by

Jim Parker

Bournemouth Flying Club was formed by the Chief Flying Instructor of Somerford Airport at Christchurch, a man called Vernon Bernard who officially opened the club in 1961.  I met Vernon in 1960 at Christchurch Aero Club.  I knew him quite well there and when he got going at Hurn a few of us moved across from Christchurch to BFC (as it was then)

The Club was officially opened by Lord Montague and Edward Heath, the former Prime Minister, and the ceremony took place on the south side of the field.  About 50 attended and we al enjoyed a drink together.

Early days, and a meeting with a Wing Commander
I'll try to describe the aerodrome much as it was then.  There was no Bournemouth International then of course - it was Hurn Aerodrome.  There were a few commercial operators; one that readily comes to mind was the Silver City service to Cherbourg flying twin Bristol Freighters and carrying cars on an air ferry from Hurn to Cherbourg.  This lasted a few years until the demise of Silver City with the advent of roll-on/roll-off ferries, etc.

The aerodrome itself was run on RAF lines, the boss of it all being a Wing Commander whose name escapes me now, but a very nice man as I remember.  The only real encounter I had with him was when we brought an Auster Aiglet from Christchurch to Hurn because of the close of Christchurch Aerodrome.  There was no no fuel and no facilities there and the licence of Christchurch Aerodrome was revoked, so we really had to move to Hurn.  Well, I was the one elected to go and see the Wing Commander to talk to him about where we could park the aging Auster Aiglet.  I walked into his office and it took me right back to my RAF days - I felt I should salute the man, but I didn't!  He said "What sort of aircraft is this, boy?" (I remember that!)  I said "an Auster Aiglet". He smiled and said "and you want to park it here at Hurn?....I like those aeroplanes, I like the Austers. You can park that under my office window". What a nice fellow.  Well - there you are and that's how we got on.

Commercial Activity at Hurn
There wasn't really very much commercial activity at Hurn at this time; as I remember there was Air Service Training, a company training BEA staff mostly, using a fleet of twin engine Barons - quite a lot of activity from them. Vernon Bernard, who had opened the Bournemouth Flying Club was given a sort of franchise that Bournemouth Flying Club would be the only Club on the aerodrome at all, but thee was another one that sprung up called "Cannon Aviation" which I'll come to a little bit later.  There was a fair bit of air taxi activity going to various destinations where you could hire an aircraft to go to, say, the Isle of Wight, or wherever.  Then a bit later on, British Island Airways got going, then Jersey Airlines started up.

Vernon Bernard - the Founder of the Club
Anyway, as I've already said, the Flying Club itself was run very much on RAF lines, with a definite emphasis on discipline maintained by Vernon Bernard, himself an ex RAF Flight Lieutenant with a very distinguished RAF record, including Spitfires out of Norway in the war, and Halifaxes, pretty much throughout the war.  After the war he re-enlisted and joined a Lincoln squadron and flew Lincolns for a year or so before he left the RAF and then went back into civil flying.  The discipline I've referred to would mean that Vernon Bernard would use only your surname when addressing you, never your Christian name, and he would run a regime something like this - he would call you by your surname and say "I haven't flown with you lately.  Get that aeroplane DI'd and I want to check you out right now". You more or less had to go and do it, in fear and trepidation of course, in fear of what he might say.  So you did your best - in fact it often turned out to be a little less that your best (in my case at least) due to nerves.  Anyway Vernon was a very good man, very helpful and he'd help you with anything to do with flying.  He was a very good friend over a good few years.  But it has to be said, and it's true................behind every great man there is always a great lady and there were three great ladies behind Vernon - his wife Joan and his two daughters Jack and Sarah.  They were a great gang and a force to be reckoned with - good company and a great laugh at all times.

Humble Beginnings on the South Side of the Field
The Club whilst situated on the south side of the field had a very mediocre, ex-wartime hut, half the size of the Clubhouse as it is now on the north side.  As far as I can remember the hut that they were in then was, for a little while, a HM Customs bonded store for Duty Free items.  I don't know what it is used for now, but it was just a single RAF type hut on the south side of the field.  There were no social activities at all and the best you could get in the Clubhouse at that time was a cup of tea, if you were lucky.  However, it was a very sort step into the Terminal building which was open to just about everybody and in fact all the club members used to refer to it as "the Clubhouse" because we all went in there for a cup of tea or coffee, or light refreshments. The main part of the actual club was used studying and flying training.  The Club wasn't terribly well equipped at that time for aircraft.  We had a total of three Cessna 150s and they were of the old vertical tail type.  I forget the actual number but they were a variant of the C152 that we use today.  In addition to the three C150s, there were also two C172s and at one time there was a Chipmunk as well.  The Club had a contract for the training of RAF ATC cadets and that proved to be quite lucrative to the running of the place.  This contract was awarded each year to train probably about 16 cadets from various parts of the country for up to about 30 hours of the 40 hours training required at that time.

Flying Chares Then!
As you all know the flying charges have been sort of creeping up relentlessly over the years.  I can remember at Christchurch we paid about £5 an hour and if you happened to work for either De Havilland or any of the other aircraft firms, you were able to get a little subsidy and I believe some were able to fly very reasonably because of this concession.

When we moved across to Hurn the flying fees had risen to £10 per hour and then about £14 per hour, which we all though was terrible, and one or two of us complained bitterly but with the benefit of hindsight, we were doing alright!

Flying Instructors
Of the instructors of that time, two come to mind that I had contact with.  They were Dave Harris and the late Keith Kenyon, who was unfortunately killed in a crash off Hong Kong flying a freighter called a Guppy, and there were no survivors from that. I believe it was due to an engine fire on take off but I'm not sure.  Dave - he could turn up.  I expect he's still alive and kicking but the last time I heard anything of him at al was that he'd encountered a high tension cable carrying electrical power - in other words a grid cable - whilst he was flying an Islander.  But I think he got away with it and Dave was always very lucky anyway, so that was that as far as I know.

Flying Incidents - and the Case of the Thirsty Aiglet
Flying incidents at this time.  Well, there weren't very many but one that I recall at Christchurch, when I was in the Auster Aiglet, and the whole story is that, it being a Saturday night, the aeroplane went to Hurn for refuelling because we were going to use it over the weekend.  Anyway, I got the Auster back to Christchurch, hangared it, locked it up for night, put the hangar keys in the usual place, returned there on the Sunday morning to do a detail, not just locally a few circuits, etc.  However, in the event we approached the airfield and it was clear that we were high and it required a go around, which was quite normal.  As the engine throttle was opened the engine coughed, vibrated and stopped dead!! I can see it today with the prop in the vertical position, not even wind-milling, too late to land and really the only thing I can say is that we flew straight ahead as all good pilots should.  The next thing was that we were past the runway and coming up to the boundary fence, which was the boundary to the adjacent Signals Research and Development (SRDE) site, which had perimeter fence of very large, thick concrete posts, topped with overhanging barbed wire! Well, we were able to get a little bit more speed before we got to the fence.  We hopped over and pretty much stalled above the fence.  We go the nose down again, got some speed and in fact wheeled the plane onto the grass, but now inside the SRDE perimeter fence. There were aerials everywhere, poles, masts, towers - God know what!  There was one coming up quite fast so we wheeled to the left and then to the right and believe it or not, we stopped within a few feet of one of the towers - and breathed a very great sight of relief!

Then one of the guards came out and started giving us a lot lip saying, "you can't land in here - we though you were the IRA!". So we explained and said there wasn't a lot we could do about it as the engine had stopped, so it was "fait accompli".  He said he'd open the gates so that we could wheel it back into our area, back onto the aerodrome.

With that the engineers came out and said "Yeah well, that was your fault, you caused that" so I said"  Well, how come?"  They said "Well, Gypsy engines don't like that treatment.  We saw you snap open the throttle and you stalled the engine.  You must always open it slowly to get the revs up before you open it up any further" I knew all bout this and I hadn't done that so I told them I had not done that.  "Oh yes you did - we saw a cloud of black smoke coming out of it" So OK! Fine! Yours truly took the blame.  So I told them I wouldn't be flying it again - not after it did that! So anyway, the engineer got into the aircraft, started it up, and needles to say one press of the starter and the engine burst into life and it was perfectly OK. So he let it run for a little while, probably about four to five minutes I suppose, and with that the engine stopped!  There was a lot of banter going on and they were saying "Oh Tom - you opened the throttle too quick and you've stalled it". It obviously wasn't what he'd proclaimed was the fault.

He opened the cowlings, looked in the carburettor and he said "Well no wonder! There's no fuel in the carburettor".  So he climbed up onto the main plane on a pair of steps, went to open the first tank and there was fuel in there - opened the second tank and there was a noise, a chatter of gears so to speak.  Now what this Auster had got was a mechanical fuel gauge set in the roots of the wings and on this filler cap it had like a "top hat" filter, which you could take out if you wanted to, or leave it in when you were re-fuelling, so that it would strain out anything that was in the fuel.  That had hatched up the fuel gauge.

Well I said "no, no.....I'm not having that because I filled this aeroplane last night, and we wheeled it out this morning, and it hasn't flown to my knowledge!"  I hadn't dipped the tanks because I felt I knew there was fuel in there - don't ever do that!  Then, a little voice in the background pipes up Oh, I flew it last night and I did some aerobatics and night flying" He had emptied one tank and of course because the fuel gauge was jammed on that side, it appeared to be full.  So there's a lesson in flying light aeroplanes - NEVER fly without actually dipping the fuel.

On a much sadder note - it would be in 1975 or maybe 1976 that Peter Lambert, an instructor whom I knew well and flew with on many occasions, was fatally injured when the plane he was flying crashed in Africa.  Peter's sister, Pauline, usually comes to the Club to present the Trophy for Outstanding Achievement which is presented annually in his memory.  He was a fine young man and completely dedicated to flying.

During the time of Vernon Bernard's reign at the Club, we did have an unfortunate accident with a C150 G-ASHF.  An Australian man called Robinson was flying it and he went down in Swanage bay.  They didn't really know quite what happened but it was surmised that there was a fault in the tailplane and he lost control of it.  Sadly he lost his life and the end of G-ASHF, a straight tailed Cessna.

Some of the Planes
I flew Hotel Foxtrot (G-ASHF) on 30.11.72 and the replacement for Hotel Foxtrot was another straight tailed Cessna 150 and its call sign was G-ARWC.  The other very popular one, which lasted many years, was G-ARAB, which just about everybody soloed on.  Those three aircraft were very much the same but flew quite differently and behaved quite differently in the air, but they kept us going, that's the main thing.

There was also a 4 seater C172, G-AVJI, a very popular aircraft for doing trips and going to the Channel Islands what what have you.  A bit later on, in 1973, there was another C172, G-ARLU, quite a nice aeroplane.

As far as dates go, the demise of Hotel Foxtrot, was about May 1973 according to my logbook.  Another aircraft around about this time, which I can't remember although I flew it on three consecutive days, was G-AWXH - that must have been another Cessna 150, but I don't remember the aircraft at all.  The on 4.10.73 came the AA5, which I eventually owned when we formed a group.  Many of you probably remember it, G-BBWC - I did many hours in that one.Another very popular instructor at this time was Simon O'Brian, who I think is captaining one of the big airliners somewhere around the world, although I haven't heard anything from him for many years.

The move from the Old Clubhouse to the Current One
The best recollection I have of the Club moving from the south side of the field to the north side to the premises that we're in now was around the beginning of 1973.  The move was a very hectic time for work, etc.  The Clubhouse was in need of renovation; there were no windows in it and no plaster or paint on the walls; in fact it was just a shell.  It was a pretty strong building, and it wasn't going to fall down or anything - but boy!.......it did need a lot of work doing to it.  Most of us just buckled down and did a little and in due course it all got done.  The leader of this undertaking though was a person you might very well remember and he was a builder, one Percy Blake, who was a very good friend of Noddy Bernard, the owner of the Club.  So as it went along with Percy Blake's knowledge as a professional builder, and all us lackeys to do the manual work, it was soon done.

Jim Parker's Grumman AA5

Oh yes.......you may have noticed that I referred to Vernon Bernard as "Noddy" Bernard.  Well that was his nickname by everybody in and around the Club but it was never mentioned to him himself, because as I've already said, he did run the Club on very strict lines, and I'm not sure he would have approved of being known by such a familiar nickname.  The only person who did use the nickname "Noddy" within Vernon's earshot, was my very small son who was about three years old - and he's 39 now!  I went home one day and I said to Vivien "Oh, I saw Noddy today" and Christopher piped up and said "and Big ears?". What could I say?

Anyway Chris repeated it and it was heard by the master himself, but he took it in good part.  He was very fond of Christopher and I daresay he had heard it before.  Although none of Flying Club members would dare to say it to his face! However, we're over in the new Clubhouse and we've left the razzamatazz of the south side where we were very, very cramped and no social activities whatever.  As I've said before, a cup of tea in the Terminal building was about all we ever had, and maybe a drink if you fancied it, but never when you were flying of course.

The Hangar
About this time - I have to tell you that I'm not good at remembering precise dates - all the fellows who helped to put the Club into habitable condition decided that, as we had these fine new Grumman aeroplanes, we should have a hangar.  Anyway, we found the remains of a Nissen type hangar but it had to be transported to the Hurn site and erected.  That hangar is now used by the Piper Aircraft Company and I think the Norrises took it over for a little while when they were owners of the Club.  However, it was the volunteers of Bournemouth Flying Club members at that time who all set to, and erected the Nissen hangar to house the aircraft out of inclement weather.  Well, there wasn't very much money to pay contractors to do the job.

Presidents
Around about this time, maybe just before we left the south side, they elected to have a Club President and the first President was a man called Dors, known as Dickie Dors to everybody.  He was a wonderful chap with a great sense of humour as I recall and he was a really fine artist. One of the things I particularly remember about him was that he was learning to fly at 72 or 74 years of age, having had very little to do with aeroplanes up until that time, as far as O far as I know..  He took a very long time to qualify but qualify he did.

Jim Parker's Grumman over Avon Beach

We all helped him and I think the instructors and the boss, was of course the CFI, and the Chief Instructor took him under his wing, so to speak. 

Anyway, he did qualify although the Club did put one or two small restrictions on him.  I got on very well with him and it's a fact that he said to me one day "I'd like to paint your aeroplane for you.  I'll paint you a picture." So I said "Well that's very nice Dick, thanks for that"  and I think we had a drink in the bar.  He said "I'll tell you what I'll do; I'll paint the picture but not just a straightforward picture.  I'll paint a picture of Avon Beach which is just at the end of the road you live in.  I know you often fly around there, so I'll put it in flight over that beach".

 He came in a few months later with the picture under his arm, not a big picture but it's on the wall in my radio room actually at home. Dickie's sense of humour lasts until today because the aircraft is over Friars Cliff, Avon Beach OK; you can recognise that, and I think the other smaller two seater Grumman is flying around at the same time, but the aeroplane is banked and what do you know?  He put a blonde as a passenger in it, in the right hand seat.  It was OK until I took it home and Vivien, who was a brunette at the time, asked a number of questions as to who the blonde was! I've no idea but he did that on purpose, for a laugh, I'm sure! Anyway that's a little bit about your very first President.  He was followed, I think, by Percy Blake as our next President.  Then some other bugger - I don't know who he was!!

Jim Price
There's one person I must mention at this time.  I don't know why this happened but the Club was getting a bit bigger and there was quite a few more pilots and training going on.  I'm talking about Jim Price and I'm sure lots of you will remember Jim.  Now when Vernon Bernard introduced Jim Price to the Club members he said something that I would never have expected him to say about anybody.  Jim

Price was going to be the CFI and Noddy Bernard said "He is well qualified.  In fact I would say that he's more qualified than myself". Praise indeed, coming from Noddy Bernard himself.

Anyway, these two, Vernon Bernard and Jim Price, ran the Club along with a few other instructors.  I got along famously with the new CFI , Jim Price, because I think it was a sort of kinship.  My service career was spent at the Central Flying School at Little Rissington and I happened to mention this to Jim Price and he said, "Well I never! When was that?", so I said "1951 to 1953" - "Good Lord!" he said "I was there during that time". I never knew him then but all his pals were my pals; we knew everybody else but we didn't know each other - funny isn't it? Anyway, Jim was a much decorated officer, a Squadron Leader and during his career in the RAF from wartime onwards, he was captain of a Lancaster at 19 - hard to believe isn't it?  Among other aircraft he flew: the English Electric Canberra.  He did quite a stint on those and also captained a Vulcan.  At the time of his retirement from the RAF he was the captain of a Victor.  When he was at the Central Flying School at Little Rissington (in my time) he was a senior instructor there - so pretty good I'd say!

Talking about Little Rissington...............
I wasn't on flying duties at Little Rissington; I was in my electronics role but I got in quite a few hours courtesy of the Royal Air Force!

The popular aircraft at the Central Flying School at Little Rissington was the Harvard and they were nice aeroplanes.  We had no less than 94 operational Harvards at any one time.  One of the duties we performed there which is of some interest is that the Duke of Edinburgh learned to fly there.  He had his own instructor and whenever he was going to fly, everybody to a man, was grounded.  The Fling Officer whose duty it was to be the Duke of Edinburgh's personal instructor used to get ribbed a little bit because of his royal duties but it is true to say that when I'd been out of the RAF for about 3, 4 or 5 years, I read in a newspaper that the Queen's Flight was going to be reviewed by the Queen herself and she was conducted around by Air Vice Marshal John Severne, who was the man who, as a somewhat lower ranking officer, had taught the Duke to fly!  His subsequent promotion was a certainty!

Club Members - Duly Approved by Vernon
Back to the Club.  Back then membership was something like £20 per year, which was quite a bit of money at the time.  As to membership numbers, I would say there were well over a thousand paid up members.  It always surprised me that the Club membership was quite so high because Vernon was very choosy who he would have.  You didn't just get your membership because you'd applied.  He wanted to talk to you first and he interviewed everybody who wanted to become a member.  He used to say "This is a gentleman's club". I remember one particular chap coming in and saying "I think I'll be joining our Club", which was not the right approach at all!  Vernon took a different view and it was goodbye to that chap - I don't think he ever joined us.  Taking it for granted that you would become a member of the club was the worst thing you could do. You had to apply to Vernon and hope that he would approve your application and if he didn't then you had no chance of becoming a member.

The Club Changes Hands
The next milestone was when the club changed hands.  I don't think Vernon really wanted to part with the place but he felt it was time he cut down on his work load, although he was still very active in the flying field - air testing and air taxi work, etc., but anyway the day dawned when the club was sold to a lovely man called Ken Rourke.  Now Ken was a really nice chap; he really was a perfect gentleman.  He had a lovely family, two daughters and his wife helped in the club and everybody got on with Ken very well.  In fact if I had to comment at all on Ken, I think he was rather too nice to run a flying club.  He was taken for a ride on a few occasions, and I don't mean in an aeroplane! His background was that he owned a company and he sold aeroplane parts and he decided that he'd like to buy the flying club, and he took it on.

Social Activities and Mega Barbecues
I think that about this time the club was probably at its peak. There were a lot of activities going on, trips here, there and everywhere - fly-ins and fly-outs and so on.  There were regular trips to the Channel Islands and we were usually invited across there by the Jersey Aero Club.  There were also land-based trips to places of interest.  Then, of course, there were the barbecues.  I had a hand in running a few of the barbecues and it was done very much ad hoc by the club itself and with the help of our builder friend, Percy Blake and his men, an extra large marquee was put up and another smaller tent with scaffold poles and tarpaulins in case of rain.  We set up all our barbecue equipment on the grass in front of the club and there no less than three bars going at the same time.  With a membership such as we had, we were absolutely crowed out on these Barbecue Night and the club members did all the work preparing, supplying and getting everything together.

John Cooke
A person I must mention who organised this side of it was one John Cooke.  John has been seen in the local area but I myself haven't seen him for a few years, although is still around and his family owned the Connaught Court Hotel in the Bournemouth, West Cliff, St. Michael's area, and he'd got it all worked out - the preparing of the food and everything else.  We had a magnificent barbecue on two or three occasions whereby he arranged for the supply of a sheep that we could roast on a spit.  However, there was a little bit of trickery involved to make quite sure the meat was completely cooked right through John had very large ovens at the hotel and he would put the carcass in one of these ovens to be thoroughly cooked - for the best part of a day!  Then we took the roasted whole sheep to the clubhouse and set it up on a very large spit which was about four feet long, with a handle and a drip tray underneath, so we got the barbecue flavour into it.  What with the spit roast and all the more usual barbecue fare, sausages, beef burgers, et al, a delightful and memorable evening was had by all.

So It's a Continuing Story...............
The club continued in this manner and seemed to be going from strength to strength.  I didn't have too much to do with the management although I knew Ken Rourke very well and he eventually decided that he would sell the club to the Norrises.  This is recent history of course, and we all know what happened after the Norrises left.  But I've been very lucky to have been associated with the Fling Club all these years and I've enjoyed my flying time with all the owners.