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Airway beacon tower still standing


t8r

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I've been looking and looking in benchmarks and forums for another one of these and cannot find.

There are a number of logs that refer to tower supports still there but no complete beacons.

Is it possible that I have logged the only one left in the universe?

NV1144 is a 60 foot tower airway beacon that is still standing and complete, less bullet damage.

It was originally monumented in 1945 and may be older than that. It has been abandoned as a beacon for many years. There is no sign of the power line that fed it. The electric box is definitely 1930s technology.

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That is a nice find!

 

I did a "By Designation" benchmark search (by going 'here' and clicking on the 'other search options'). That will let you see this page. Type in AIRWAY BEACON and now you should see 4 pages of airway beacons....some found ... most not looked for yet, but two (other than yours) outstanding examples are GC2181 and MT0765.

 

It seems most people are more centered on looking for the disks than intersection stations....which is to bad since a lot of history can be documented with pictures of very interesting things. I also enjoy seeing all of the different type of domes, spires, steeples, etc..

 

Good hunting!

 

Shirley~

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Yeah, nice find, 'tater!

 

I found the tower remaining from this one: DX3797. As the rotating beacon was gone, I felt I had to call it destroyed, as that was the object used (typically) as the intersection point.

 

The real reason for this post: In addition to searching as above that Shirely suggested, you should also seach by the designation of "AIRWAY BCN". That brings up a bunch more. Another 100+ nationwide, and 21 in CA alone. Gotta see if I can find more of these.

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There was a whole line of these running through my area as navaids for the airplanes that were on the Chicago to New York route. All of them that I have checked have been torn down for a very long time. There is supposed to be one still existing at an airport just inside the Indiana line from Ohio, will have to verify that some day.

 

The other day I logged an old airport beacon that has been up for over 60+ years, MC1367. It is on the property of the Findlay (OH) Airport, right off I-75 north of Lima and south of Toledo.

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Nitro929 has some interesting comments and photos of a beacon at KR1582.

 

He also shared the following with me:

 

The old airway beacons and the history behind them are fascinating. As near

as I've been able to learn, beacon 216 wasn't actually an airway beacon per se,

but was a "course marker" between main beacons. The main beacons in this area

were numbered 21, 22, 23, etc. Beacon 212 (which no longer exists, but I have

visited the site where it stood) and 216 were intermediate beacons to guide

airmail pilots through the mountainous terrain in this area. I have the

coordinates for beacons 20, 22 & 23. If we get some good weather in the next few

weeks and the dirt roads through the desert dry out, I'm going to try to locate

them (or at least the sites where they once stood).

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Only one I know of still standing in central PA is NE of the town of Woodward on the west end of Winkleblech Mt.

40 feet south of the big microwave tower (40* 55.05N 77* 19.94W) The triangulation station marker seems to be missing at this location. Its been a long time since I was to the top of this one. The beacon is long gone.

The area could use a geocache if you can convince the District Forester.

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Thanks for the fast replies folks. This one was on the main route into the northwest when pressurized cabins were things of science fiction. Amazing that it is still there. It's removal must have been pushed to the back of bureaucratic "to do" lists until completely forgotten. Think i will try to figure out some way to replace some broken and missing braces from the first tier.

Perhaps some twisted wire things like farmers use on their end and corner posts.

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