|
2005 Trip to the Mojave Triangle
< Back
Edwards AFB
Click
Photos to View Larger
They Will Open in a New Window
I really had fun with trying to
find places to take photos from oh Edwards AFB, I started
out trying to get to a suggested location from
www.lazygranch.com. The first attempt we ran into a
restricted area sign.
So we turned back and tried a
few other roads, about 2 hours later we found a spot which
was about 10 miles away from the closest part of the base,
South Base. From this spot you could see the whole base, it
is obviously a popular spot, looks well traveled. The only
drawback is the power lines and the distance. I would
suggest bringing some 12X Binoculars or a telescope, and
some good long distance lenses, the photos close in on the
base you will see below were taken by a 75-300mm lens at
full power. Also I suggest a tripod, which I forgot... and
taking the photos earlier in the morning, to reduce heat
wave distortions. The photos below show the photo spot area
and what you can see.
Above is a map of the area. Edwards View is where I shot the
photos from.
We never did get to the spot
suggest at the above site cause the road had been washed
out, and we would have bottomed out the Honda.
The photos below are close-up
panoramas of Edwards it's self.
Below are photos of the Edwards
Rocket Facility.
Below are photos Edwards North
Base.
Above is an extended North Base photo. WARNING 4 megabytes!
Below are miscellaneous photos
while in the Edwards area.
Photo one is some sort of tracking system, photo two is a
VOR system, probably for Edwards.
You see a lot of these signs.
On the left is some sort of radio equipment, and on the
right is what most of the roads look like.
Click here to jump
back up to the list.
Helendale/Lockheed-Martin RCS Range
Click Most
Photos to View Larger
They Will Open in a New Window
RCS stands for Radar Cross
Section, an RCS Range is used to test for an aircraft's RCS.
There are two that are active in the Mojave Triangle, and
Helendale is one of them, the other is Tejon. Helendale was
built and is used by Lockheed-Martin. This is the photo-op I
was looking forward too the most, mainly because you can get
close, and anything tested is completely visible.
Unfortunately there was no activity because I went there on
a Sunday. There were some things outside, but are most
likely throwaway projects, or calibration models.
Click here to visit a great site with more on this facility
and others.
Below is a map of things that
will match some of the photos below.
Front of the main base.
Back of the main base.
Last two photos on the right is a "Radar Dish" which is on
the map under the same name. Also the strip of asphalt
closest to the camera in the first two photos is the "Active
Runway".
Below is a map of
planes.
Photo on the left (Plane Photo 1) seems to be an F-16 with a
lot of modifications.
Photo on the right (Plane Photo 2); the one on the left in
the photo on the right is more of a shape then a plane, the
one on the right in the right photo is probably just a
calibration model, it looks a lot like the Lockheed JSF.
Then behind the building, it looks like some tails, this
could be another model.
Below are some
photos of miscellaneous things at the facility.
Photo 1: May be a pylon cap? Photo 2: Pretty sure its a
pylon. Photo 3: Interesting trailer, it says Teaming, and
has an interesting Eureka E Logo.
It reminds me of the Chamber of Engineers Logo shown below.
Here's an interesting one ...a boat... in the desert.
Click here to jump
back up to the list.
Mojave Airport
Click
Photos to View Larger
They Will Open in a New Window
This is an interesting place, a
lot of things to look at and everybody seems pretty
friendly. I don't know much about the place, other than that
Burt Rutan's Scaled Composites is based there and that its
an airliner storage/graveyard. Anyway I wont be able to go
into details on all of the photos below.
Click here for the Mojave Airport Website.
The only photos I got was of
the Lockheed hangars from the road, when we were on airport
property and were asked to not take any photos.
Click here to jump
back up to the list.
Tejon
Ranch/Northrop RCS Range
Click
Photos to View Larger
They Will Open in a New Window
This is similar to the RCS
range at Helendale, but is owned and operated by Northrop.
The drive there is very ruff, and once you get close you
come to a gate.
Click here to visit a great site with more on this facility
and others.
The entrance has signs of being an
old cattle farm. The bar over the top is usually for a farm
sign to be hung from, and the thing in the photo to the
right is a cattle grate, cattle wont go over it when they
see it's not solid ground (thanks to Mike Vivaldi for
identifying this stuff). I couldn't find a spot to see the
facility from, I did a little bit of hiking, but I didn't go
to far into the brush cause I dunno what's out there. I do
think though if you're willing to try, you can hike on a
"road" to the right of the gate way along the east fence,
you may just find a point to view the facility from.
Photo on the left shows the east road. Photo on the right is
some sort of memorial.
The only nice thing that came from
going up there was the view, you can see the whole
valley from there.
The photo on the right shows where Palmdale is at from
Tejon, the one on the right shows the road up, it not that
nice all the way, some spots the road is washed out, other
spots are sand.
Click here to jump
back up to the list.
Miscellaneous
Click
Photos to View Larger
They Will Open in a New Window
These are some photos I
took while I was out, no specific things, just some snaps.
Sunset in Mojave |
Sunset in Mojave off the mountains close by. |
Looking down one of the roads during a sunset in
Mojave. 70mph is legal on this one. |
This was a common sight in Mojave, old cars,
riddled with bullet holes. |
This is also a common sight, abandoned
buildings. |
This church was used in the Kill Bill movies |
The looong road to Edwards |
Another abandoned building |
Kill Bill church in color. |
Took this near Helendale RCS. |
Saw a bunch of these beetles, they walk head
down. Very odd thing. |
Tropico Gold Mine/Ghost Town filming site. |
Tropico Gold Mine/Ghost Town filming site, close
up of the first photo. |
Tropico Gold Mine/Ghost Town filming site. |
Click here to jump back up to the list.
Click here to go back to the main Trips page.
|
