Silver City...Britavia
Hallo Skybird,
Magic words those! Blackbushe was my local airport, as kids we were taken up there on our trikes from where we lived in Fleet by our granddad, who had a horse in a field just below Cats Farm Hill. We were always wandering around your aircraft, and those of Eagle too, and I distinctly recall the feeling of walking up a studded floorway to the nose of what turned out to be their Halifax.
Along the side of the Silver City hangar and out-buildings there used to be several foreign aircraft parked, but I can only recall one bearing the name 'Zambesi', later to be identified as a Catalina. You wouldn't happen to have any photos of the general area would you...?
Somewhat later, I took some very unidentifiable photos myself in your hangar with a simple box camera, but all you can recognize is the glazing of a Bell 47!
During the Farnborough show of 1957 I happened to be there when the Seahawk crashed quite close to your out-buildings, and was the first one to reach the pilot, who had come down with I believe a broken ankle. A very good friend took the quite famous photo of its plunge to earth with about a yard to go, and I am to be seen about to take off over the A30 in its direction. Had the Seahawk not corkscrewed in its dive, it would have come down on us at the terminal building. We were watching it come at us, fascinated and rooted to the spot...
Some years later, as a clerk at FUDC I'd have dealings with the father of a schoolchum, Les Painter was his name, and he used to be a general factotum at Eagles as far as I recall. Son's name was Doug.
A friendly police motorcycle patrolman used to call in for a coffee and we got to know him quite well. In fact he arranged for us (spotters) to get a flight in Eagle's Viking G-AMGG.
Some ten years later I'd be working on their Britannias at Heathrow...
Happy days!
brgds
atb