Update 12 - June 2024
Welcome to a slightly delayed update from the Blackbushe Heritage Trust. We can’t believe it is June already and just a couple of weeks to go before the popular Blackbushe Air Day returns on the 15th. BHT will have a large presence at the event showcasing all the impressive work that our volunteers have already completed on our Vickers Viking, G-AGRW ‘Vagabond’. We will have an expanded shop, history hub and plenty of the team willing to talk about our project. All tickets have now sold out. Rolls Royce Heritage Trust has loaned us three engines to put on display when we can. These are a Bristol Hercules sleeve valve as fitted to Vikings, a Rolls Royce Dart and an Armstrong Siddeley Mamba. At present these engines are being stored off site but we plan to have one available for viewing at the Air Day. More good news is that we have purchased around 75% of what we strongly believe are the original cockpit instruments from G-AGRW. This was all made possible by a very generous anonymous donation which means we are much closer to recreating the cockpit for all to enjoy.
It was with great regret that we said goodbye to founding Trustee Phil Johns at the end of April when he emigrated to Australia to enjoy his second retirement. Phil began his long career in aviation working at Blackbushe for Eagle Airways from 1959 to 1968 and as Trustees it has been a privilege to work alongside him for the last couple of years. He was treated to a final flight from Blackbushe courtesy of Mike Biddulph in his beautiful Cessna, completing the circle from where his career in aviation began. Interestingly Phil had also had a flight with Mike’s father in the 1960s after fitting a replacement communication set in his Proctor. Phil is still remotely managing the restoration side of the project for an interim period while his successor is found.
Founding Trustee Phil Johns is presented with a signed print of G-AGRW before his departure to Australia.
Simon Glancey who runs the Wings, Wheels and Rails Gallery (www.wwrgallery.co.uk) has produced some superb line drawings of G-AGRW in the various liveries that she wore during her flying career and subsequent retirement. We have the full set of eight A3 prints in the shop along with a growing range of merchandise including metal wall art, childrens ‘pocket money’ toys and aviation stamps/first day covers. The shop is open on the 1st and 3rd Sundays of the month but will not be open on Sunday 16th June as we will have our hands full clearing up after the Air Day.
A low resolution image of one of 8 new prints produced by Simon Glancey of Wings, Wheels and Rails Gallery.
We are incredibly grateful to ex Autair pilot, Keith Spragg, who has kindly donated copies of his book ‘I Have Control’. Keith began his flying career on the Viking in 1967 and flew our aircraft a number of times. The excellent book tells his story but in the wider context of airliner development and the challenges created by automation on the flight deck. This highly recommended read with a whole chapter on the Viking is no longer in print however it’s now only available as an e-book.
Our hard working engineering team, managed by Phil Stonard, are our unsung heroes who regularly turn out whatever the weather to progress the restoration. They have spent over 900 hours working on the aircraft since it arrived back in early May last year. Recently the main focus has been a continuation of stripping old paint and applying some new to upper and forward areas before the scaffolding is taken down, in between dodging the vagaries of weather and seasonal flora. Recently there has been the chance to organise the workshop, which is ongoing, and make a start on improving some of the lower damaged areas of the fuselage. The coming months will be more of the same.
Warren and Sam from the Cheltenham branch of Men’s Sheds giving a helping hand.
Alexis Holding has been working on a new trial using a system called Navilens (www.navilens.com/en). Navilens is an enhanced QR code which is more visible than a normal QR Code which can assist partially sighted visitors when visiting new places. When either the Navilens code or the QR code is activated via the QR or Navilens reader on a mobile phone, a video introducing Vagabond, its history and audio describing exactly what is in front of the user will be available to play. We believe that this will be an excellent way to make Vagabond more inclusive for partially sighted visitors. The video, which is currently in production, will be hosted on a YouTube channel and linked to both codes. We hope to have it available in time for the Air Day. A big thank you to Alexis Holding for all his hard work in this area. As usual it is impossible to mention everyone who has put in so much hard work during the last couple of months.
Phil hard at work on the upper fuselage.
Paul Nicholls has once again been very busy in his workshop this time constructing timber steps to allow access into and out of the shop on the aircraft side of the portacabin. The events/shop team have also been very active attending events at Gatwick, Yateley and staffing the shop regularly at Blackbushe. The recent Biggin Hill Heritage Hangar Spitfire rides have attracted the crowds with many enthusiasts and locals enjoying the sight and smell of the Merlin engine whilst also supporting BHT through our shop and pop up stand.
Finally it was great to see such a good turnout at our working party and barbeque on Wednesday 29th May. We are aware this was organised at short notice which is far from ideal and next time we will ensure more notice is given for these events. See you at the Air Day, 15th June.
Best Regards, Peter, Phil, Dave, Pat, Chris, Becky and Mark Trustees
