PHOTO of the DAY...

[PB]

"Photo of the Day"
08/08/24

Time and tech problems have beset "POTD" production today.




A quick glance back to the Doug Arnold days this morning...


Back tomorrow..

PB

[PB]

"Photo of the Day"
09/08/24

Another lovely August day, grey and dull... The month has not been outsanding in the annals of British weather history. Not unusual, in 1902 Edward VII was crowned on 9 August - the day was cool and mostly cloudy. By contrast, on 2nd August, 1906, a tornado accompanying a thunderstorm killed two people in Guildford. The 'great storm' produced hailstones reportedly 5" across, and hail piled a foot high in Bedfordshire. The offending storm approached from the south west and started around 21.00... August can be variable, a heatwave got going on the 29th with 27C in the Thames Valley, 31.7C in Maidenhead on the 30th, while Nottingham reached 34.9C on the 31st. There's hope yet!

Back in June we took a daily note of life at RAF Hartford Bridge (Blackbushe) during June 1944 and the build-up to D-Day. As with July of '44, continuous operations took place at the airfield. As this year has seen the installation of Blackbushe's new runway/taxiway lighting system it worthy of note that in August 1944 an update to the FIDO system was started, this proved to be an entirely new type. It was constructed with trenches either side of the runway into which pipes were laid with burners at intervals known as slot burners. The top of the trench was covered by a thick mesh through which the flames would rise. The burners themselves looked like giant safety pins stood on edge with small jets along the upper surfaces. The new system pumped fuel through the underground pipe-work and into the burners, ignited the fuel in the lower pipe of the burner automatically, which in turn generated sufficient heat to vaporise the fuel in the top pipe. Once ignited this provided the flame that came up through the grill. As the majority of the system was housed underground it proved much less of a hazard than the previous system that had been located above the surface. The only real problem with this system was the build-up of residue from the leaded petrol being used to fuel it. To prevent the nozzles becoming fouled was the laborious task of pricking out the jets, which was a filthy and back-breaking task that found no favour with the crew allocated to maintain the system, but at least they did not have to light by hand any more...




No FIDO anymore, back in 2008 emotions were high as this beautiful one-time Blackbushe resident came home for a brief visit. G-APSA was home...emotions ran to overflow as those engines reached take-off thrust and the brakes were released. Standing quite close to the runway one could feel Blackbushe tremble underfoot as her power was released and for one last time she rose into Blackbushe skies..


PB

[PB]

"Photo of the Day"
10/08/24

Unusual, but seems that the weather people are predicting a good weekend...31C perhaps?

As is such a regular sight, the tech crew of the Blackbushe Heritage Trust will be at work on the Viking today, another day nearer when Blackbushe once again has a Viking airliner on her tarmac and very much based here!




The nose cone has had its imperfections knocked out and been professionally finished. The aircraft will be in the colours of both BEA and Eagle Airways, the nose being held in place by Kevin Bond and Pete Vickery - two key players in the Heritage Trust's activities... It will not be finally fitted for some time, there's much to do with the rest of the aircraft that comes behind the nose cone!!




Some historic news regarding BEA services from the UK. On this day, 10 August, 1947, BEA launched the world's first regular cargo service using the DC-3 Freighter from their Northolt base.. I wonder what they would have thought of the future prospects for air cargo? The 747F would have been a dream come true for those bits that were large but weighed little. A nightmare for trimming the aircraft I remember so well from the days of DC-4 freighter operations when presented with a cargo manifest of large but light components. The DC-4 was quite easy to 'balance' but two stops en-route meant some very strategic loading not to mention frustration around 02.00 at the Heathrow Cargo Village. Woe betide anyone who forget to place the tail support in place.. Bundles of newspapers firmly strapped down with webbing just behind the flight deck was a useful way of bring the centre of gravity where you wanted it to enable a safe departure.

We've come a long way since that BEA Dakota took off on this day in 1947.

PB

[PB]

"Photo of the Day"
11/08/24

It's great having a new phone, lots of new bells and whistles, but the big question is "why" will it not transfer my WhatsApp data? Copying over data from old to new phone was easy and included the WhatsApp app but it refuses to initialise. Any suggestions would be welcome, I've prob missed something but....?

The English summer continues its switch back ride from cool to definitely not cool. Looks like the next couple of days will be very uncool... enjoy!!

While August is 'high-summer' the prospect of changes in conditions and daylight hours edges relentlessly closer. Time is a strange substance, no matter what you do it has the almost quantum ability to pass both rapidly and slowly at the same time..Seemingly seven decades have passed in a flash yet there's so much stored in them!

Thinking back to those hallowed days when I circled round the world and BOAC paid me for doing it, I note that it was on this day in 1952 that BOAC inaugurated a new weekly service to Colombo using Constellation or Argonaut aircraft. In my days with BOAC on the magnificent, if fuel hungry VC10, crews looked back on the days of flying boats and the big piston long haulers as if they were from another age, I suppose they were in some ways, but hopping over the Atlantic in around seven hours - westbound nonstop - compared with the prop driven forerunners was chalk and cheese. Today I suppose the relatively basic VC10 is looked upon much in the way tales of adventures on flying boats were looked upon in the 'jet age'...when some of us were younger and a couple of pairs of Conways propelled you to far away places?

This has nothing to do with Blackbushe, except that throughout the decades now passed the Airport has ceaselessly been a part of life for me. No doubt because of the many happy hours spent there in the fifties watching the proceedings as the numerous home-based independents went about their business, the US Navy, fog diversions, Farnborough Week, all added to the unique character of the Airport on the A30... it was quite unique having so much aviation straddled across a major trunk road as Blackbushe was, you were also so close to the action yet Blackbushe felt - as it still does - remote and detached sitting on her plateau and surrounded by forests and open spaces... A brilliant site for an airfield, it is to be hoped that her brilliance will shine forward with the construction of new hangars and facilities when the Planning Inspector has completed his/her deliberations on the Land Exchange now under consideration..



Blackbushe pre 1960. A regular haunt for BOAC crew training...




Post 1960..pilot training took on a more basic appearance. Saved from ultimate destruction by AVM Bennett the Airport yielded its first flying club, Blackbushe Aero Club, of which I was a 'founder member'. The Club's Piper Colt G-ARNL was kept in hangars at Southampton during the week and flown up to Blackbushe when the weather suited.


A perfect example of time's strange properties, it feels only recently that weekends were spent amid the company of those who formed Blackbushe Aero Club in the early sixties, yet most of the good folks around Blackbushe today were not even born! Now THAT makes me feel old!! Sadly, many of those with whom I shared those early Blackbushe weekends in the sixties are no longer 'in the circuit' - the hope now is that the long awaited developments to the Airport's infrastructure will take place, well you know, before it's too late - for some of us!!

Have a cool Sunday!

PB

[PB]

"Photo of the Day"
12/08/24

19C OAT at 07.00 is not a bad way to start your day in sub tropical Hampshire. With our one palm tree in the garden and a supply of refreshing rum, pineapple and coconut who needs the Caribbean? Well, it'll stay warm out there far longer than our current blast of solar energy permits...

Feet back on the ground, yesterday's "POTD" reminded of how Blackbushe first worked its way into my soul. Actually, saying that I first enjoyed the Airport in the fifties was not strictly correct. In the fifties my Dad would stop the car on one of the pull-ins that the A30 offered so as to take in the Blackbushe action on both side of the road. However, it was in the late forties that I first became enthralled with Blackbushe.. Until I was four we lived in Little Sandhurst, a very few miles from Blackbushe, and from there it was easy to hear the sound of heavies taking off..My Dad would listen and as the 'vibrations' changed he'd say when the aircraft was airborne. To me that was most exciting, but never dreamed that over 70 years later I'd be writing about the experience having subsequently got to know the airfield a little better!




Equally, never dreamed that so many years later I'd have some involvement in returning one of those classic aeroplanes from a far off foreign field to the safety of Blackbushe..




A tired and weather beaten "RW" in Austria in the spring of last year..




With our brilliant technical team the Viking makes her way to restoration. It'll take a while yet, it's a massive job, but with the incredible support we have received the impossible steadily becomes the possible. The name EAGLE will again become a part of the Blackbushe scene while BRITISH EUROPEAN AIRWAYS will share the other side of the fuselage.



Both airlines spent much time at Blackbushe with Vikings. Harold Bamberg was the Founder and Chairman of Eagle Airways, and happily he agreed to attend and unveil the "Airlines of Blackbushe Airport" sign back in 2013. On asking what he'd do at Blackbushe if circumstances permitted, his immediate answer was, "Start an airline - but only a small one". I think he envisaged aircraft of Beech 200 size. I know he'd have been thrilled by the prospect of a Viking carrying the Eagle logo coming home to Blackbushe. Sadly, he is no longer with us, but his spirit will surely be entwined in the work of the Blackbushe Heritage Trust.

PB

[PB]

"Photo of the Day"
13/08/24

The current 'meteor shower' the 'Perseids' received quite a build-up about their visibility over the past two night. Being a warm and pleasant night, free of clouds apart from the light pollution that fails to assist in the south of England and one's back garden, it seemed opportune to take up a suitable position and wait for the heavens to put on a show. Between midnight and 02.00 it was very pleasant, a few aircraft generally heading north, a liberal supply of satellites, and very little meteor activity. During the two hours four meteors were noted, brief but bright, but not the 'shower' that the media had been promoting earlier. Satellites on the other hand were quite liberal in their heavenly passage, in particular a stream heading north separated by perhaps a minute.. Perhaps Elon Musk's Starlink?

From satellite gazing back to Earth, and a couple of notable first flights took place on this day in history...




The Vickers Warwick... First flew on this day in 1939. The Warwick was a very regular sight at Blackbushe (RAF Hartford Bridge) during the war thanks to 167 and 301 Squadrons based here and equipped with the somewhat unreliable Warwick. Dogged by engine problems it was far from popular with the engineers whose job it was to keep them in the air.




Another first flight attached to today's date.. Back in 1962 the HS125 first took to the skies. Certain car makers shared the 'engines at the back' design, the 125 was a successful British biz jet that offered excellent cabin height compared to the competition - initially powered by RR Viper engines it was very hard on the ears to all who stood nearby. The authorities chose to ban the 125 from Blackbushe by way of a Section 52 Planning Agreement. Long ago, but the 125 that was quite a regular sight at Blackbushe sadly became just a memory. The later 125 with TFE731 engines if memory serves correctly was and is a far better neighbour.



Finally for today a question.. What are you doing on Saturday evening? How about Blackbushe's Live Music Evening? Take a look at the Airport's website for all the details, promises to be a fun occasion! www.blackbusheairport.co.uk/live-music

With that it's time for us star gazers to attack the Weetabix!!

PB

[PB]

"Photo of the Day"
14/08/24

Summer was nice!

For our friends in Australia this day back in 1953 was notable when unknown numbers of kangaroos had her shock of their lives - the sound barrier was broken over Australia for the first time courtesy of a RAAF Sabre...



Not supersonic but this aeroplane carries a name closely associated with Australia... 16 Squadron so well associated with Blackbushe in WW2 returned during Farnborough Week 1959, on four days in fact. Shows what a treasure Blackbushe was for all who loved getting close to aeroplanes...




...a leading Photo Reconnaissance base where unarmed Spitfires of 16 Squadron secured vital pre D-Day intelligence...




..and for Blackbushe's 80th Anniversary celebrations we were graced by Pete Teichman's 16 Squadron Spitfire. It did serve with 16 Squadron but not until later in the war when they moved into Europe. The blue Spitfires were a familiar sight during the build-up to D Day when they carried out essential photo recce work over enemy held territory, so valuable to the planners of D-Day.



Blackbushe Airport, so much history....

PB

[PB]

"Photo of the Day"
15/08/24

Lucky old train drivers, 15% over three years and as a mere pensioner whose given up his winter fuel allowance to support them I'm naturally happy for those whose gain makes the headlines today.

Talking of liberal sums of money, driving my Ford Galaxy last night to Heathrow T2 and spending an hour or so waiting for my family to appear I was presented with a bill of £17 after the payment of which I could expect the car park barrier to grant me freedom once again. The Short Stay car park was jammed solid with cars, how much must the Airport be making from those who simply want to reunite with their family? Add the £12.50 penalty courtesy of Sadiq Khan and his ULEZ rip off plus the expense of fuel burned on the trip and, well one envies those who can get a 15% pay rise!!

Standing in what is today's Terminal 2 a sudden recall of a trip to the old T2 in the late fifties came back. The sounds of heavy transport aircraft of the day as four piston engines sang in harmony, funny how an abstract moment in time so long ago can suddenly surface. I think it was a DC-6 responsible for the momentary recall and still plays in my head's version of YouTube..

Heathrow was assured of a long future whereas London's second airport, Blackbushe, did not have such solid support - they moved its people and their aeroplanes to Gatwick - but still today despite political adversity Blackbushe remains alive and looks to a very positive future as a leading General Aviation centre once the Planning Inspector makes his decision re the Land Exchange. When this will be remains a seemingly unknown quantity, but hopefully it will see an end to the sixty four years just spent waiting and hoping for an assurance of 'long life' for Blackbushe as well as for those who have been doing the waiting!! The sounds of the DC-6 and such like may have gone, but the sound of aero engines is set to be heard at Blackbushe for many years to come...




The sights and sounds of Blackbushe past - unforgettable!!




The sights and sounds of Blackbushe today - and tomorrow! Full of promise... Thanks John, great photo!



Hectic week ahead, but hopefully POTD will endure!!

PB

[PB]

Photo of the Day"
16/08/24




One of the many Britannias seen at Blackbushe prior to May 1960. BOAC Crew training was behind many of these visits.... Toady. 16 August marks the Brits first flight in 1952, seems only yesterday that the occasion made the headlines.




Another less sizeable but notable first flight on this day was that of the de Havilland Canada Beaver. Another type familiar with Blackbushe for many years, seen here at the 'Press Day' prior to Blackbushe's 75th Anniversary celebrations in 2017..



Time restricted today. but POTD continues its 'daily' service..

If you're at Blackbushe on Sunday, don't forget to drop into the Blackbushe Heritage Trust's Shop and History Hub!! Open from 10.00 - 16.00, every penny you spend at the shop goes toward the restoration of the Trust's Viking that continues to progress - as you'll see!


PB

[PB]

"Photo of the Day"
17/08/24

Another complicated day due health and other issues...but we're still here!




The Forum header photo as of today, Aeronca 100 G-AEXD.. An interesting photo as memories of flying in her come back and a historic glimpse of the Terminal in the background.



Parked on the edge of the remaining apron, behind the aircraft you can clearly see where the majority of the apron once stood. At this point the local parish council had completed their excavation of the apron on their share of the airport leaving rubble and lumps of concrete to remember it by. The debris improvised as wheel chocks and heavier lumps as weights to stop the wind blowing your aeroplane away. Hopefully. A sad story, but at least the Terminal's two thirds on the council land was spared a while longer. In the photo beyond the Aeronca's propeller you can see the double doors that lead to the passenger lounge where many a traveller would have exited en route to their awaiting Viking, Hermes, York or whatever... The Terminal's two thirds on council land finally succumbed to the County Council who demolished it some years later. Despite offers of cash to not destroy it and use as business premises the bureaucrats had their way and another fine piece of the old Airport was gone forever.

On a more interesting tack, the Aeronca was an interesting machine to fly in. Flying was one aspect, getting in and out another! The wing bracing wires were quite sharp and when entering the cockpit care was necessary to preserve one's assets in working order. Once inside, the cabin was snug and when taxiing it was advisable to not taxi over anything too large, hard or sharp as by this point your nether regions were moving somewhat close to mother earth...

I recall, quite clearly, departing from Blackbushe's runway 19. This was the time when all runways on the remaining Blackbushe were in use. Handy for the wind. 19 is the result of a long and laborious taxi, a scenic tour of Blackbushe to the necessary holding point on the north side. 19 is the cross runway that ends at the A30. You lined up and opened the JAP 'motor bike' engine to as much as it could muster and moved gracefully toward the waiting A30. Lift off achieved perhaps later than desirable but enough runway remained to clear the traffic on the A30 while giving us and the occupants of passing cars a good view of each other. The rate of climb was not spectacular and in fact circling over the forest south of Blackbushe provided some lift in glider pilot fashion as the Aeronca maintained or gathered some height. On return to the apron where we had been half an hour earlier further care had to be taken on exiting the aeroplane - those wires were still hungry for prey!

Funny how you remember some things, the flight in question was in October, 1965. Sadly, John Chapman who I flew with was killed in a crash at Old Warden a while later - a fate that has awaited numerous souls with whom I have tasted the pleasure of escaping Mother Earth over the years.

If you're going to the Music and Beer evening at the Pathfinder tonight have a great time, sadly I cannot make it, looks like the weather is going to be kind...

PB