Not your ordinary day (unless you are in a Carbon Cub)

[NevadaBill]

A few years ago a friend sent me some photos of some old concrete arrows (out in the middle of no where) that were used for navigation 80 or so years ago.  After reading about the arrows on another forum, I knew it was just a matter of time before I had to go find one for myself.  Yesterday was the day.  Took a high school senior who wants a career in aviation and is washing airplanes out at the local airport for flight lesson money and set out to find an arrow.  Mission accomplished - found an arrow, landed where most other planes would not (at least by choice), did a bunch of low and slow flying over the desert, let the kid fly a bunch, and now the oil on the belly of my 182 will magically be disappearing.  This airplane is a kick to fly.



Found the arrow - it is in the middle of no where





Looks much cooler with the Cub next to it.







On the way to Winnemucca for lunch before heading home.

[ceslaw]

That was great!

just curious, what direction was arrow pointing? Towards another arrow? Where did you find this one?

[Mark Albery]

I think this might answer your question.

[NevadaBill]

Nice link for the info Mark. Thanks. The arrow I visited is in Buffalo Valley. It's the first one referenced in Mark's link under Nevada. It's pointing towards Salt Lake. A photo I saw taken in April this year showed no paint on it. The yellow paint looked very fresh when I was there, maybe even from the last week or so. Don't know if someone flew in or 4 wheeled in to paint it. The landing area is a little tight. Here is some more info. The history here is pretty interesting.

http://www.airfields-freeman.com/NV/Airfields_NV_NE.htm.

(Hope that link works)

[Dan L]

Fun stuff.

It would be interesting to know who had recently painted it?

It it reminds me of the series of airway beacons we still have in Montana, some still operating, that were used by early night mail pilots to find their way through the mountains. There is one near St Regis, along I90, I see at times I'm up in the evening. There is another on McDonald Pass west of Helena on Hwy 12 along with a Cromwell Dixon memorial. Dixon was the first to fly a plane over the Continental Divide. I think it was in 1913.

[John B]

There was a show on about a week ago that I watched about mysteries and this was one of them. It looks like one of the arrows they referenced in the show and may have been painted by them to show it better in the air. There also would be a tower on the pad next to it with a light. These were used before radio navigation aids came into existence i believe. Arrows were short lived, but many exist all over the country.

[stede52]

I saw a show on them also and used prior to radar. Here's a site explaining their use; http://sometimes-interesting.com/201...beacon-system/

[lbell]

I saw a show on them also and used prior to radar. Here's a site explaining their use; http://sometimes-interesting.com/201...beacon-system/

very interesting. I found that there is one in Anthony KS. Something to check out.