Update 18 - April 2026 - Spring Update
Excuse the pun but so far this year appears to be ‘flying by’ for the Blackbushe Heritage Trust. Much work has continued throughout the winter months on the restoration of “Vagabond” here at Blackbushe, often in inclement weather conditions. The stalwart “Tech Team” is here without fail every Wednesday and Saturday making huge progress towards the day when the aircraft will be on display outside the existing terminal building for all to enjoy. None of the restoration could occur without all the funds generated by fundraising activities including the shop and ebay store, the talks programme, external events, corporate sponsorship and BHT days out. All of this income adds up so we can continue with purchasing materials, paint, tools, PPE and other sundries so that the Team have all they need for the incredible work they are achieving.
In previous years we have taken a break with our Pathfinder talks during the summer months but this year we are planning to run throughout on the 3rd Thursday of each month. David Ashworth is doing a superb job looking after this and has arranged some very interesting talks with that theme continuing throughout 2026. They have become so popular that we nearly always now sell out well before the evening so online bookings in advance must be made to avoid the disappointment of being turned away at the door!
“Who wishes they had flown on Concorde?” – former Concorde pilot Captain John Tye begins his superb sold out talk at the Pathfinder on 15th January
“Tech Team” -Phil Stonard
Three months on from the last report work continues at a steady pace. Numbers on site have typically been maintained at 10-15 for each session. The ailerons have had aluminium skins removed (mostly postflight pop rivet panels), frames have been cleaned and repairs commenced on damaged ribs. Similar work is in progress on the rudder and fittings. The tailplane has been paint-stripped and is undergoing a temporary Autair Airways finish for display at events later in the year. The dismantled port propeller assembly has been cleaned and the blades are soon to be dispatched as we take up an offer of a Tungsten Inert Gas welding repair attempt. Much work has been done on the mainspar to nacelle attachments to rectify or modify the damaged fixings including machining new sleeves and bolts for the trunnion attachment points, culminating recently in the port nacelle being fitted, after a couple of sessions of ‘persuasion’. Engine cowlings are also being cleaned and improved. Similarly,extensive work is ongoing recreating the missing rear fuselage structures and making jigs for tailplane positioning.
Further forward interior partition construction is underway and knowledge exchange with the Brooklands Museum Viking team had them using some of our facilities while we borrowed some of their seats for trial fit and to work out positioning. There are then miscellaneous removable panels and sundry other parts going through the strip/clean/repair/prime sequence, with more to do. The following months will see more of the same together with the first stages of recovery of ValettaVX573 to Blackbushe commencing shortly.
Cockpit Update – Richard Faint
The quest to identify and source the instruments required to rebuild “Vagabond’s” cockpit has been very successful. At the time of writing we literally need to identify and source 2 types of switch for the overhead panels and source a pair of 3-way Rotary Landing Light switches. These are the same as those fitted to the Avro Lancaster during World War 2 and are proving very difficult to find. The CAD drawings are now ready apart from the physical dimensions of some switches on the overhead panels. Once completed the next step is to have them laser cut in aluminium. If you have or know of any available RAF 5C/936 Lancaster landing light switches please do get in touch!
Current work has also seen the planning and preliminary installation of the partition between the passenger section and the cockpit area inside the fuselage. This gives us a better idea of the space and layout of items such as the hatch for the jump seat storage and the position of the radio operator’s seat. This brings us onto the next stage of the project, replicating the radio rack. Once again, supporter Max Blood has expressed an interest in assisting with CAD drawings and the design. It’s now time to start identifying and sourcing the relevant equipment to populate this area as well.
One other current area of restoration is the mounting platform for the P.11 magnetic compass. When “Vagabond” was “stripped” of parts and fittings in the past someone literally took a saw to the bracket and bent any remaining metal over. What is left has now been removed and measured. Using one old photograph and a drawing from the manual a 3D model is being printed and fettled to produce something as close as possible to the original. Once a satisfactory result is achieved this will be passed to the “Tech Team” along with the remains of the original to produce a new part in metal.
An example of instrument donations for the cockpit re-build - This B-5 drift meter instrument is one of a number recently donated to us by the North East Land, Sea and Air Museum in Sunderland, originally from a Vickers Valetta
Shop Team – Richard Dyett
As of the 15th March, the Shop has reverted to weekly Sunday opening, following on from our winter monthly schedule of 1st and 3rd Sunday of every month. As may be expected our revenue is often affected by external events such as the Winter Olympics, and occurrences such as bad weather. In consequence, it has often not been viable to open an external sales table in addition to the shop itself. Overall, “Spin The Wheel” continues to be the most popular fundraiser, although not the most profitable, owing to its low cost-per-go. Various other eye-catching items have also been introduced during recent months to cater for the younger children who visit us. Second-hand book sales continue to be very cyclical with a couple of volume sales being achieved recently.
Unfortunately, even though there are many car and bike meets here at Blackbushe throughout the year, the footfall to our shop from these group members continues to be disappointingly low. However, it is pleasing to report that many of our shop visitors, in addition to making purchases, are also interested to learn about “Vagabond” and BHT. Like many volunteer interest groups, we are always keen to attract more people to get involved. We have no membership fees and no minimum commitment. Please do get in touch if you are considering getting involved.
Social Media update – Kevin Bond
Our Social Media channels (mainly Facebook) have seen a good increase of around 30% in named followers since November last year. Between mid-December and mid-March, our Facebook Page had around 277,000 views, which was a 25% increase on the previous 90 day period. The “Tech Blog” that we introduced on our website, providing regular updates on the progress of “Vagabond's” restoration has also proved to be popular. Social Media promotion has also played a part in enabling us to “sell out” the 3 most recent monthly fundraising talks that we have organised helped by having some great speakers join us here at Blackbushe. That featuring Flt Lt (Ret'd) Colin Bell also received some media attention, with BBC South filming an article when he was with us in December, which was screened on BBC “South Today” in January.
Notable forthcoming events at BHT as we move further into 2026, such as the arrival at Blackbushe of Valetta VX573 from the RAF Museum will also be covered on our YouTube Channel, which is being updated and will be more heavily promoted over the coming months.
Stay tuned for our exciting new arrival later in the summer!
Peter, Dave, Pat, Paul, Chris, Becky and Mark - Trustees
Recent earthworks at Blackbushe in connection with the ongoing re-development of the Airport have revealed what could have been part of the FIDO system in World War 2. Research is ongoing.
