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!

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