Butlin's pleasure flights

Shortly after the end of WW2 Butlins started offering pleasure flights from some of their camps which had airfields nearby. These included Skegness and Pwllheli and possibly Clacton and Bognor. I have some information on the Pwllheli (Broom Hall) and Skegness (Ingoldmells) operations but would appreciate any further information on these and other sites, e.g dates, aircraft used, prices etc.
Incidentally the entertainer Hughie Green regularly ferried his friend Billy Butlin to his camps and on one occasion in March 1963 he crashed on take off from Bognor (Lec strip) in an Aero Commander. Sight of his log books would be useful. Any ideas where they might be?

peerlessg wrote:

Shortly after the end of WW2 Butlins started offering pleasure flights from some of their camps which had airfields nearby. These included Skegness and Pwllheli and possibly Clacton and Bognor. I have some information on the Pwllheli (Broom Hall) and Skegness (Ingoldmells) operations but would appreciate any further information on these and other sites, e.g dates, aircraft used, prices etc.
Incidentally the entertainer Hughie Green regularly ferried his friend Billy Butlin to his camps and on one occasion in March 1963 he crashed on take off from Bognor (Lec strip) in an Aero Commander. Sight of his log books would be useful. Any ideas where they might be?

Clacton airfield didn't open until 1963.
Butlins Bognor didn't open until 1960; I went there with my parents in its first 3 years (1960 - 1962) and I don't recall anything about pleasure flights being advertised.
Butlins ceased operating its own pleasure flights in about 1953 and handed over these operations to locally based independent operators

Billy Butlin actually won a Beagle Husky in a raffle(no Im not making this up!), Hughie Green persuaded him to donate it to the ATC, it was used by 5AEF at Teversham.

Thanks Canberra, very interesting. Do you have anymore details, e.g. who ran raffle and where, dates, serial/registration of Husky etc.

canberra wrote:

Billy Butlin actually won a Beagle Husky in a raffle(no Im not making this up!), Hughie Green persuaded him to donate it to the ATC, it was used by 5AEF at Teversham.

I vaguely recall it was initially allocated to/offered to the GVC (Girls Venture Corps) Air Wing but it was decided it would be more logical if it were operated by an AEF alongside its Chipmunks.
I saw it one or two times when I was doing a 6 week PPL course at Cambridge in late 1971 but it seldom flew on weekdays as it was used for Air Cadet/GVC/Air Scouts AEF and they mostly operated weekends only; our course (sponsored by NATCS) flew weekdays only.
It was operated as XW 635 in RAF colours and when sold in the late '80s, reverted to its civil registration G-AWSW.

Thanks to good old Google I have ascertained that the Husky was actually won by Fred Pontin but Hughie Green arranged for Billy Butlin to purchase it to donate to a worthy cause. In June 1969 it was presented by Hughie Green and Billy Butlin to the ATC at Northolt, named "Spirit of Butlins". It was then operated by 5 AEF at Teversham as XW635 until April 1989 when it joined the RAF College Flying Club at Cranwell as G-AWSW. It transferred in March 1995 to a private owner at Spanhoe where it is still based today.

Thanks Paul - any chance you can send me a scan of the photo? Also, have you got any photos of Skegness (Ingoldmells) in the late 1940s/early 1950s.? I am planning to write an article for Airfield Review on Butlin's aviation activities and any pictures would be useful. I have access to the late Richard Riding's photo archive.