING!!

In a remarkably short time, and with massive thanks to British Airways and all who have donated generously, the Blackbushe Heritage Trust has now the necessary funding to tackle the not insignificant job of transporting a medium sized airliner by road from Austria to Blackbushe. The "can do" spirit is very much alive!!

However, while the Trust find themselves in readiness to bring the Viking home, the task is barely begun. From here the restoration will begin, a task that will require time, manpower and not least funding. That's why this morning "POTD" are asking for your ongoing support, support that will see the Viking returned to Blackbushe in all its glory. A classic and precious example of our British aviation heritage, the first British post-war civil airliner, the aeroplane that equipped national flag carrier British European Airways plus the numerous independent airlines many of whom were based at Blackbushe.

It's a story of British engineering producing a new airliner party based on the brilliant geodetic airframe design of Barnes Wallace who put it to such great use in the Wellington bomber, it's a story of courage and determination as post-war airline pioneers forged new routes across the UK and Europe! It was the Viking that proudly carried the logos not just of BEA but a host of newly formed independent airlines whose names were emblazoned on the Vikings of Blackbushe..

If you can, please keep in mind the opportunity you have to donate toward our historic venture. The Blackbushe Heritage Website offers you the quick and easy way to provide whatever you wish toward the return of the Viking, a precious piece of our heritage that will tell generations to come of an aeroplane and and an airport who together wrote such important pages in our British aviation history books.

www.blackbusheheritagetrust.com/donate THANK YOU!!




Today in Austria..




"Yesterday" at Blackbushe...one of the many Eagle Vikings based at Blackbushe.




Another example of British aircraft engineering. The Short Skyvan.

The Skyvan fist flew on THIS day in 1963. An unbelievable sixty years ago... It was quite a sensation when first appearing at Farnborough, and appeared at Blackbushe occasionally as with this example of South West Aviation gracing our apron during a mid sixties Farnborough Week.




Put the date in your diary!! 16th FEBRUARY!!


PB

[PB]

"Photo of the Day"
18/01/23


Blackbushe continues to present a selection of modern GA business and light transport aeroplanes, a fact that supports the viability and value of Blackbushe as a convenient and affordable business alternative..

News from Cessna indicates that globally their market for light utility aeroplanes is healthy with the news that the 3,000th Caravan has been delivered. A few words from the makers...




..and one of the many Caravans to have visited Blackbushe.




A larger commuter aeroplane, the DHC Dash 7 during a Blackbushe stopover during a world sales tour. Ultra quiet, used a fraction of the runway, today you don't hear them at all.. I guess the Dash 8 won the day!




Very occasionally a three engined commuter would arrive as with this Logair Trislander..




The beefy Short SD360 made the occasional appearance on Blackbushe's tarmac..plus home grown security team! How the years have flown...




The Handley Page Jetstream was a sleek contender for the commuter market..arrived at Blackbushe usually during Farnborough Week.




Classic workhorse aeroplane from Beech..seemingly everlasting!




A successful formula gave us the Islander. Due to Doug Arnold's link with Britten Norman Blackbushe witnessed various Islanders bound for their new owners far away..




Talking of tri-engined transport, Doug Arnold's Ju-52 (Spanish built) examples always seemed to attract attention.




What gives more delight than de Havilland's magnificent light transport - the Rapide! Still going strong!!




From the Airport Manager's window! Blackbushe Airport with assorted business aeroplanes as far as the eye could take you!!!



Despite being closed by the government in 1960, Blackbushe has handled good numbers of business and commuter aeroplanes since being in private ownership, a fact that seemed most unlikely when the Airport was razed to the ground after the men from the Ministry decided to shut up shop...

PB

[PB]

"Photo of the Day"
19/01/23



If you've not already seen it, the February 2023 edition of "Aeroplane" magazine contains a full page article regarding the progress of the Blackbushe Heritage Trust with photos and a detailed report on the Trust's ambitions to return a precious Viking airliner to Blackbushe, the 'ancestral' home of the Viking.





The article is pleasing not just from the Viking's point of view but also from the fact that Blackbushe is nowadays reported as very much a going concern, not an old aerodrome clutching onto fraying threads of life. Believe me, when she's got her new infrastructure of hangars and services Blackbushe will be an airfield of which we can all feel justifiably proud.




The February "Aeroplane" - as you will have seen - includes an excellent report on 'Just Jane' and the plans for her future. This photo from my collection accompanied the 'Just Jane' article, it shows her on the Blackbushe apron during the big 1967 air show.. The Masefield Mustang and a host of pesky retired Dragonflys add to the scene.



Thinking of warbirds and Blackbushe I've just run through my mind the amazing number of warbirds seen at Blackbushe since the sixties and the airfield's rescue from certain death by AVM Bennett. In those seemingly bleak cold days when the first signs of life returned to the Airport and the fledging Blackbushe Aero Club found its wings I well remember on those far off sixties Sundays thinking how amazing it would be if a Spitfire were to land one day! Nah, never happen, too much to hope for....

At that time if anybody had said I'd be running flying displays in the future with assorted warbirds, well I'd tell 'em not to be daft.. The memory is a little blurred round the edges, but I recall talk of the Fairey two seat Spitfire, G-AIDN, coming in but whether it did I'm not sure?

Obviously Doug Arnold made a difference to the airfield's warbird movements when trying to establish 'Warbirds of Great Britain' at Blackbushe with a purpose built museum. Sadly planning permission was not granted thus allowing history and the heritage of Blackbushe to once again slide into oblivion. Happily the future of heritage and history at Blackbushe looks much more hopeful today!!

Anyway, looking at the 'warbirds' whose company we have enjoyed since the sixties to mind come an assortment of Spitfire variants, Hurricanes, Mosquito, Lancaster, B-17s, B-25 Mitchells, A-26 Invader, Mustangs, Harvards, Dakotas, Anson, Thunderbolt, P-40 Warhawk, Lysander, Ju-52 & He-111, (Spanish built CASA variants), B-24 Liberator (dismantled), Avenger, Me109 (crated), Sea Furies, Fairey Firefly, AN-2 and various YAK designs, Feisler Storch, Hawker Hart, Sopwith Pup, Fokker Triplane, and others who no doubt have escaped the cerebral pathway...

If they were all gathered together today what a museum it would be!!

However much time I have left I know I'll always treasure the warbird experiences I've enjoyed thanks to Blackbushe and the many who have preserved and flown the many whose shadows have graced out airfield. Not finished yet either!! Looking to June 3rd this year for some more warbird moments....

PB

[PB]

"Photo of the Day"
20/01/23


Historic aerodromes have a certain mystery about them, we mix what we know of their past with our imagination and probably get a reasonable impression of how things used to be. Or do we?

Take Blackbushe, for example...The airfield is now a fraction of her original operational size, but upon these surviving acres and all those acres no longer qualifying as operational there lingers the most amazing and varied history. Blackbushe holds so much in her treasure chest of stories, heroism, courage, tragedy, and innovation, while both commercial and military aviation have written their part in these chapters of fortitude.

An obvious hunger for awareness or deeper knowledge of the airfield's past is shown by the interest shown in our Forum's "POTD" plus the various social media sources focused on Blackbushe. Add to that the latest and most valuable spoke in the wheel, the Blackbushe Heritage Trust, and a very significant body of people has its focus on the airport's story...

With the Heritage Trust now moving closer to the magical day when the Viking, G-AGRW, returns to Blackbushe from its long sojourn in a foreign field there is a palpable excitement that a taste of the Airport's history will be relived when she finally goes on show flying the flag of the airline post-war pioneers...

Make a note of this date FEBRUARY 16th 2023.

This is when YOU can see and hear the first of two Rob Belcher lectures based on Blackbushe's rich history. On 16th February the evening will be based on wartime action, the time when the airfield was known as Royal Air Force Hartford Bridge..As you'll see from the flyer beneath the very reasonable charge of £10 includes refreshments plus there will be a Heritage Trust volunteers gathering/briefing too. An action packed evening that must appeal to all who have a quest for knowledge regarding the airfield as well as all who would like to learn more - or participate - in the Blackbushe Heritage Trust and its work towards establishing a heritage centre at the Airport wherein a Viking will be the star attraction.

Every bit of your £10 entrance charge goes toward the Viking and her recovery and restoration, your chance to support the Trust's venture that will inspire generations today and long into the future...








The Heritage Trust's Viking will reflect two of the types key operators, on one side British European Airways colours, the first Viking operator...




..and as this photo from David Payne indicates, the colours of Eagle Airways Blackbushe largest resident airline and the nation's most prolific Viking operator will be on the other.



FEBRUARY 16th, 7pm PATHFINDER CAFE, BLACKBUSHE AIRPORT. Tickets are limited in numbers book yours early or be disappointed.

Looking forward to seeing you there!!

PB

[PB]

"Photo of the Day"
21/01/23

Very early departure this morning....

Just one thought for the day, way back on January 20th, 1959, the Vickers Vanguard first took to the sky.




Final for LHR, the Vanguard's familiar vortex trail on a suitably humid day..



Why the Vanguard on here?? A connection with Blackbushe. On 24th January, 1959, the very new Vanguard, G-AOYW, arrived at Blackbushe for some training performing a number of overshoots.. Later, in 1960 during the last few months of Blackbushe's life as a major commercial airport BEA's G-APEA was the first Vanguard to land here just two days before the Airport was closed. BEA Vanguards arrived at Blackbushe in February, April, and May of 1960 on crew training and ILS approaches.

That's all for today, time is flying...Happily a Vanguard still survives over at Brooklands, quite close to their Viking, upkeeping the image of Vickers airliners from the past as must be done!!

Bye bye for now..

PB

[PB]

"Photo of the Day"
22/01/23

Minus 4C beyond the front door this morning at 06.00. This morning the cars can remain frozen, unlike yesterday. My early morning sortie yesterday concluded with one of those,"pop into Blackbushe moments" at around 09.00ish. Car park around the Pathfinder full as expected, the main car park a little less patronised with a white frosty surface confirming the currently cool mornings. The scene airside, however, grabbed my attention...

The sky was pure blue, not a puff of wind, dead calm. On the apron a PC-12 looking cold after it's night's sleep at Blackbushe, but all around was flying club activity as aeroplanes were de-iced pre-flighted and made ready for work. People in 'igh-viz jackets in all directions. Amid the peaceful calm of the currently quiet airfield the action indicated promise of the aviation soon to follow!

I could not stop for long but the scene reminded me of another weekend sixty one years earlier... On a clear blue winter weekend morning in 1962 the new team of volunteers and Blackbushe Airport well-wishers gathered as was becoming the rule for weekends in those far off exciting days. Only thing was that then there were no aeroplanes, no services like water or electricity, no communications. Just rubble, piles of concrete, smashed tiles, glass, flooring, angle iron sticking out of the ground at grotesque angles...everywhere you looked around the Terminal and what is today the Airport car park the debris of destruction. The spirit amid the team in 1962 was one of total dedication and determination to see the Airport recover from this nightmare scene left by a government who abandoned their airport called Blackbushe and all who worked there or operated from there in pursuit of a new airport in the depths of West Sussex.

Yesterday's brief visit brought back those days in clear relief, the waking activity happily focused on aeroplanes, not scrabbling through the disgracefully disfigured Blackbushe of 1962. AVM Bennett who had saved the airfield by purchasing 365 acres would arrive in his Fairthorpe sports car, grateful for the support he saw all around he got his hands as dirty as the rest of us who shared a vision of Blackbushe being given new life...

One more Blackbushe consideration occured as I drove home yesterday. I left Blackbushe under perfect blue sky and good visibility. Driving a couple of miles to the south-west, downhill from the Blackbushe plateau, I was soon consumed in fog and mist that was forming at these lower levels. Once again, Blackbushe on her plateau was showing off her fog-free capabilities, or so I assumed as I drove on playing with memories of days long gone...




Sadly, I took no photographs of those weekends at Blackbushe at the time described above. This shot from the Terminal roof in 1963 was taken when we set to building a temporary control tower. Only expected to be in situ for a couple of years it had to last decades... The surroundings at ground level pretty much cleared of the offending debris left behind by the demolition cowboys.




You've seen it before. The tidied-up Blackbushe in 1963. The rubble has largely gone, angle iron juts out of the ground still, a windsock flew confirming plans for the future..However, lumps of concrete, holes in the ground, trenches, twisted pipes, destroyed drains, and random debris remained a problem for long after. It was hard to reckon with the fact that in the Spring of 1960 this had been London's second airport.




Another 1963 moment. Three Counties Aero Club premises can be seen having just been built, the forerunner of today's Pathfinder Cafe. The Terminal still at full length, the main apron is being destroyed by the parish council, but the new population of light aeroplanes had begun to settle in. The light areas around the Terminal are where so much debris had to be cleared, and was cleared with volunteer help on those cold Sundays six decades ago..



Today, on a freezing January morning sixty plus years later the ambition of all those volunteers on a similar freezing Blackbushe morning long ago shows great hope of being realised as the team who now have charge of the Airport's future continue down the route that will see big changes in perhaps just another year - or so. Sadly, many of the team who gave their days in the sixties are no longer with us, after six decades of hope, disappointment, fresh hope and fresh disappointment, and now with a more clearly defined hope it would be unfortunate to miss the new Blackbushe and the consummation of AVM Bennett's great scheme when he boldly plucked Blackbushe from eternal damnation in the hopes of creating the south's premier General Aviation centre...


Have a pleasant Sunday!!

PB