PHOTO of the DAY...

[PB]

"Photo of the Day"
28/02/23

Sincere thanks to those who had queried my absense from the editorial seat over the past days.

Well, let's just say that a raid by some viral material has made a significant attack rendering the editorial party somewhat 'hors de combat', in fact hard to recall when I felt much worse! Probably going to take a few more days for the great internal fight to be decided, but I'm quite hopeful the virus will rue the day it came my way...I guess getting older does not improve our fighting ability, but it ain't gonna win, and we've got an exciting year at the airfield with the Air Day, the Viking's hoped for arrival, the Blackbushe heritage Trust's events, the Twilight Runway Challenge, and above all, the hope of eventual settlement of the hangar and infrastructure development programme. That's all for now.. stay well and stay tuned!!



Dreams of days gone by, and days to come... Great company when needed!

Warmest regards to all...

PB

[PB]

"Photo of the Day"
01/01/23

It's March, the first day of meteorological Spring!! Looks like meteorological doldrums, however, a nice round high pressure system squatting over the UK drawing in cold air of the North Sea and bunging up the sky with wall to wall cloud - now if was June and a dose of high pressure was lodged over the UK it might be very different. Especially around the 3rd June!

Grateful thanks for the good wishes of recent!! Thanks too to 'Longshot44' for these two priceless images posted in "POTD Comments" from the golden era of Blackbushe!!






Back tomorrow hopefully, but don't forget to make a note of a March event coming up at Blackbushe.. www.blackbusheairport.co.uk/curryquiz

As we float into March, here's a thought from this day in 1999... "The hot-air balloon Breitling Orbiter 3, with pilots Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones, begins the first non-stop, round-the-world balloon flight. They will complete the flight on March 19, setting a new distance record for any type of aircraft of 40,804 km (25,360 miles). Taking a total time of 19 days, 21 hours and 47 min".


PB

[PB]

"Photo of the Day"
02/02/23


Crawling from the pit and logging a few hours sleep this morning two things struck me. First, the mornings are getting lighter and second it's only two degree the other side of the window. Tomorrow is March 3rd, just three months from then it'll be the Blackbushe Air Day... Time is racing by, hopefully I'll have escaped from the ravages of the bug from hell who still seems to be maxxing out on its occupation of my body..ahh June 3rd, dear old Blackbushe once again playing host to the visiting public, loads of fabulous aeroplanes, classic cars, a wide variety of eating options, and all being well the Blackbushe Heritage Trust's Viking will be available for inspection!

Meanwhile, Blackbushe continues to demonstrate her growing popularity and suitability for business aircraft operations. The magnificent photo below from Steve Lynes captures an image of evening operations at a business airport. Yes, although the airfield is still some way from having the infrastructure in place that we have dreamed of for decades, business operations continue to increasingly support the fact that an affordable business jet centre less than an hour by road from central London, while also central to the business rich south west of London wherein lies the most tempting catchment area, is in much need!! I have no doubt that the name Blackbushe will grow increasingly synonymous with business aircraft operations of the future. You know, easy access, environmentally without equal......




Steve Lynes masterly photography!! The picture tells a story.



Below, business movements over the past months, each one further evidence of the value of Blackbushe and the tragedy that long ago the airport was closed and desecrated while it had - and still does - have so much to offer..



































..and so it goes on. Grateful thanks to Steve, John and all who have provided their photos and evidence of 'Life on Blackbushe'.

PB

[PB]

"Photo of the Day"
03/03/23

While certain news papers have carried their sensational reports of the return of the 'Beast from the East' I can say with certainty that the 'Pest from my Chest' continues to hamper my return to civilisation and a return to life and the sweet Blackbushe air. Looks like it will be a few degrees cooler over the coming days, hopefully not enough to warrant some of the recent media hype.




POTD's old stock fave that brings back in cool reflection the winter of 62/63. The snow, the ice, the blizzards, they just kept on coming...




..and a wet day. A photo from Stuart Marshall. All I have is a note written on the envelope it was in. "DC3 N47FK I think". Beyond that it's a mystery and a Dakota visit that slipped beneath my Dakota detecting radar.. Any thoughts??



Talking of Dakotas, I don't suppose you know of one that might be free on 3rd June this year? A Dak would be a lovely addition to this year's Blackbushe Air Day.

That's it for today..

PB

[PB]

"Photo of the Day"
04/03/23

Time. Three months on from this moment and it'll be all over...The 2023 Blackbushe Air Day will have entertained and amused all who set foot on the airfield on 3rd June and the volunteers will be looking back at a good job well done! But... Time is dissolving at a hideous rate, or why is it when I look in the mirror some old bloke of apparently gathering vintage looks back at me with a sympathetic eye? Time is a curious partner, mirrors do not help, but the memory remains a staunch ally - 63 years have gone since those tragic days when Blackbushe was dismembered and thence started her fight from the ground up to become reinstated as a British airport. That's a lifetime in which this old airfield has played a part on so many lives, for some of us it has been our lifetime...

Talking of time, today's date marks this day in 1945 when at 0151 hrs Luftwaffe Junkers Ju 88, D5+AX, piloted by Hauptman J. Dreher plus three crew, from night fighter unit 13./Nachtjagdgeschwader 3, became the last Axis aircraft to crash on British soil during World War II. Apparently confused by car headlights, the aircraft hit trees while attacking the airfield at RAF Elvington, finally crashing at Sutton upon Derwent, Yorkshire, the four crew perished. Two other Ju 88s had crashed in separate incidents at 0137 and 0145 hrs.

On this day in 1954 the Lockheed Starfighter made its first flight. My good friend Ormond Haydon-Baillie famed for his warbird activity with Mustangs and Sea Fury, told me of his plans to bring his two Starfighters to the UK and restore them to flying condition. Sadly fate would not agree, we tragically lost Ormond in his Mustang and perhaps the future jet warbird rules and regulations would have been a challenge to adding an F-104 to the air show scene?




Ormond, hand on brow, at the Air Tattoo, Greenham Common, many years ago...




The fabulous HB-O Sea Fury from which many a spell binding display was given..




The Black Knight. Another of Ormond's show pieces, the immaculate T-33 G-OAHB during one of her numerous visits to Blackbushe.



Time. Like a mysterious black hole for ever in our presence, it swallows up all at incredible speed, yet the future can seem so slow in coming.. At this point there is only one reason I'd enjoy seeing time speed-up and that is reaching the point where after six decades Blackbushe Airport is once again able to build her new infrastructure and truly become the General Aviation centre we all know she should be.... Time is ticking, I'd hate to miss it.

PB

[PB]

"Photo of the Day"
05/03/23

It was on this day, just 87 years ago down at Eastleigh aerodrome, that a light blue aeroplane of the most exquisite lines started her first take-off run and having risen into the air flew into the annals of history. An aeroplane unlike any other, with wafer thin elliptical wings that would carry her into history and create untold numbers of love affairs between her and those who would fly her. On this day the Supermarine Spitfire came to life, and the rest as they say is history.

An airshow without a Spitfire seems somehow incomplete, an airshow with a Spitfire brings reverent silence apart from the joyous sounds of her Merlin, wide eyed wonder and tear stained cheeks as this ageless wonder wings her way through our thoughts, imagination, and gratitude.

Over the past six decades we've been hosts to Spitfires at Blackbushe many times, Warbirds of Great Britain re-manufactured a number of Spitfires when their Blackbushe base added to the number of immaculate restored Spitfires that grace the air show scene, and the most beautiful "NHS" Spitfire graced us with her presence at last year's Blackbushe 80th Anniversary Air Day.




A Thing of Beauty is a Joy For Ever. In the case of the Spitfire you surely could never defy those words?




Doug Arnold's "Warbirds of GB" operation from whence numerous Spitfires were reborn to taste the wind beneath their wings once again..




The immortal shape, and one that for a while was resident at Blackbushe,




Blackbushe 75th..what's an anniversary without a Spitfire??




Blackbushe 50th..sadly two of the three Spits I'd lined up were involved in accidents prior to our show.




All were spellbound when Neil Williams and a Spitfire put on an impromptu display..something you could do in those days.




100% beauty. Doug Arnold's Spitfire.



Wishing you a peaceful Sunday, the virus from hell has sunk its fangs into my throat yet again, gonna be too peaceful here!

PB

[PB]

"Photo of the Day"
06/03/23

Not long to go before another perfect reason to spend an evening at Blackbushe.. www.blackbusheairport.co.uk/curryquiz

Sadly the "POTD" Editorial department are still confined to barracks due ongoing health issues, but it's going to be a fun evening for all who fancy some good company and a bit of a brain work-out!!

Yesterday we remembered the Spitfire and the first moments when she became a living entity when flying for the first time..Followed by a few photos of Spitfires at Blackbushe in more recent times, here are one or two more from the days when Spitfires operated from Blackbushe in anger..




A Spitfire and her pilots, 16 Squadron, the PR chaps who photographed vast swathes of occupied Europe unarmed and alone to cement our intelligence of enemy fortifications and build-ups.



Spitfire squadrons based at RAF Hartford Bridge/RAF Blackbushe were
140Sqn 16.3.44 - 7.4.44
16 Sqn 29.6.43 - 16.4.44
322 (Dutch) Sqn 24.4.44 -20.6.44





Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands (plus dog) briefed on a 322 (Dutch) Squadron Spitfire at RAF Hartford Bridge.




The most recent visit to Blackbushe by the BBMF. Few years back now..




Early visit by the BBMF. One of our 1960s air shows, the image roughly dated by the rate of growth of scrub on Blackbushe 'east', the other side of the fence!


PB

[PB]

"Photo of the Day"
07/03/23

Keeping our thoughts in line with warbirds and the extraordinary history of Hartford Bridge/Blackbushe here's an extract from a letter received by ex Airport Manager Stuart Marshall on 27th June, 1994. It came from Wing Commander 'Roly' Beamont CBE, DSO,DFC, DL, FRAeS, and refers to the time when he was a pilot with 150 Wing at Newchurch flying the Tempest V.

"The occasion was a 'Field Investiture' at RAF Hartford Bridge on July 5th, 1944.

'Buck' Fieldman, from Albuquerque, New Mexico, was a pilot of No.3 Squadron in 150 Wing, RAF Newchurch, Kent of which I was the Wing Commander. (Hawker Tempest V's).

I attended this investiture for an 'immediate bar to the DSO' as well, and flew my Tempest down to RAF Lasham, shooting down a V1 near Eastbourne on the way and damaging another, according to my log book.

The landing at Lasham was because all movements were banned at Blackbushe during the Royal visit.

After the investiture I was presented to King George VI and Queen Elizabeth together with other fighter and bomber leaders in the Mess. The Queen was most gracious and approachable.

It was unusual, possibly unique, for a foreign serviceman to be decorated personally by the Monarch. It was normally done by a station or sector commander. 'Buck' show down 13 V1 flying bombs".


Such is the priceless history locked away in the airfield's acres.


Key-Aero published this news a few days ago, "On February 23, 2023, the South Wales Aviation Museum (SWAM) at St Athan in the Vale of Glamorgan took delivery of the major parts of Hawker Tempest II MW758…

On loan to the museum from its current owners, which they note is a “an excellent environment”, the airframe will now receive immediate conservation work as part of an anticipated return to flight project. Of the 1,702 Tempests built, just 12 complete aircraft survive - of which just four are currently on public display.

With the type withdrawn from frontline service in 1955, HA580 became an airfield decoy at what was Poona Air Base (today's Indian Air Force Station Pune) in Western India, before being auctioned off in 1976. Purchased by noted vintage aircraft entrepreneur Doug Arnold of the Blackbushe, Hampshire-based Warbirds of Great Britain, along with six others, it arrived in the UK in 1979, where it was placed in storage. The Tempests were later acquired by Nick Grace and Chris Horsley and stored in Chichester as part of what was the ‘Tangmere Flight’ the following year. Going on to passing through several private hands for the next three decades, MW758 was purchased by the current owner in 2021 and initially stored at another airfield in Wales.

Taking to social media to announce the aircraft’s arrival, SWAM noted the owners “have very kindly placed the aircraft on display here prior to its restoration to airworthy condition”. Now in place at SWAM, the owners aim to assess their options and work out the best way forward in its hopes of returning MW758 to the skies. Although no Tempests are currently airworthy there are several restoration projects underway – including Graham Peacock’s MW763/G-TEMT at Sywell in Northamptonshire, which is expected to fly sometime this year. Could we one day see it joined by MW758?"




The war over, RAF aircraft became surplus and found new homes. Many left the United Kingdom through Blackbushe as did these Tempests bound for a new life in the Indian Air Force. Starting in 1948 and complete by 1950, a significant number of Tempests departed Blackbushe for life in an altogether different climate...

PB

[PB]

"Photo of the Day"
08/03/23

Hurrah, Spring has arrived..06.00 and a winter wonderland exists where yesterday the garden had been showing signs of the new season - this morning a decent snowfall has rather changed the outlook. The Blackbushe Webcam conveys a somewhat Arctic looking scene, while one of the joys of retirement is you don't have a list of appointments and meetings to slide to! Not today, at least...























Snow still white, just the Blackbushe traffic that has changed somewhat!


PB

[PB]

"Photo of the Day"
09/03/23

Dramatic for a day in Hampshire and the south and great fodder for the news channels, winter's brief sting is melting rapidly replaced by much dripping and a balmy two degrees on the Celsius counter.. Reports indicate that last night's Curry & Quiz evening at Blackbushe's Pathfinder Cafe was a great success. Regrettably ongoing health issues kept me at home, but it's great to see the Airport playing a greater role in which all can become involved.






On this day in 1949 a new sound took to the air, the first Avro Shackleton took to the skies of Woodford with 'Jimmy' Orrell at the helm. The Shackleton would become no stranger to Blackbushe, on one occasion the airfield was covered in Shackletons and Hastings as the RAF operated a mass troop movement to the Middle East following the December 1956 Suez Crisis.













Just some of the various Shackleton marks seen at Blackbushe..



PB