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Post by PB on Apr 10, 2024 6:30:33 GMT
"Photo of the Day" 10/04/24Looking at "POTD" over the period since 1st April the incredible past of Blackbushe has been made obvious. From wartime exploits to being London's second airport and 'honeypot' to Farnborough Air Show visitors in the fifties, right up to today's investments in the Airport's future as THE airport for General Aviation it is quite clear that if ever a site was suited to flying Blackbushe occupies that site!!
The Blackbushe Heritage Trust is doing much to preserve some of the Airport's varied history with the restoration of a Viking airliner, various events, and its sales arm where fund raising is of such importance. Should you be thinking of visiting Blackbushe on Sunday 21st April, the Blackbushe Heritage Trust shop will be open! Why not pop in and say 'Hi' and maybe pick-up one of our great offers in books, models, photos etc etc. Open from 10.00 to 14.00 and you'll be made very welcome!!Remember! The Blackbushe Terminal area in the seventies.. We thought it looked pretty smart like this, after the debris left following the Airport's 1960 closure anything was an improvement!A day in the sixties when the powerful aroma of kerosene floated across the apron as Smiths Industries 748 parked next to a Piaggio P166. Optimism for bigger things was in the air along with aviation vapours that excited the nostrils!! Right up to date, the latest in business travel at Blackbushe the Pilatus PC-24, and image of our tomorrow's as the Airport develops over the next year or two...That's it for today,
PB
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Post by PB on Apr 11, 2024 5:56:24 GMT
"Photo of the Day" 11/04/24It would seem that the current runway lighting project will be throwing light not only on tomorrow, but also yesterday..
As you well know, Blackbushe was one of the few airfields to be equipped with FIDO, the fog dispersal system that literally burned the fog away... Vast amounts of fuel were pumped down channels on either side of the runway and via the spaced out burners set alight. You then landed between the blazing channels - or took off depending on your situation. It cost money, lots of it, not to mention its drain on fuel stocks, however, it was used with success during WW2 as RAF Hartford Bridge, and later in the civil guise airfield's civil guise as Blackbushe Airport.
As the current runway work proceeds it has been necessary to excavate ducting channels across the runway and across the land leading to the runway. This is where light has fallen on 'yesterday' as seemingly a channel that contained concrete FIDO ducting has had to be cut through. It's not 100% certain that these underground channels were supporting FIDO, but whatever they might be they are certainly part of 'yesterday' at today's Blackbushe!
The photos below are courtesy of Blackbushe's Managing Director, Chris Gazzard, and clearly show the channels/gulleys described above.As unearthed during the Airport's current 'Work in Progress'...Later transferred to the Blackbushe Heritage Trust hangar for 'investigation...If you have any knowledge as to the above we'd be pleased to hear what you have to say.. Sadly, my contacts who may well have been able to identify these artifacts are no longer with us.
PB
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Post by PB on Apr 12, 2024 6:43:04 GMT
"Photo of the Day" 12/04/24While Blackbushe takes a couple of weeks off from fixed wing flying to allow the new runway lighting installation to proceed, it is hard to believe that 64 years have flown since the Airport was lit-up at night with some of the most advanced lighting systems. Approach lights stretching out for the main runway in both directions, massive gantries illuminating the main apron and to the west of the airfield a large orange painted gantry spanned the A30 as a part of the approach lighting system. Can't wait to see the airfield lit-up again, we've gone through may years of varied lighting provisions from goose-necks to electric lights but the system going in now will enjoy the latest in technology and make Blackbushe a great airport to visit by day or by night!!
Today marks another point in the passage of 'aviation' events. It's now 63 years since the news came through that Yuri Gagarin had become the first human to be placed in Earth orbit aboard Vostok 1 on this day 12th April, 1961... While man has achieved the most amazing advances in space and space exploration since then Blackbushe Airport has, of course, endured the same period of time suffering very restricted advancement due to the actions of 'other parties'. A sad indictment on the the varying way some humans exert their influence on progress, but come June we will 'see the light' as Blackbushe's new lighting system is finally installed and operational. Looking forward to driving past Blackbushe on coming winter nights and seeing the new lights stretching the length of the airfield!A Dove on final approach to Blackbushe in the days when approach lights stretched out across the 'Common'.....and now my four year old grandson, spending a few days with the old folk, is demanding to take to the skies via our flight simulator. Can't argue with that..
See you soon,
PB
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Post by PB on Apr 13, 2024 10:03:10 GMT
"Photo of the Day" 13/04/24Sorry if you've popped in to see "POTD" but lots going on at home including a certain grandson who claimed the computer for some serious aviating!! However, still here and thinking about tomorrow's "POTD" and the latest on the airfield and the weeks leading up to D Day. Some topical mention of FIDO at RAF Hartford Bridge and another look at life when Blackbushe had a different name and a very different role and appearance to today.
Blackbushe remains closed this weekend but work on the new runway lighting will continue throughout...
Our heroes working on the Viking restoration will be beavering away at the aircraft's fuselage today stripping old paint, and priming ready for the final coats.Talking of Beavering, here's a chilly Beaver at Blackbushe during one of the cold winters at Blackbushe - this is back in the fifties when the Airport was still owned by the government..Enjoy Saturday, spring is in the air - and the Pathfinder remains open! PB
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Post by PB on Apr 14, 2024 5:45:01 GMT
"Photo of the Day" 14/04/24Another Sunday at "POTD" and our weekly look at life at Blackbushe (RAF Hartford Bridge) during the weeks leading to D Day in June 1944. Today our journey takes us to the end of March 1944.
To continue our look at Blackbushe in the weeks leading to D Day we find ourselves facing a currently topical subject, namely improvements to the FIDO system where currently there has been conjecture as to findings during the present runway lighting project."The updating of the FIDO system was progressing well with a completely new system being built but leaving the existing system still in place. The new Haigill Mk IV proved not to be very efficient and was itself subsequently to be replaced after only three months of operation. Fuel burned in all systems was petrol, which was a scarce product and as stored in three huge metal tanks which were reinforced with brickwork. Holding 69,000 gallons of fuel, the fire risks were obvious and for safety their were four inlets per tank in to which foam could be pumped should a fire occur. The fuel was pumped from these tanks via 6-inch pipes down each side of the runway by means of six Ford V8 pumps.
When the petrol reached the burners it was initially ignited by hand. Petrol was consumed at the rate of approximately 8000 gallons an hour when the whole system was in use. At a cost of around 7 old pence per gallon, this equated to around £6000 per hour, which was a huge cost in those days. The crew that were responsible for the upkeep and working of the systems were billeted close to the control tower so they could be on hand immediately to ignite the system should it be required. At first, when the earlier system had been installed few of the station personnel had many idea that it was there and there were some understandably strange reactions when it was first used. Many thought the airfield had come under attack when they saw the glow of the vast area of flame and others were so concerned that things would get out of control that they feared for their own safety. One report indicates that someone was so concerned that the local fire brigade was called out to fight the fire!
At 2017 hours on the 18th a Boston of 88 Squadron crashed at Borough Court mansion near Hook while on night-flying practice and the three crew members were killed. The rest of the Squadron were left to mourn the loss of their three colleagues, F/O Moore, F/Sgt Fuller and F/Sgt Johnson all of whom died instantly when the aircraft came down. Unfortunately things did not improve from them when on the 23rd the squadron mounted an attack on the Creil railway yards. Although the overall result was good, tragedy struck when one of the crews was forced to return on one engine. Having made it all the way back, the aircraft BZ204 (K), hit the ground at Minley while on final approach to land and the four crew comprising F/O Evans, F/Sgt Bagot, F/Sgt Harvie and W/O Macfarlane all died at the crash scene. As large numbers of aircraft were flying at the airfield each day there was a lot of dust created as the aircraft taxied to and from their dispersals and the runway. This caused the PR Unit great problems as the dust particles entered their printing chemicals and duly stuck to the still-wet prints.
On the 24th a 140 Squadron Mosquito took photographs of Point de Barfleur using a 12-inch camera. It was to be one of their lat sorties from the airfield as the squadron was scheduled to move out to their new base at RAF Northolt, Middlesex, early the next month.
The 25th saw a farewell dance organised in their honour prior to the squadron's eventual departure in April.
An unfortunate incident is recorded as having taken place at the end of March when a Spitfire accidentally dropped a fuel tank overhead the airfield and it subsequently scored a direct hit on the cockpit of a parked Mitchell bomber.
As the month drew to a close 88 Squadron carried out an attack on 'E' boat pens at Ijmuiden on the 26th and good results were recorded although there had been some intense accurate flak to contend with.
Recalling the time he spent at the airfield, W?O Jimmy Armstrong of 226 Squadron remembered that ladies from Yateley, probably the WVS, brought very welcome food items up to the airfield for them. These included chocolate, Horlicks tablets, chewing gum, tea and coffee and on one occasion a bag of sugar which was in very short supply. There was the occasional home-made cake or fruit pie and Jimmy recalls how well a piece of apple pie and a cup of tea went down in those difficult days. All items ha to be left in the operations room, from there they would be collected and quickly transferred to their own storerooms in their nissen hut - although usually not for long! Even the endless games of quits and shooting craps halted when nws came that the ladies were in the Ops Room.
All personal items had to be left at this office when the crews went on an operation. Jimmy's pay of £10 per fortnight, or what was left of it, and all his other possessions went into his personal bag, which in turn was placed in a locked ammunition box for security until collected on his return. Crews were not permitted to take cigarettes with them when they flew but he used to take two, one for each boot, for use in emergencies! As always, great thanks to Stuart Marshal for his work compiling our history of the 'wartime years'....
Today, this weekend, that history soaked runway continues its voyage into the future as the engineers and technicians work throughout the weekend with the task of installing an entirely new lighting system to ensure safe flying for years to come. THE runway in 2024, 82 years young and so much more to give!!PB
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Post by PB on Apr 15, 2024 7:13:19 GMT
"Photo of the Day" 15/04/24Strangely quiet, my four year old co-pilot has gone back home and Grandad must fly-on alone...
Just a few more days until Blackbushe re-opens to fixed wing air traffic, Friday is the last day of the closure due runway works. Hopefully the word 'closed' will not be apportioned to our main runway for many a long year to come.
Opening the history book today marks the 1947 anniversary of BOAC's first scheduled service from the UK to Canada with a weekly flight from London to Montreal using a Lockheed Constellation. They could never have envisaged how traffic across the Atlantic would grow - or the size and power of the aircraft flying the big pond in the future. On the same day Trans Canada Airlines inaugurated a service from Montreal to Prestwick using a DC-4. Time logged 8 hours 39 minutes. With a good jet stream we could halve that in the dear old VC10 a few years later..
Today's date also marks a night in 1945 when an RAF Lancaster on a raid on Potsdam became the last British bomber to be shot down by a German night fighter in World War Two.
I recall being of a very young ago when visiting cities like Liverpool that were seriously damaged in the last war, bomb sites and blackened spaces between buildings were 'quite normal' - bomb damage was all over the place so to me it seemed obviously 'normal' for this to occur without thinking of the horror that would have been unleashed in the process of creating these darkened spaces. Today we have no bomb damage spread across our major cities, thank God, and in the peaceful aspect of city life today it must seem unreal to today's very young that grown-up humans would conduct such behaviour. Sadly it continues to be demonstrated as our world slides into an unsafe era and the Middle East erupts into something already unpleasant. Talking with my grandson over the past week where aeroplanes have played a significant part in our conversations I think he finds it unbelievable that 'grown-ups' (?) could indulge in such destruction on each other.. Sadly they do as minds corrupted by greed and ideology continue to blot our beautiful planet.As long as we indulge in war there will always be the preservers of the peace! Here's one, the immortal Hurricane, at last year's Blackbushe Air Day. I wonder what the Air Day will produce this year?That's it..
PB
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Post by PB on Apr 16, 2024 9:55:45 GMT
"Photo of the Day" 16/04/24A chain of eventualities has stepped in the way of "POTD" this morning...hopefully back on track tomorrow!Today's "POTD" goes back to 1962. Poor old Blackbushe was still broken, but as a teenager/schoolboy I was immensely proud to help AVM Bennett wheel out his Fairtravel Linnet to accompany one of his Fairthorpe sports cars to face the A30 and show that Blackbushe Airport still had a beating heart. Days I shall never forget, I loved watching occupants of passing cars notice an aeroplane on Blackbushe again!!PB
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Post by PB on Apr 17, 2024 6:36:44 GMT
"Photo of the Day" 17/04/24Aviation history easily fills each day's recollections of the past.
Take today, for example, pop back to 17 April, 1934, and the Fairey Swordfish would have been seen making her first flight. Not only the Swordfish, an aeroplane well known to Blackbushe - the de Havilland Dragon Rapide also made the types first venture into the sky... Scillonia Airways, Blackbushe's most regularly seen Rapide captured here at Blackbushe during the 2017 75th Anniversary. The Red Arrows pay their respects to our event and a classic aeroplane! G-AHAG has supported not only the 2017 Air Day, but the 2016 Air Day, various visits for pleasure flying plus providing the pleasure flying for our Air Day in 2022,2023, and this year in June just coming!This day in 1949 added to the "Bermuda Triangle" legend when British South American Airways Tudor 4 disappeared without trace while over the Atlantic Ocean on a flight between Bermuda and Kingston, Jamaica."Star Ariel" never seen again. Numerous Tudors flew from or were operated from Blackbushe but this one G-AGRE has no record of being seen here.Tudor days at Blackbushe, an Avro Tudor 2 as used by AVM Bennett's Fairflight on the Berlin Airlift.Departing Blackbushe in the early fifties aboard a Tudor. Leaving runway 08 on an easterly departure some of the much missed Blackbushe 'east' and the original Control Tower are on view..In 1973, on this day, Federal Express delivered their first package, while three years earlier on 17 April 1970 the crippled Apollo 13 delivered its three astronauts safely back to the good Earth.
Now, as you know the Vickers Viking played a predominant role in the story of Blackbushe and the story of British aviation and airlines. This Thursday evening the Blackbushe Heritage Trust are holding their last evening talk until the autumn, and this one's going to be a real cracker as our friends from Brooklands who have restoring their Viking over the past 25 years will be here to tell us the story of their Viking project. Bill Risbridger will be giving his not to be missed talk on the highs and lows of restoring an old but much loved aeroplane.
DO NOT MISS this Thursday's evening at the Pathfinder Cafe starting at 7pm...Tickets in advance or at the door are just £10 and every penny goes toward the restoration of our Viking G-AGRW. To secure your place you can click here and reserve your seat NOW!! www.blackbusheheritagetrust.com/store/p/the-brooklands-viking-talk.
The two weeks of runway closure end on Friday evening, Saturday morning will see the airfield receiving and launching aeroplanes once again.
That's my lot for today, the thrills of the dentist's chair await in a few hours..
PB
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Post by PB on Apr 18, 2024 9:11:19 GMT
"Photo of the Day" 18/04/24Final notice.
Tonight's the night at the Pathfinder for the last of the Blackbushe Heritage Trust evening talks until the autumn, and this one's a cracker...
The full story of the long restoration of the Brooklands Viking by Bill Risbridger gives us the low down on how their Viking has progressed to the shining example is it today. Starting at 7pm, doors open 6.30 tickets are just £10 and all money received goes to the development of our Blackbushe Viking. You can pay online or at the door.... Don't miss a most informative evening and, of course, keeping in touch with the BHT and all our fellow supporters!! Here's your link to a great evening TONIGHT!! www.blackbusheheritagetrust.com/store/p/the-brooklands-viking-talk
Yesterday for a some fresh air after a dental appointment I decided to pop into Blackbushe and check-out what was going on. A stroll along the new fencing to the main runway confirmed that work is progressing at pace on the runway lighting project. Seeing vehicles and engineers across the span of the Airport engaged in positive work toward the new Blackbushe was heart-warming to a great degree. New smart fencing has now spanned the main runway where Airport land and Council land meet. Suitable warnings are in place, but you can guarantee some will take no notice.Which side of the fence are you? Both have their benefits, but the ghosts of past days still linger...Still there six decades after the wholesale destruction of Blackbushe the council owned side of the fence confirms that bits of Blackbushe were too tough for the demolition people! They silently tell their own story, the story of wartime heroes and tragedy, the story of post-war commercial aviation's resurgence, and the bitter death blows that scar the scenery so many years later.Runway 14/32 still has a presence although a shadow of its former self - amid the peace of Yateley Common of today, one reflects on the extraordinary tales that must belong to these bones of long ago?The work of Mother Nature, looking south-east along the direction of runway 14, a very restful scene as Spring emerges and with that growth the hope that what is left of Blackbushe Airport will be building a new infrastructure that will benefit employment, the local economy, and provide a General Aviation centre of excellence of which we can all be proud...SEE YOU TONIGHT? PB
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Post by PB on Apr 19, 2024 8:04:46 GMT
"Photo of the Day" 19/04/24All who attended last night's Blackbushe Heritage Trust talk at the Pathfinder enjoyed a most informative, educational, and enjoyable presentation by Bill Risbridger on the 25 years restoring the Brooklands Viking. Sincere thanks to him and all who spent the evening listening and learning...Bill in full swing and his captivated audience!photo Pete Vickery "POTD" going to be brief today, the mystery editorial neurological condition attacked again last night, the worst to date..some degree of discomfort demands an attempt for a few more zzzz's. One awaits the latest MRI results with interest!!
Good news is that Blackbushe reopens to all flying tomorrow!
PB
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