I finally pulled out my July 22, 1943 Salt Lake City sectional aeronautical chart to look at the airway beacon locations. I photographed it and put the photo out in Photobucket. It is a large file in order to preserve detail. You can access it here: http://i1138.photobucket.com/albums/n534/brentjwatson/1943SLCSectional.jpg A couple of things stand out. First, there are more lighted beacons than show on the first map I posted. Rotating beacons are shown by a star with an open circle. Flashing beacons are shown by a smaller star that is filled in completely. The locations shown as "x" on the other map seem to correspond to the flashing beacons. 2. The beacon near Grantsville is placed there because there was an airport there. That is the meaning of the circle surrounding the star. That is why it is bypassed on the route arrows. 3. There are two beacon locations near Lakepoint - 61A and 61B. 61B was near Saltair and was the beacon that flashed the Morse Code ID (. - -). Supposedly, the beacons flashed their ID with a separate set of lights to identify them for pilots. They flashed a coded number between 1 and 10, but used the letters W, U, V, H, R, K, D, B, G, or M, representing th numbers from 1 to 10. Beacon 61 would flash Morse code for 1, W which is . - -, the leading digit is omitted. Pilots would remember this sequence by memorizing the mnemonic device When Navigating Very Hard Routes Keep Directions By Good Means. 4. There was a flashing beacon just southwest of Tooele, but no airport is shown at Tooele. Next in line is Stockton, then a flashing beacon a Rush (Valley). 5. There were two beacons east of Salt Lake. One is lower in elevation, and the one I remember watching as a kid is on top of the mountain just north of the mouth of Emigration Canyon. They both flashed the Morse Code "M" for 0. I assume this was for the approach into the Salt Lake City airport. 6. There was also a radio marker beacon (outer marker) at the beacon located at mile marker 62. 7. The Lucin airport is not on the chart. It was not in operation in 1943. 8. There is a railroad going from the Salt Lake Valley to Alta. Those are just a couple of observations. Patrick, if you are going to rejuvenate one of the arrows, why not include the beacon as a part of it. I suggest the Lakepoint arrow. I know where there is a tower with most of the beacon in tact. The state of Montana still maintains theirs and may be a source for parts or information. How cool would it be to see one of these treasures operating nearby! ________________________________ From: Patrick Wiggins <paw@wirelessbeehive.com> To: Utah Astronomy <utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Friday, August 30, 2013 4:51 AM Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Concrete arrows (OT) Finally got several of the pictures posted posted: http://users.wirelessbeehive.com/~paw/ARROWS.HTML Also I met with some folks at the Civil Air Patrol last evening and they are interested in helping to clean up the area around one or two of the arrows. Clear skies, patrick On 29 Aug 2013, at 01:41, Joe Bauman wrote:
Quite the mountaineer, Patrick! Congratulations. I'm anxious to see them. -- Joe
________________________________ From: Patrick Wiggins <paw@wirelessbeehive.com> To: Utah Astronomy <utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Thursday, August 29, 2013 12:15 AM Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Concrete arrows (OT)
Very long day today but I managed to get to all of the sites on my list. And this time I set the camera correctly so I should have pictures online soon.
Lakepoint - Now that I know where the arrow over Lakepoint is it was a quick 30 or so minute hike up and back.
Exit 77 - Easiest of all. Yesterday I walked from the highway since I was not sure of the road. But I saw it was fine so drove right up to the arrow today.
Exit 62 - Biggest challenge of the day. Not having 4 wheel drive I parked at the base and climbed up (I do an hour walk on level ground every day but these more vertical climbs were a chore for my 64 year old body). Still once on top I found it right away.
Exit 49 - I searched exactly where GPS said it was (GPS was spot on on all the others) but all I could find was open desert and bits of broken concrete. It appears some sort of pipeline cut right through the area so maybe the folks putting that in broke up the arrow. I'm guessing the arrow no longer exists but will check from the air once my plane gets back.
BTW, I did find a couple of metal markers attached to pipes stuck in the found reading "State Highway Right of Way".
Bountiful - Back to the one near Bountiful airport that Brent mentioned. I'd hiked in from the trailhead just off the freeway so did not see any gates. But a guy did stop and ask what I was doing. He seemed ok with my being there once I explained so he just drove on. I gave him my card and asked he contact me so I might get permission to bring some CAP cadets to the site and to include his site in the piece I'm working with the reporter on. BTW, funny that he didn't know the arrow was on his land.
Stockton - And finally to the arrow above Stockton. That one's in pretty sad shape and nearly totally overgrown.
Regarding the bulb, I thought it was a modern one for one of the existing structures. But since Brent suspects it may be from the tower that stood over the arrow I'm first going to do some checking and if it is original see if I can find a museum that wants it.
Regarding colors, as I mentioned in an earlier post I only saw color on two of the arrows. But I see that on the map Brent referenced if you click on any given site and then on "NGSLINK More info" some of the sites mention color. An example is the Stockton arrow which refers to "A LARGE, YELLOW, CONCRETE ARROW".
patrick
_______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Send messages to the list to Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com The Utah-Astronomy mailing list is not affiliated with any astronomy club. To unsubscribe go to: http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Then enter your email address in the space provided and click on "Unsubscribe or edit options".