Blackbushe Memories (Merged)
On the 3rd.of May 1964 I had a 15 min.flight in Prentice G-AOPL,can anyone remember the machine?,a rare bird nowadays.
It was sold in Durban to a young farmer who was going to fly it to a hill farm and use it to commute to Durban. I have always thought that if he got it on the ground at the hill farm it would never leave it again, and a good thing too.
If I can remember or find my Photobucket password I'll show you a picture of G-AOPL in Sharjah, which has been in another thread in the past.
My only memory of Blackbushe was landing there one day in the Royal Artillery Auster, parking and walking across the apron to report and have a cup of coffee. I was confronted on route by an angry little fellow who had dashed out to berate me for parking where I had, which was where ATC told me to go. He was beside himself with rage. It turned out that he was a retired RAF person called AVM Bennett, of well-deserved fame but short on Customer Relations skills, who ran the airfield.
So it WAS 'CP, the one I checked out in a couple of years later, rather than the other Pup which did the field landing. I was flying the Cessna 150s at the time and didn't take much notice of the Pups, so I assumed as the other Pup disappeared about this time, that was the one which had the incident.
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Anyone remember Ralph Bundy (ground staff) Peter Hooper(flew parachutists and got me on to it) Julian Bell, Ian Baxter, Phil Bright, Mike Graham(founder of Aeromart)
I occasionally flew a Beagle Terrier G-ASCD. Went to an air rally in Belgium in it and have memories of ground looping it at Ostend
I occasionally flew a Beagle Terrier G-ASCD. Went to an air rally in Belgium in it and have memories of ground looping it at Ostend
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blackbushe memories
Just found this thread. I worked at the ground control (1966/7?) under Reg, and later Ralph Bundy(?). Mike Sheehy was in the tower at that stage and bought my green mini van from me. All the memories are flooding back.
Mrs.Judd and her pretty daughter. AVM Bennet driving the annual CAA inspector around in his Aston, and not a fibreglass Fairthorpe. Getting into trouble regularly for roaring back from checking the runways in the landrover with Mike turning the ignition off and on with subsequent backfires. Driving the fire engine out to evict trespassers and the Three Counties guys calling out the AA when it broke down again. Very funny for them.
I was there when they filmed 'Girl on a motorcycle' and we put the subsequent fire out three times, I think, as we jumped the gun while they were still filming.
The highlight of the airshow, for me, when I climbed up on the Lancaster wheel to plug in the power to start it. Neil Williams was the pilot.
A Comet on finals which realized at the last moment that we were not Farnborough! Charles Masefield's Mustang visiting while filming The Mercenaries somewhere.
Lighting the 'Goosenecks' at the sides of the runway from the passenger side of the Landrover and many more happy memories.
A very happy time.
David
Mrs.Judd and her pretty daughter. AVM Bennet driving the annual CAA inspector around in his Aston, and not a fibreglass Fairthorpe. Getting into trouble regularly for roaring back from checking the runways in the landrover with Mike turning the ignition off and on with subsequent backfires. Driving the fire engine out to evict trespassers and the Three Counties guys calling out the AA when it broke down again. Very funny for them.
I was there when they filmed 'Girl on a motorcycle' and we put the subsequent fire out three times, I think, as we jumped the gun while they were still filming.
The highlight of the airshow, for me, when I climbed up on the Lancaster wheel to plug in the power to start it. Neil Williams was the pilot.
A Comet on finals which realized at the last moment that we were not Farnborough! Charles Masefield's Mustang visiting while filming The Mercenaries somewhere.
Lighting the 'Goosenecks' at the sides of the runway from the passenger side of the Landrover and many more happy memories.
A very happy time.
David
Last edited by guzzirider; 23rd Jan 2012 at 06:03. Reason: error
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picture thread
hi
Pictures of much of what is mentioned can be found on the Blackbushe
pictures thread at (ok in past by ppr Admin)
Farnborough-aviation-group.co.uk - Login
this is the Local Spotters Forums (you may be asked to sign in)
there are dozens of EGLK pictures on the PETERBROWN thread
the DAN AIR Comet is there and many of the show aircraft ,
Tony
Farnborough-aviation-group.co.uk - Login
admin
Pictures of much of what is mentioned can be found on the Blackbushe
pictures thread at (ok in past by ppr Admin)
Farnborough-aviation-group.co.uk - Login
this is the Local Spotters Forums (you may be asked to sign in)
there are dozens of EGLK pictures on the PETERBROWN thread
the DAN AIR Comet is there and many of the show aircraft ,
Tony
Farnborough-aviation-group.co.uk - Login
admin
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Just remembered that the first police helicopter trial for Hampshire visited BB then and was a Bell 47G containing a pilot, police officer and large Alsatian for Wimbledon tennis. The pilot's only difficulty was that the dog kept on licking his face!
Somewhere I have a pic of Sheila Scott's Commanche there and I rember that there was a Gloucester Gladiator and Vickers Gun bus replica in the hangars.
Somewhere I have a pic of Sheila Scott's Commanche there and I rember that there was a Gloucester Gladiator and Vickers Gun bus replica in the hangars.
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Wonderful thread.
I remember the music festival - Dylan, Clapton et al. 1978. Entry £6 if memory serves, though my mum actually walked in through a gap in the corrugated iron which was falling down by the evening. She'd have been 60 at the time!
The air display(s?) of the mid '70s. Rothmans Display Team is about all I can recall.
One day cycling across the north side en-route to the kart track I noticed the field was occupied by squadrons of aircraft, which turned out to be wooden boards. Very convincing though. Must've been the film.
Here's a couple of things I didn't notice in the thread: there was a series of drag races in the late seventies. Something of a regular event at the time. Entry fee - I just cycled in from Yateley common. Great value. And please somebody, anybody, comfirm I didn't dream this - a round or two of the FRENCH 2CV Cross Championship on the old MX track!! The main job of the marshalls being to push the cars upright when they rolled over - a seemingly minor impediment to good progress in that class of racing.
Oh, and the johnny-come-lately residents of the nearby housing development of the late seventies - including the obligatory local councillor - who did eventually succeed in getting the kart track closed down for a while before the secratary of state put them back in their box
The president of the kart club was one Emmerson Fittipaldi. And he DID visit.
I remember the music festival - Dylan, Clapton et al. 1978. Entry £6 if memory serves, though my mum actually walked in through a gap in the corrugated iron which was falling down by the evening. She'd have been 60 at the time!
The air display(s?) of the mid '70s. Rothmans Display Team is about all I can recall.
One day cycling across the north side en-route to the kart track I noticed the field was occupied by squadrons of aircraft, which turned out to be wooden boards. Very convincing though. Must've been the film.
Here's a couple of things I didn't notice in the thread: there was a series of drag races in the late seventies. Something of a regular event at the time. Entry fee - I just cycled in from Yateley common. Great value. And please somebody, anybody, comfirm I didn't dream this - a round or two of the FRENCH 2CV Cross Championship on the old MX track!! The main job of the marshalls being to push the cars upright when they rolled over - a seemingly minor impediment to good progress in that class of racing.
Oh, and the johnny-come-lately residents of the nearby housing development of the late seventies - including the obligatory local councillor - who did eventually succeed in getting the kart track closed down for a while before the secratary of state put them back in their box
The president of the kart club was one Emmerson Fittipaldi. And he DID visit.
Drag Racing continued until the BCA purchase. I did my dragster driver qualifying runs (3 successful runs observed by an authorised steward) at Blackbushe at the August 1984 meeting run by the National Drag Racing Club (NDRC). I think this was the last race meeting as BCA decided that the runway surface would last longer without this type of activity.
I won't tell you what words I'm told Phil Cardew used to tell the NDRC though!
I won't tell you what words I'm told Phil Cardew used to tell the NDRC though!
Last edited by chevvron; 23rd Jan 2012 at 22:34.
Readers here might be interested to know that the 'Bushe is once again about to be used as a filming location.
Set building began last week for "Rush", a movie with it's storyline centered around the 1970's rivalry between James Hunt and Niki Lauda in F1. Ron Howard is the big-name director behind it.
The construction so far looks like a wooden mock-up of a few F1 pit garages.
Activity is apparently due to continue for the next 5 months.
Set building began last week for "Rush", a movie with it's storyline centered around the 1970's rivalry between James Hunt and Niki Lauda in F1. Ron Howard is the big-name director behind it.
The construction so far looks like a wooden mock-up of a few F1 pit garages.
Activity is apparently due to continue for the next 5 months.
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Readers here might be interested to know that the 'Bushe is once again about to be used as a filming location.
I hear that "Natural England" are objecting on the grounds that it is adjacent to a SSSI and a SPA in the form of Yateley Common and all the noise!! could affect the endangered birds
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film at EGLK and new pictures warbirds GB
HI
For more info on the Planning of the Filmset and What the objections are
visit
Formula 1 film set on Blackbushe during rare bird breeding season? | A Reader in Writing
on the Picture Forum (Farnborough-aviation-group.co.uk - Blackbushe Pics from the Past)
page 14 Peter has added pictures
of the Doug Arnold War birds of GB JUNKERS , daks , seafurys
Tony
farnborough-aviation-group Admin
(spotters and everyone )
For more info on the Planning of the Filmset and What the objections are
visit
Formula 1 film set on Blackbushe during rare bird breeding season? | A Reader in Writing
on the Picture Forum (Farnborough-aviation-group.co.uk - Blackbushe Pics from the Past)
page 14 Peter has added pictures
of the Doug Arnold War birds of GB JUNKERS , daks , seafurys
Tony
farnborough-aviation-group Admin
(spotters and everyone )
Last edited by Gulf4uk; 24th Jan 2012 at 20:36.
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A couple of years ago, I read the autobiography of one of my musical heroes, 'Pictures Of An Exhibitionist' by Keith Emerson, who was training as a PPL at the airfield.
On a solo cross country, Keith landed at Odiham, thinking it was EGLK, and was surprised when men with alsatians and machine-guns came to greet his Cherokee.
On a solo cross country, Keith landed at Odiham, thinking it was EGLK, and was surprised when men with alsatians and machine-guns came to greet his Cherokee.
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Good to hear that "Richie" is going to be making this film about Hunt/Lauda. He is one of the guys out there with the ability to do justice to this story imo. I hope Hollywood doesn't balls-it-up.
As for the antis campaigning against this I don't believe for one second that they genuinely care about the 'endangered species'. If they did they'd be campaigning against the hundreds of dogs that run free on the adjacent common (speaking as someone who has taken full advantage of the facility).
As for the antis campaigning against this I don't believe for one second that they genuinely care about the 'endangered species'. If they did they'd be campaigning against the hundreds of dogs that run free on the adjacent common (speaking as someone who has taken full advantage of the facility).
Wonderful thread that has brought up some great memories 
Be a young karter back in the mid 70's, early 80's, I would be up at Blackbushe most weekends (and occasionally at Frimley park shortly after). As a young boy it was a fantastic place to visit as you would never know what would be on the airfield - I remember peeking into the hangar by the rusty Sherman tanks to see the Spitfire and also the JU-52's lined up near the control tower alongside the A30. The Mitchell's also seem familiar but I can't recall exactly when this was.
I had my first ever flight there in a Devon for a 15 min spin around the area - my father parted with what was then a not inconsiderable sum of money for this so he stayed behind while we did a few circuits. Really cherish him doing that for me
Great to see Blackbushe being used for filming again. I used to race against James Hunt's brother David who ran his Kart on a shoestring budget. Great guy, highly talented, and a real shame he quit driving in 1988 after testing for Benetton.
WF
Be a young karter back in the mid 70's, early 80's, I would be up at Blackbushe most weekends (and occasionally at Frimley park shortly after
). As a young boy it was a fantastic place to visit as you would never know what would be on the airfield - I remember peeking into the hangar by the rusty Sherman tanks to see the Spitfire and also the JU-52's lined up near the control tower alongside the A30. The Mitchell's also seem familiar but I can't recall exactly when this was. I had my first ever flight there in a Devon for a 15 min spin around the area - my father parted with what was then a not inconsiderable sum of money for this so he stayed behind while we did a few circuits. Really cherish him doing that for me
Great to see Blackbushe being used for filming again. I used to race against James Hunt's brother David who ran his Kart on a shoestring budget. Great guy, highly talented, and a real shame he quit driving in 1988 after testing for Benetton.
WF
Never heard of Keith Emerson, but who can forget Gary Webb (aka Numan)completing his PPL at 3 Counties (in spite of his agent) then buying a Cessna 182 and taking off (just) from runway 19 in coarse pitch.
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Wokafans, the B-25s would have been mid-1978 to 1979 - not sure how long all five were there, I saw them during Fanborough week '78.
Blimey Chevvron, never heard of Emerson Lake and Palmer? The world's most pretentious rock group? Liked a lot of their stuff, but they did try to make a virtue out of grandiose behaviour and music...
Never heard of Keith Emerson
Blimey Chevvron, never heard of Emerson Lake and Palmer? The world's most pretentious rock group? Liked a lot of their stuff, but they did try to make a virtue out of grandiose behaviour and music...
Not really a music person apart from Bach's Toccata and Fugue in 'D' minor and big band stuff. Course I've HEARD of ELP but never listened to them, let alone knowing their first names.
The B25s (callsign Hanover Formation) arrived at Blackbushe after the finish of filming 'Hanover Street' at Bovingdon, joining a plethora of DA owned types like the He111s, Ju52s and the 'illegal' T28s (classed as 'munitions of war' by the IR and imported without the requisite licence).
The B25s (callsign Hanover Formation) arrived at Blackbushe after the finish of filming 'Hanover Street' at Bovingdon, joining a plethora of DA owned types like the He111s, Ju52s and the 'illegal' T28s (classed as 'munitions of war' by the IR and imported without the requisite licence).
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Keith Noel Emerson. (Born very close to Pole Hill actually).
Gregory Stuart Lake.
Carl Fredrick Kendall Palmer.
Tarkus and Trilogy are the best two albums, with the first album and Pictures At An Exhibition close behind.
Also check out Keith's work with The Nice, prior to forming ELP.
Gregory Stuart Lake.
Carl Fredrick Kendall Palmer.
Tarkus and Trilogy are the best two albums, with the first album and Pictures At An Exhibition close behind.
Also check out Keith's work with The Nice, prior to forming ELP.
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Interesting, didn't know the T-28s were "dodgy" - ex Moroccan weren't they? If memory serves, I saw one in Fort Lauderdale several years later, so presumably they resolved the issue.
Reminds me of the three ex-Zaire AF examples that pitched up at Biggin in late '77 - bit ignorant I was then, thought they were some species of T-34! Well, I was young...
Reminds me of the three ex-Zaire AF examples that pitched up at Biggin in late '77 - bit ignorant I was then, thought they were some species of T-34! Well, I was young...