Update 17 - December 2025 - Winter Update
The big news story as we come to the end of another very successful year for the Blackbushe Heritage Trust is the purchase of a Vickers Varsity cockpit. After significant negotiation and cajoling by David Ashworth and practical support from Barry Love this was collected by road from a private site near Hull in November. The cockpit section has seen better days having been left to the elements outside for many years but it will be very useful as a source of spare parts for Vagabond’s ongoing restoration. Space at Blackbushe is obviously at a premium particularly now the redevelopment has begun so an agreement has been made with the Chetton Heritage Museum near Bridgenorth to store it for the time being. We believe this cockpit came from ex RAF Vickers Varsity T.1, serial WL627, which first flew in the early 1950s as part of the Varsity training fleet. Whilst the long term plan, once all the useful parts are removed, is still to be finalised, rest assured it has been saved from the scrapyard.
The Vickers Varsity cockpit purchased by BHT to use for parts in the restoration of Vagabond.
Tech Team - Phil Stonard
Following the Air Day ‘routine’ work has continued which consisted of yet more paint stripping, this time on the rear fuselage areas, mainplanes and stabilisers. As of the end of November the mainplanes have the topsides stripped and part primed while the stabilisers are at the point of moving into the paint shed for etch prime. The tailplane stubs were disinterred from storage for cleaning/repair and work continues on wing fillets and other mainplane parts such as wing tips, flaps and ailerons which will be removed for restoration.
The upper part of the refurbished landing gear was refitted to the nacelles with a few hurdles to overcome on the way. The nacelles were lowered from their vertical position and rotated back to their usual horizontal position with temporary wheels fitted to enable movement and to keep them out of the dirt. The engine bulkheads were cleaned and painted and repair work commenced on the starboard unit near the spar mounting points. All of the above revealed some previously hidden identification plates, the most significant is the tailplane that was changed in 1947 for one manufactured at the Supermarine works in Woolston, Southampton. The exterior window frames/trim were finally completed (with seals and paintwork still to do) and work has moved onto rather larger frames forming the rear fuselage and tailplane supports.
Activities gathered pace on the flight deck with outside assistance from Max Blood who over a few months measured relevant areas and, using his own software, laser cut prototype instrument panels in acrylic. This was kindly done courtesy of The Signage & Display Co. who we are incredibly grateful to. These have been trial fitted and then removed to enable production of working panels in aluminium. Richard Faint has been doing some great work acquiring more instruments from various sources and we look forward to the cockpit taking shape.
History Team - Gary Browne
The History team has again been busy at events and attending the regular Aviation Heritage UK meetings representing BHT alongside other like minded trusts and collections. The last meeting was hosted at the Rolls Royce Heritage centre in Derby. Their heritage display is a large collection of piston, turboprop and jet engines including a Rolls-Royce Nene, this was the engine which powered G-AJPH ‘the Nene-Viking’ considered to be the world’s first jet airliner.
Pete Vickery and I have been researching our new addition Vickers Valetta, VX573, ‘Loreley’. The aircraft was allocated the construction number 425 when built in 1949, three years after Vagabond. The first flight occurred on 18th October 1949 and it was delivered on 21st November 1949 to the Royal Air Force. The last operational flight was on 2nd November 1968 having accumulated over 5000 hours of service in the VIP role, mostly flying in what was West Germany. She has spent the last 46 years at the RAF Museum at Cosford.
It was a great pleasure to meet Stephen and Danny Skillman on 11th December. Their father Flt. Lt. Daniel Skillman DFC was a Pathfinder Mosquito pilot during WW2 and then went on to fly as a civilian pilot with a number of independent airlines, one of which was Autair and he logged 14 flights in Vagabond. We enjoyed talking about our project and assisting with their research into their Father’s memoirs. Thanks to you both for a very generous donation.
Virtual Reality - Alexis Holding
It has been a packed year in the world of virtual reality. We have established that our system works both using a Wi-Fi signal and using the new dongle we purchased. Now we have proven the system, we will look to have a headset in the history hub most weekends from the New Year so that everyone can have a look around Vagabond.
We are also getting to the stage where we can start to think about how we would like the system to be operated when Vagabond's interior is in place. This task will take a lot of thought and some work up. Please do get in touch if you would like to help shape how things will look in the future. With the arrival of Loreley in May, this will be a good time to have both planes scanned and to get it publicised on social media.
Disability Access - Alexis Holding
Our main aspiration from the very start is to ensure Vagabond will be accessible for all. Steady progress continues to be made in the background. We are in contact with a contractor who has come up with an elegant access solution for Vagabond and Loreley. We cannot do anything more now until both Vagabond and Loreley are on their wheels so we can ascertain what needs to be done to make them both accessible if possible. If this solution works, it will open a new market for the company and will be a marketable asset to a number of airlines and museums.
Shop and Events Team - Mark Griffiths
What must be one of the BHT highlights of this year was the talk by 104 year old Flt Lt (retired) Colin Bell DFC on 11th December. The enthusiastic Colin Bell gave an hour long presentation on his exploits flying DH Mosquito night fighters during WW2. This included a few months based at Blackbushe with 162 Squadron including a single undercarriage landing having flown back from the South of France with an unauthorised passenger! We would not have been able to invite anywhere near the 100+ people to this had it not been for Aerobility allowing us to use their superb hangar. We are very grateful to Mike, Sue, Sally, Harvey and the rest of the team for all their assistance on the evening.
Despite it being a quiet time of year for the shop and events team the regular stalwarts have turned out in all weathers to staff our Blackbushe shop on the 1st and 3rd Sunday each month. Even though on some days the physical sales have been low in number the team have spent time introducing members of the public to BHT and the work we are doing. BHT were well represented at the Heathrow Aircraft Enthusiasts Fair in November which again provided a great opportunity to showcase our project to like minded people.
104 year old Flt Lt (retired) Colin Bell DFC entertains the audience with stories of flying DH Mosquitos from Blackbushe in 1945. A superb evening enjoyed by all.
It is impossible to put a value to this sort of engagement, we never know who will be next to get in touch and what a potentially valuable contribution they can make.
That’s it for 2025, another incredibly successful year for BHT as we go from strength to strength. It really is humbling to be part of such a fantastic team of people of different ages, from different backgrounds and experience levels, all full of enthusiasm to ensure the varied heritage of our local airfield is protected for future generations.
We wish you a Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year.
Best Wishes,
Peter, Dave, Pat, Paul, Chris, Becky and Mark
Trustees
