SAVE BOVINGDON AIRFIELD !

[Bovingdon 08/26]

15 January 2012.

Dear Members,

RE: BOVINGDON AIRFIELD. RUNWAY 08-26. Hertfordshire. HP5 3RW.

Certificate of Lawfulness Request. DO YOU HAVE ANY INFORMATION ?

My name is Paul Webb and my father and I recently purchased Berry Farm HP5 3RW. We bought the farm specifically because a large section of one of the former Military Runways in included on our land. This Runway continues to be active to this day and is currently in use for light aircraft. Our section is 08 / 26 and it is the section that runs East to West just north of the V.O.R. BNN (Easily identified on Google Maps, HP5 3RW. ) Runway is 650 Metres long x 49 Metres wide in excellent condition.
There is currently one aircraft based at the farm. A Cherokee 180 owned by a local businessman who has used our Runway continuously during the past 27 years.
My father and I are learning to fly a Eurostar Microlight and intend buy one as soon as we pass our tests. We have both just recently flown ‘solo’ but now we are faced with a possible airfield closure. Because a neighbour who we have had a recent dispute with over a Right of Way issue felt the need to complain to Dacorum Borough Council about the ‘terrible noise’ that a Eurostar Microlight makes from a 1200cc Rotax engine ! ( The neighbour during the 11 years in the area, has never before made a complaint about any aircraft noise, including the very loud noise made by the heavy, very noisy Helicopters that fly low over Bovingdon on a daily basis!)

I believe the Council are now aware that the neighbours complaint is unfounded, nevertheless her complaint has led to the need for us to apply for a Certificate of Lawfulness otherwise the Council advise they are duty bound to issue an Enforcement Notice to stop our flying.

By posting our appeal on various forums we have already obtained many Statements from pilots who have used our runway over the past 10 years or more, mainly for unrecorded ( PFL’s ) but several pilots have come forward and produced evidence of actual landings at Bovingdon.

Our section of the former Military Airfield is the only remaining ‘active’ leg of Runway in operation.

We urgently need to hear from any person who has used this runway since 1948 to date. This could be for landings or even just ‘Touch & Go’s in various Light Aircraft, including Gliders, Gyrocopters, Hot Air Balloons and Microlights. Even Model Aircraft, they still count !

WE ONLY HAVE A SHORT TIME TO SUBMIT INFORMATION TO THE COUNCIL. Copies of Log Book entries referring to Bovingdon will be great but we understand that it is not normal to log Touch & Go’s, so a simple emailed statement confirming your past use of our runway will be greatly appreciated to; berryfarm.uk@gmail.com

As Bovingdon Airfield is referred to on aviation maps as ‘Disused Military Airfield’ people have simply carried out T & G’s without the need for prior permission. For safety reasons we have recently changed this. There is now PPR painted at each end of the Runway. ( 07714 490160.)

It should be noted that over the past 10 years or more flying has always been discouraged on every Saturday and Bank Holiday when the Public Market is help at the other end of the 08-26 runway, (the section that we do not own). Our land stops at the intersection of the 2 main former Military Runways.

If any members have any entries in their log books that mentions Bovingdon this will be great but even if flights have not been logged a simple statement by email will be very much appreciated. Please ask around as we need urgent help from as many people as possible and as quickly as possible.

Any questions, please do not hesitate to get in touch. Best contact is email as we run a working farm and are not always available on the telephone. The county boundary runs through our land. Herts / Bucks. The majority of the farm is in Bucks but the runway is in Herts. Please remember, we are looking for any flying activity at Bovingdon since WW2 until now.

We have an Aviation Planning Consultant, Peter Kember helping us but we still require urgent help / information from any members !

All emails received will be attended to promptly.
Thank you very much,
Paul Webb. Email; berryfarm.uk@gmail.com
Postal address; The White Hart Pub. Whelpley Hill. Chesham. Bucks. HP5 3RL.

[Giblet]

This is off topic, but I appreciate what the author is doing. Since it is the offseason, I will lock it and let it fall off the front page gracefully.

My inner airplane nut wants to help him. To the poster, try sending a private message to "Autogyro". He is very closely tied to British Aviation.

[Bovingdon 08/26]

Dear Member,
Please can you post the following on the forum for me, as I am having a problem doing this myself. I am new to forums and not sure how to do this,
Thank you,
Paul Webb. Email: savebovingdonairfield@gmail.com

My name is Paul Webb and I and my family own Berry Farm that includes runway 08/26 and associated taxiways at Bovingdon. ( Our runway runs east to west, just north of the BNN V.O.R. )

Firstly we want to thank the hundreds of pilots who have already responded to our Appeal to Save Bovingdon Airfield, many who have supplied signed statements to confirm both landings & PFL’s over past years.

As we have been extremely busy during the past few months dealing with our Application to Dacorum Borough Council for a Certificate of Lawfulness and all that it entails, we have only just come across a posting on one of the forums where [LegaleagleP1] is warning pilots to be wary of admitting T & G’s ( PFL’s, ) for fear of being accused of Trespass. Perhaps there may be some merit in this warning if circumstances were different, although we doubt it, but as we are fully aware of the facts concerning the freehold property that we purchased, we are able to assure any interested parties who have not already submitted evidence by way of a signed statement, and in many cases by way of a signed Statutory Declaration in front of a Commissioner for Oaths, if any other pilots wish to supply further evidence we hereby confirm & promise, we will fully indemnify, via our lawyers, and to personally pay all costs involved for past use if any stated evidence or use of runway 08/26, Berry Farm Bovingdon leads to any litigation or claims for Trespass.

For the record, we purchased Berry Farm in August 2009. The late owner, Mr. William Stanbridge had died some 10 years earlier. From that time up to our purchase the Executors of the estate were involved in legal action without success in an attempt to remove the person who had taken control of the farm without the Executors permission. The person remained in occupation of the farm and farmhouse until our purchase in 2009.

There is absolutely no risk whatsoever that anyone will be accused of trespass for past use and as this ridiculous suggestion has been posted onto the forum we can only suspect that someone is clutching at straws in an attempt to sabotage our Appeal and if so, this may be linked to the disgruntled neighbour who lost a battle over an unrelated issue and in retaliation made the original unjustified complaint to the Council about our flying, thus causing the need for a Lawful Certificate. We have already recently established with Dacorum that the airfield remains a legal airfield and we have now gained an overwhelming amount of evidence to prove continued use over the past 10 years and more. We therefore expect to receive a Certificate very soon.

We welcome further contact from anyone who has used runway 08 / 26 over past years. Whilst we now hold more than enough evidence to prove our case for a Certificate to be issued, we still appreciate receiving more evidence as this will be included in our overall evidence and all new contacts will be added to our database for future updates and notices.

It is no secret that there is some local objection to the continued use of our airfield for light aircraft but this objection is based on misinformation, no doubt in connection with the same source where the scaremongering has originated from concerning the above matter of trespass. It is suggested by certain parties that we have applied for Planning Permission to build a 2nd Biggin Hill at Berry Farm.

To clarify to all concerned, we have not applied for any Planning Permission and our Application for Lawful Use is exactly what it says, “To continue with our established Lawful Use”.

We would like to build a Memorial and a small Museum at Bovindon to remember the thousands of Servicemen who passed through during the war years. Many who lost their lives carrying out dangerous air raids over Europe.
Bovingdon ( BNN ) was originally built as an R.A.F. Bomber Station. In April 1943 the station transferred to USAAF Command as a B-17 operational training base. USAAF Station No 112, home to the 92nd BG, B-17 Combat Crew Replacement Unit (CCRU), 11th CCRU, and 8th USAAF HQ Squadron. 154 Aircraft took off from Bovingdon never to return.

To sum up, we only have good intentions for all concerned and we want to live and work in harmony with the village. We purchased the farm specifically because of the airfield / active runway due to our passion for flying. We are responsible people and we hope in time, the few who are currently opposing our continued use will see for themselves we have no intention of doing anything detrimental to affect the village in any way other than for the good.
We have already returned the White Hart to a proper village pub, again, selling real ales and good food and whatever else we can do to enhance the area we will be only too pleased to do.
We welcome any questions and all emails will be replied to ASAP.
Many thanks,
Paul Webb. Email: savebovingdonairfield@gmail.com