Blackbushe Airport

Blackbushe Airport
Characteristics
ICAO code	EGLK
IATA code	BBS
Coordinates	51 ° 19 '26 "  N , 0 ° 50' 51"  W Coordinates: 51 ° 19 '26 "  N , 0 ° 50' 51"  W.
Height above MSL	99 m (325  ft )
Transport links
Distance from the city center	7 km west of Camberley
Street
Basic data
opening	1947 (civil use)
operator	Blackbushe Airport Ltd
Start-and runway
07/25	1335 m × 46 m asphalt

The Blackbushe Airport ( IATA code BBS , ICAO code EGLK ) is an airport in the northern part of the English county of Hampshire , about two kilometers south of the town of Yateley and about 67 kilometers west of London. In its southern area, the airport borders directly on the A30 trunk road , which connects to the city of Camberley, seven kilometers away . Today it is used for general aviation , but is also used for a kart track , car auctions and the Blackbush Sunday Market .

history

Harold Bamberg, founder of Eagle Aviation , unveiled a plaque on site in October 2012 listing the airlines that were formerly based in Blackbushe.

Blackbushe Airport was opened by the Royal Air Force as Hartford Bridge Air Base in 1942. During the Second World War, the area was massively expanded, so that today's A30 trunk road finally divided the airfield into a northern and a southern area. The air base had three runways for the largest aircraft used at the time. Planes of the types Supermarine Spitfire and De Havilland DH.98 Mosquito were stationed in Hartford Bridge . In 1943, Lockheed Venturas and, from August 1943, Douglas A-20s took off and landed here . In preparation for the landing in Normandy , cargo gliders of the Airspeed Horsa and Hotspur types were moved to the airfield.

In December 1944, the military airfield was named RAF Blackbushe . After the end of the war, the airport was used, among other things, to fly Allied prisoners of war out of Germany. At the end of 1946 the Royal Air Force gave up the location. At the beginning of 1947 Blackbushe Airport was opened for civil use.

The airport experienced its civil heyday in the early 1950s. Numerous national and international airlines flew to Blackbushe or used the airport as their home base, including Britavia , Eagle Airways and Orion Airways . The BOAC pilot training also took place here.

With the expansion of London Heathrow Airport, around 30 kilometers away, and London Gatwick Airport , Blackbushe increasingly lost its importance from the mid-1950s. The companies based in Blackbushe campaigned for the preservation of the airport, but could not prevent the closure on May 31, 1960. After the closure, the eastern part of the site and the area south of the A30 road were completely dismantled and reforested. The remaining northwest area was acquired by Donald Bennet, a former Air Vice Marshal of the Royal Air Force, who reopened the area as a private airfield in October 1962, built the go-kart track that still exists today and started the weekly Blackbushe Sunday Market . In 1973 Douglas Arnold took over the site to display his extensive aircraft collection from World War II. British Car Auctions has owned the airport since 1984 and regularly uses the demarcated western area for vehicle auctions . The locally based company PremiAir Aircraft Engineering is entrusted with the maintenance of Queen Elisabeth II's private helicopter , which has been stationed in Blackbushe since 1998. The airport is currently (as of 2017) not served by any airline , but only used by general aviation.

Incidents

• On January 20, 1956, an overturned Vickers Viscount 701 of the British European Airways (BEA) ( air vehicle registration G-AMOM ) Airport Blackbushe. The machine started on a training flight when the training captain accidentally shut down both right engines at the same time. The entire five-man crew survived.

• On November 5, 1956, a Handley Page Hermes IVA of Britavia (G-ALDJ) collided with trees during the approach to Blackbushe. Of the 80 people on board, 7 were killed.

• On May 1, 1957, a Vickers Viking 1B of Eagle Airways ( G-AJBO ) crashed while approaching the airport after the left engine failed during takeoff. The machine hit 1200 m from the runway threshold. Of the 35 occupants, only one survived.

Web links

Commons : Blackbushe Airport  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Homepage of the airport
• History of the airport
• Detailed map of the airport
• Camberley Kart Club
• Blackbushe Sunday Market

Individual evidence

1. ↑ 65 Years of Blackbushe Archived copy ( Memento of the original from July 24, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
2. ^ Leisure Airlines of Europe, UK 2001
3. ↑ 65 Years of Blackbushe Archived copy ( Memento of the original from July 24, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
4. ^ Accident report Viscount 701 G-AMOM , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on December 10, 2018.
5. ↑ ICAO Aircraft Accident Digest 8, Circular 54-AN / 49, Montreal 1958 (English), pp. 34-35.
6. ^ Accident report HP Hermes G-ALDJ , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on August 23, 2017.
7. ↑ ICAO Aircraft Accident Digest 8, Circular 54-AN / 49, Montreal 1958 (English), pp. 138-147.
8. ^ Accident report Viking 1B G-AJBO , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on January 22, 2016.