Bickmarsh - 29th August 2013

Bickmarsh airfield is located just south of Bidford-on-Avon in Warickshire - I had only been here once before and that was back in 2002.

Brand new and still under final construction was Vans RV-8 G-XRVB - the owner was working on his aircraft and told me that he hoped to make the first flight within the next month or two - he's been working on this project for 9 years. There are currently 59 examples of the RV-8 registered in the UK.

Long term resident is Piper Pa-25-235 Pawnee G-BVYP - this is operated by the Bidford Gliding Club. This Pawnee was built in 1965 but didn't arrive in the UK until 1995 - since then it's always been based at Bickmarsh tugging gliders. By the end of 2012 this aircraft had flown over 4800 flight hours.

Older than the Pawnee is Luscombe 8E Silvaire Deluxe G-LUST - this example was built in 1947 ( 66 years ago ) . This classic aircraft came to the UK in 1989 from the USA and had previously flown as N2065B. The Luscombe 8 series is very popular here with 72 examples currently registered in the UK.

G-ATOI is an example of an early Piper Pa-28-140 Cherokee dating from 1966. It was imported new by CSE Aircraft Sales at Oxford-Kidlington and since then has operated with more than ten owners and has clocked up over 8100 flight hours. With over 140 Piper Pa-28-140 Cherokee currently on the UK register this example is perhaps the 5th oldest.



Steve