G-VFWE was the inspiration of Peter Campbell and Terry Booker
of Vintage Flying/G-VFWE Ops, and they still run the event now,
although with a little more help than the early days. With the
core idea behind G-VFWE being that it should be interesting for
as wide an audience as possible, the event moves around every
year. From Old Sarum it has been to White Waltham, Kemble, Thruxton,
Wroughton, Abingdon, Hullavington, and Keevil.
G-VFWE has its roots at Shoreham Airport in June 1996. It was
there that recent newcomer to book publishing Peter Campbell launched
his first major opus, entitled SHOREHAM AIRPORT SUSSEX: THE STORY
OF BRITAIN’S OLDEST AIRFIELD, the book had been written
by a former pupil of nearby Lancing College now living in Australia,
Tim Webb. Having been educated at Lancing himself, Peter had been
familiar with the airfield since the 1950s, and indeed had managed
to rescue many of the old Movements Books from the immediate post-war
period. He therefore set himself to contact the owners of as many
aircraft as possible that were recorded as having visited Shoreham
and were still extant, and invited them to attend the book launch.
The day turned out so well (even weather-wise) that he was encouraged
to organise a similar Fly-In type of event in future years to
celebrate the ‘glory years’ of British Light Aviation.
The first real G-VFWE was held at Old Sarum in May 1997 with
a lot of help from the management there, and set May as the regular
staging month for future years. White Waltham was host in 1998,
and then in 1999 G-VFWE made its first visit to the then recently
reopened airfield at Kemble. This staging coincided with the arrival
on the scene of Terry Booker, called in by Peter to look after
some of the commercial aspects and also to improve the structure
and create a stand-alone venture.
In 2000, thanks to the generosity of Henry Pelham and his colleagues
at Thruxton Airfield, the first ‘new look’ G-VFWE
was presented to pilots and public visitors. The various plans,
policies and ‘bright ideas’ were evaluated and judged
to be largely successful, and have remained in place ever since.
The Thruxton staging also witnessed the coming together of many
of the key members of the team, the beginnings of our long and
beneficial relationships with our Main Sponsor (Met. Office) and
Safety Sponsor (Air Total) and further expanded our support from
the traders and advertisers.
In 2001 we elected to ‘go-it-alone’ for the first
time, leasing the once-popular Science Museum’s airfield
at Wroughton. This introduced us to CAA departments at Gatwick,
and we have nothing but praise and gratitude for their helpful
advice and guidance through the potential minefields of Aerodrome
Manuals and MATS Part 2. The staff within Air Traffic Standards,
Aerodrome Standards and??????????????, both at Gatwick and Manchester,
have continued to guide our occasionally-faltering footsteps,
enabling us to operate competently and safely with an expanding
event on new airfields.
As it happened, Wroughton nearly ‘never was’ as the
horrors of Foot & Mouth arrived in the countryside during
the initial run-up period. Miraculously we were able to become
a small island of activity in the midst of the surrounding disasters.
The sun shone (there’s a change!) and the Saturday saw us
reduced to our last half dozen spaces available in the air park.
2002 & 2003 saw us back at Kemble (by now under new management)
and, cordial though our relationships were, experience ‘on
the day’ showed that G-VFWE could not really be accommodated
any longer within the pressures of an already busy airfield. So
it was ‘back to the drawing board’ and to the concept
of seeking airfields within the remit of Defence Estates -- mothballed
aerodromes which could be leased for public use. This decision
– although not without problems – has proved to be
the saviour of our event. Albeit we have a lot to do to rig the
airfields for our purposes, but at least we are free to work to
our own timetables, and we neither hinder -- nor are hindered
by -- other operators and activities.
2004 took the event to Abingdon – in glorious wall-to-wall
sunshine throughout the weekend. Unfortunately the uncut mowing
grass within airparks was a headache – especially for low-slung
aircraft – but at £50 per acre the full cut was way
beyond our budget.
2005 was Hullavington – well maintained for use by the
resident 621 & 625 Volunteer Gliding Squadrons. Conditions
Met wise were in complete contrast to the previous year, with
heavy squalls and winds gusting to 40 plus. It was a marvellous
effort by those pilots who got to us – and, happily, got
home safely afterwards, Equally the whole G-VFWE team proved just
how good it was, coping manfully in conditions which would have
taxed even the professionals. Many thanks are also extended here
to all the soldiers from 9 Regiment Royal Logistics Corps, Buckley
Barracks, who stood shoulder to shoulder with us to make the event
happen – and happen safely.
It couldn’t get worse? . . . Well, anyone at Keevil on
Friday and Saturday of Whitsun 2006 will tell you otherwise! When
even the stalwarts from Air Atlantique could get no further than
Kemble, it’s bad! Is it possible to declare a ‘negative
cloud base’? If it is, we did. Is it possible to bring the
Catalina to G-VFWE wheels up? Keevil proved it could possibly
happen. Is it possible for our commentators to discuss the one
arriving aeroplane for eight hours (interspersed with lively descriptions
of their resident ladybird)? Yes, it is. Miraculously the Sunday
dawned bright and clear, and the skies were soon full of inbound
aviators and the approach road was bumper-to-bumper with eager
public visitors. High spots were the traditional flypast by the
BBMF Dakota (all thanks to BBMF for postponing this from the scheduled
Saturday) and the arrival of Peter Teichman’s beautiful
Spitfire Mk.XI – these aircraft commemorating Keevil’s
wartime association with Airborne Forces and Spitfire production.
In 2007 we made a return visit to Hullavington.
Unfortunately the 2008 event was cancelled, however we shall
return in 2009 at Kemble. Hope to see you there!
(For the latest information please click on our News Pages.)
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