BMPA Newsletters

Newsletters  >  Spring 2000

From the Secretary

You're right. We have not had a Spring newsletter before because we have only had one early Summer meeting before. This year we return to Shenington, aka Edgehill, any time between Friday evening 16th June and Sunday 18th June. No booking is required, arrange your own accommodation and bring whomsoever you please to fly, glide, balloon, watch the go-kart racing and socialize - see page 2.

Andrew Clymo

From the President

I am really looking forward to our meeting next month at Shenington. There is a little confusion here for pilots in that what the locals know as Shenington Airfield is called Edgehill on the half million chart. Geographically and geologically Edge Hill is a scarp that starts at Warmington Hill and finishes at Sunrising Hill. In between there are some very interesting villages; Radway, Ratley, Edgehill and Shenington. The first three are in Warickshire and Shenington itself is in North Oxfordshire.

Saunderson Miller, the rector of Radway, built the Castle Tower at the top of Edgehill on the spot that King Charles raised his standard in 1745 one hundred and three years after the first battle of the civil war in 1642 (my family are reported to have been involved in the erection even though that section of my family were Quakers at the time). General Earl Douglas Haig lived in Saunderson Miller's house (Radway Manor) during W.W.I.

The surgery where I used to live and work in Warwick had been James Cook's surgery. James Cook qualified in Medicine at Cambridge and was a friend of William Harvey. Cook was Cromwell's surgeon at the battle of Edgehill and worked continuously for three days after the fighting had stopped, treating the wounded of both sides. One of his patients on whom he performed an amputation was still drawing a Royal pension at the age of 106. In 1650 James Cook bought the building and in 1670 published "The Marrow of Chirgury" which became the official naval surgeon's handbook for the next one hundred years. A copy of this book can be seen by special request at the Royal College of Surgeons (of England). However, my copy will be available at the June meeting for members' inspection.

The village of Ratley on the other side of 'Edgehill' boasts the oldest Inn in Warwickshire dating from the 11th century, and one of the largest operating tables in the country - for horses and other large quadrupeds.

Locals remember Shenington Airfield as the home to Wellington bombers during W.W.II. In the 1950s, my father persuaded the RAF to sell, and his company (Automotive Products) to buy, the site and it became a vehicle test track until the company sold it thirty years later.

Although I have driven round Shenington, I have not landed on it and am much looking forward to doing so.

John Busby>

Spring Meeting, Farnborough, March 2000

Our Spring meeting started at the Farnborough Post House Hotel. Some will remember this as the Crest Hotl, some, even older, as The Queens. I believe the latter refers possessively to a monarch, not to the orientation of the guests, although it has no apostrophe.

We convened for a sumptuous lunch on Friday before driving to the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (of the Department of the Environment, Transport and Regions) new dedicated entrance gate. There we were welcomed by Mr Ken Smart CBE, the Chief Inspector of Accidents, who gave us an hour long briefing. He traced the origins of the organization, always independent and reporting direct to government, from Royal Flying Corps to Royal Air Force, incorporation post-war civilian flying, on through the second world war (more deaths in accidents than due to enemy action) until it was absorbed into the Ministry of Civil Aviation. It now reports direct to the Minister for the Environment, Transport and Regions (John Prescott at the time of writing), investigates about 400 UK incidents a year as well as assisting many foreign governments and provides a 24 hour service. All its publications, including reports, are available on the +AAIB website. The service is provided by a team of 31 inspectors who are either pilots (about a third) or engineers (the other two thirds). The pilots are all current and the between them cover anything that flies. There is a tentative movement towards harmonizing accident investigation practice across all transport modalities (air, sea and rail).

Following our briefing we walked the short distance to the hangars for a tour of recent and current investigations. The details are, or will be, published as reports available on the website. The messages were not original. What goes up must come down, the manner of the descent being all important. The fundamental rules for flight continue to hold sway. Common things occur commonly. If anything can go wrong, sooner or later it will (this is not Murphy's Law, which concerns components being fitted wrongly). Included in this tour was an introduction to flight recorders of all vintages and the astonishing amount of information that can be found on a piece of stainless stell wire, electro magnetic tape or these days a ubiquitous 'chip'. For me the two most striking aspects of the visit were the pains taken to arrive at the cause(s) of the crash, not merely a cause, and the poignancy of the personal effects neatly collected together - necktie torn off just below the knot, glasses twisted but intact, a book covered in mud and similar artefacts, which brought home that these wrecks had contained fellow pilots who had not had our luck.

In somewhat sombre mood we returned to The Queens for preprandial drinks and conversation before a dinner which matched the lunch in scale and excellence. Some members then used the proximity of London to go home or to friends. The rest of us slept off our dinners before leaving the following morning.

Andrew Clymo