New imagery of Edwards AFB on Google Earth

34°54'0.47"N 117°52'7.84"W

That will take you to Edwards South Base. The date of the imagery is 7/23, so they must have a time machine. [Remember I said to never trust the dates on Google Earth.]

South Base is interesting from two standpoints, One, it is where they store old planes, which I presume is prior to restoration. Two, it is where the directed energy weapons are tested. The large tank in the image is part of the airborne laser project.

Those are great views, looks like a nice wee private museum there. I see a B1, an F1-11 and what looks like a modified 37.

Nice find Gariac

at the risk of sounding woefully ignorant, what is the significance of what i am looking at?

these are old planes?

and the tank, is it a tank with tracks, or a cylindrical storage unit, or a type of plane?
and where is it.

thanks for bearing with my absolute ignorance ( i don't deny it! )

I neglected to mention this is an area where you can't photograph when you have a media pass, so being able to see it in detail is interesting.

Not all the planes are old. The space age looking plane is a custom build by Scaled Composites.
34°53'59.54"N 117°52'14.08"W
scaled composites

reply to post by gariac


sorry when i loaded up google earth and went to the south base it shows on the bottom left corner imagery date mar 31, 2008. and yes i have the most current version of google earth.

and the ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY TACTICAL TRANSPORT (ATTT) has been at Edwards for a couple years now. and has been visible on google earth in every new image taken since it arrived at Edwards for testing.

Cool "space-age plane in that view! Two sets of wings?

On my version of Google Earth it has a marker set by another user that there is an image of the Space shuttle. Anyone else have this marker? Has the shuttle ever been to EAFB?

[edit on 22-7-2010 by sheepslayer247]

reply to post by sheepslayer247


yes the shuttle has been to edwards.

Edwards AFB is the primary backup landing facility for the shuttle if it can't land in FL after its mission.

Nasa doesn't like landing the Shuttle at Edwards because of the extra cost to transport the Shuttle back to FL on top of their specially modified boeing 747 and it takes a week for the shuttle to transit from Edwards to FL

[edit on 7/22/2010 by Mercenary2007]

Larger Image 2010Larger Image 2 2010

[url=http://i30.tinypic.com/bfrp09.jpg]2006 Image

reply to post by Mercenary2007


You can't trust the dates indicated by Google Earth. I can't go into it, but I'm looking at an area nearby where something changed in early 2009.

The planes have been there a long time, but the resolution of the current image is much better. I noticed the Mojave Spaceport has higher resolution too. I haven't tried KVCV, but I noticed the El Mirage imagery looked unchanged.

The Scaled Composites ATTT at South Base has been there quite a long time. Sadly, it is in very poor condition due to exposure to the weather. The tires are flat and much of the paint has been scoured off by windblown sand. In fact, several of the other aircraft were damaged when they were pushed into each other by strong winds a few years ago.

reply to post by Mercenary2007


Not trying to sound stupid, but I didn't know that! Very interesting. Thanks for the info.

Is Nasa involved in the Airborne Laser Project by chance or is just an USAF project?





[edit on 23-7-2010 by sheepslayer247]

I was about to say, that ATTT has not flown in a LONG time. I think that plane started test flights in the mid to late 80s.

I would much rather get a chance to see the North Base...

reply to post by firepilot


Well you can sort of see North Base from across the highway.
North Base

I shot it years ago with an ETX90, so the quality doesn't quite match what I do with the FS78 today. The land across the highway isn't particularly high, but high enough. It looks as if it has roads dozed for a subdivision that never materialized. The land is probably private, but I've never been bothered hanging out there.

Of course, seeing what is in the hangars is another story. Day flights? Who knows. I've read the plant 42 stuff only leaves the factory at night and security tries to run you out if you park near the facility. [There is a thread in the Google Earth military forum about this.]

I parked across the highway from North Base about two hours on my last trip through the area. I caught two IFEs on the scanner, both landing gear related. I suspect a day doesn't go by when fire/crash doesn't roll at Edwards. Lots of proficiency training going on (high key, low key on the scanner).

North Base is divided into several sections.

Northwest of the runway is an area that used to include a small rocket engine test site for the NASA jet Propulsion Laboratory and a large building that housed the 18th Space Surveillance Squadron. The JPL site is inactive and the former 18 SPSS building is now headquarters for the 95th Security Forces Squadron.

South of the runway and west of the taxiway are fire station facilities and several historic hangars used for the first jet planes tested in the 1940s. These hangars, recently used as storage for the X-34 vehicles and AFFTC Museum artifacts are being used for Army UAV activities. I once went to a change of command ceremony in one of these hangars that was attended by the commander of Detachment 3, AFFTC, the Operations Group commander from DET 3, and the Special Projects Flight Test Squadron Commander.

The buildings east of the taxiway comprise the secure compound once used by the 6513th Test Squadron "Red Hats" and , later, 413th FLTS. It is now Electronic Warfare Directorate - North Base (there is still a "Red Hats" organization in some form). I have been inside the compound once. Special badges are required and every room has its own coded keypad for access. The Beechcraft commuter planes to Area 51 park on the taxiway adjacent to the compound. The North Base runway is sometimes used for NASA research flights, particularly of small unmanned vehicles.

reply to post by sheepslayer247

no worries wasn't trying to say you was stupid or anything... sometimes i'm just to blunt and to the point and it gets taken that way.

As for the ABL i believe that is all air force Boeing and a few other contractors but not NASA.

also going back to the Shuttle another backup site is White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico. Space shuttle Columbia on mission STS-3 was the first and only to make use of the White Sands landing facility in March 1982.

Found this on the Scaled Composite site

"The ATTT is currently in storage at the Air Force Flight Test Center Museum, at Edwards Air Force Base."

www.scaled.com...

No mention of it on the Museum site though

Museum

www.afftcmuseum.org...

reply to post by Candycab


The assumption is the area near South Base is storage for the museum, so I suppose if you are not too literal, you could say those planes are part of the museum.

I've been to the museum. I've photographed everything outside, though I don't have the photos on the net. Anyway, there is way more there than what they show on the official website.

It's not an assumption. The planes at South Base are in storage for the AFFTC Museum. Every now and then, one of them is restored and placed on permanent display. They get pretty weather beaten down at South Base due to wind and blowing sand.

Originally posted by Shadowhawk
It's not an assumption. The planes at South Base are in storage for the AFFTC Museum. Every now and then, one of them is restored and placed on permanent display. They get pretty weather beaten down at South Base due to wind and blowing sand.

are u sure for that

Pretty cool stuff. Definitely some older planes there. One looks like a C-47, and there's a Canberra or something to the right of it a ways... forgot what the name of it was... the twin engined bomber with the trapezoid-ish wings.

Anyone spot this?
34°55'12.09"N 117°53'31.28"W