Pee-Wee and Nag's Sky Tours (and Other Thoughts)

[LeafyNight67562]

For some months now I’ve been posting short “sky tours” in the “What Did You Do in MSFS Today” thread. While I’ve received positive feedback from readers, I feel my posts are out of place in that thread—bordering on “off topic”—and frankly, long-winded. After a discussion with the Moderators and with their guidance, I’ve started my own thread. My original posts will migrate here soon, but for now let’s start with a new tour above beautiful Lincolnshire in the east of England.

But first, some background. I’m the “Nag” in the title of this thread, but not the annoying, mother-in-law type. It’s a nickname I picked up in flight school, and it’s actually an acronym. I’ve been flying home flight simulators for decades, starting on a classic TRS-80 back when Reagan was still President. I almost left the hobby a few years back after reaching the end of the road with FSX, but MSFS brought me back, and I’m here to stay! In real life, I’m a commercial pilot flying for a major US airline.

Pee-Wee is the missus. She’s also a flight sim junky and shares my passions for history, geography, and sight-seeing, with a particular interest in the histories of individual aircraft. Most of the tours I narrate are done with her help, oftentimes with her as the Pilot Flying and me as the Navigator and Scribe. You’ll hear from her occasionally. She’s also a licensed pilot, but spends most of her time volunteering with several charities.

Pee-Wee says: Hi!

Please feel free to contact us via DM with comments and ideas for future topics.

With that, let’s head off into the simulated skies!

[LeafyNight67562]

Today we explored the area surrounding the Lincolnshire National Landscape (formerly Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty) in central east England. Along the way we landed at four disused military airfields, dodged a record-holding tower, flew over the epicenter of an earthquake, and jumped between the Eastern and Western hemispheres.

We started and finished at the Highfield Farm Strip between the villages of Tathwell and Scamblesby in the north of Lincolnshire, a grass airstrip associated with the Highfield Farm and Wold of Your Own glamping site, available on flightsim.to thanks to amb7364. With a usable runway length of approximately 1,700 feet (520 meters) and elevation near sea level, most general aviation singles should be able to operate from here.

Pee-Wee flew while I navigated, researched on the fly, and scribbled notes. We used our favorite open cockpit touring aircraft, Ant’s Airplanes’ DeHavilland Tiger Moth N6635 as operated by the RAF’s 22 Elementary Flight Training School at Cambridge during World War 2 (included in the base Tiger Moth package). The real N6635 was stricken in 1954 after crashing during landing south of Hanover, Germany while assigned to the 2nd Tactical Air Force. In our fictional world, she was rebuilt and after flying for several private owners, joined our personal fleet last year.

Pee-Wee says: I had to put on my thinking cap for this one. Air-Britain’s Tiger Moth production list says N6635 was assigned to 2TAF and flew for the “Budaburg Communications Squadron” but crashed near “Scherfoldenorf.” The problem is that neither of those places exist The closest name match is Bundaburg, but that’s in Australia. However, there is a city in Germany named Scharfoldendorf, spelled with an “a” instead of an “e,” which hosted a small RAF communications squadron beginning in 1959, and the 2 TAF Communications Squadron RAF operated from nearby RAF Bückeburg until 1952, so my guess is that N6635 was stationed there.

Here’s N6635 on the “ramp” at Highfield, opened up and ready to go. With a full tank of 100 Low Lead, my 210 pounds up front, Pee-Wee’s 160 pounds in back, and our emergency bags in the “trunk,” she grossed within 100 pounds of her maximum weight.

Pee-Wee says: Before anyone comments about my weight…I’m six foot three. Carry on.

Anyway …with calm winds and spectacularly clear skies, we departed to the northeast and pointed N6635 toward the market town of Louth, population 17,429. Sitting on the River Lud between the Lincolnshire Wolds and Marsh, Louth (pronounced like “loud” but with a “-th”) dates back to the Early Middle Ages, and evidence exists of even earlier prehistoric occupation.

Here we are flying east over central Louth. The 287-foot 6-inch (87.63 meter) spire of St. James Church, visible above N6635’s tail, is the tallest medieval parish church spire in the United Kingdom. Alas, the church’s representation in MSFS is wholly inaccurate, with a square tower instead of a spire. The red line here indicates the exact location of the Prime Meridian. This invisible line divides the Western and Eastern Hemispheres and is marked in real life by sidewalk inlays and plaques along Eastgate Street near the center-right of this photo…approximately 300 feet west of the meridian’s actual location! You can blame the error on Victorian scientists for thinking the Earth was a perfect sphere instead of an oblate spheroid. Nobody has bothered to move the markers, and probably never will!

We’ve flow east of town and turned around in this screenshot. Near the lower left corner is the Ticklepenny Lock on the Louth Navigation canal. Constructed by redirecting the River Lud and adding locks, Louth Navigation provided a commercial link to the Humber River, some 11.8 miles to the east, until 1924 when the entire venture became unprofitable and closed. Of the eight locks, only three remain as built while the others, including Ticklepenny, remain in various states of decay. Louth can be seen in the distance, with the golf club and beautiful Hubbard’s Hills Park beyond.

Pee-Wee says: I really love a good British placename, but Ticklepenny is my new favorite. Maybe next time we’ll tour places with silly names.

Five miles northwest of Louth we found our first abandoned airfield, the former RAF Kelstern, from where 625 Squadron operated Lancaster Is and IIIs in the night bombing role between October 1943 to April 1945. Very little of the airfield’s surfaces remain, although we found the southern portion of the original taxiway track usable. It slopes upward to the east, so we recommend landing in that direction and taking off in the opposite. A small memorial to 625 Squadron is located at the road intersection ahead of N6635 at the very right edge of this screenshot.

Pee-Wee says: In the online Bing imagery you can still clearly make out Kelstern’s three runways under the farm fields. I bet that from a higher altitude you’d be able to see them in the sim.

Departing Kelstern we passed over the Wyham Motoparc’s 3-mile dirt loop track. Looks like fun, and might be good place to try out Parallel 42’s Juice Goose!

A few minutes later we reached the former RAF Grimsby on the outskirts of Waltham. Built in 1933 as the civil Waltham Grange Aerodrome, Grimsby hosted the RAF’s 25 Elementary and Reserve Flying Training School for one year beginning in 1938, but was left vacant until 1940 when construction of three “bomber” runways began. Grimsby hosted the Wellingtons of Binbrook-based 142 Squadron and, from 1943, the Lancasters of first 100 Squadron and then 550 Squadron. The airfield languished as a storage facility after the war until the arrival of 22 Gliding School which, finding the facilities in “less-than-good” condition, remained only until 1952 when the RAF and MoD left for good. Although used sporadically through the years, the end finally came for the former bomber base when the neighboring town spilled across the airfield boundary and the A16 roadway reclaimed the eastern perimeter. Most of the paved surfaces remain, albeit in various states of decay and covered with abandoned farming equipment and other detritus. A kart track and golf course occupy the southeast edge of the field, and while some of the original airport structures still exist, they aren’t identifiable in the MSFS scenery.

According to satellite photos, the northeast-southwest runway should be clear, but once again the MSFS tree algorithm got a little overeager and covered most of the runways with forests. We circled the field and made one “look-see” pass down the old north-south runway before landing on the portion south of the runway intersection.

Pee-Wee says: There’s some storage containers piled at the runway intersection in the Bing imagery. Landing here would have been a different affair had those containers actually been there in the sim!

We tried to find the Waltham Windmill and neighboring Grimsby and Cleethorpes Model Engineering Society’s miniature railway northwest of Grimsby, but found they weren’t modelled even remotely accurately, so we flew on west to the Beelsby Model Flying Club’s field. Seen directly ahead of N6635 in this screenshot, the field is located on a former strawberry patch. Membership in the club and the British Model Flying Association costs approximately $170 (£133) annually and is open to pilots of all skill levels. It didn’t look like anyone was flying today, but we still thought better of making a low pass. Hitting a RC plane would have ruined our whole day!

Pee-Wee says: I didn’t see a problem. You were sitting in front.

From there we flew south to another abandoned airfield, the former RAF Binbrook, the final home of the RAF’s English Electric Lightning force. Binbrook intermittently hosted the Fairey Battles and Wellingtons of 12 and 142 Squadrons in the first days of World War 2, but soggy conditions and a deteriorating takeoff and landing field meant that most flights operated from nearby Grimsby. The airfield finally closed for the construction of three concrete runways which finally put an end to the airfield’s flooding problems. The Aussies of RAAF 460 Squadron arrived with their Lancasters in 1943 and remained until the war’s end. Post-war, Binbrook’s squadrons operated Lincolns, Canberras, and Gloster Javelins before the Lightning’s arrival in 1965. Retired Lightning F.6 XR724 is visible just above N6635’s right wingtip in this screenshot. The Lightning Association recently received permission to build a temporary hangar to house its pride and joy, preventing further decay, and allowing continued restoration to “taxiable” condition.

Flying ended at Binbrook in 1988 with the disbandment of 11 Squadron, but for three weeks in 1989 the now vacant airfield hosted crews and aircraft filming the motion picture Memphis Belle, including the Institut Géographique National’s B-17G F-BEEA which crashed during takeoff here, thankfully without fatalities. We circled the airfield once before landing to the south on the northern portion of the main runway. The deceptively level dirt track we selected actually sloped steeply to the west and wasn’t the smoothest, but Pee-Wee made the best of it.

Pee-Wee says: He’s being generous. I pounded it on. Twice.

Binbrook’s NCO housing is now the village of Brookenby, population 705, visible above and to the right of N6635 in the screenshot below. Directly beneath us and extending into the trees to the right is the deserted medieval village of Orford, home to twenty-four people in the late 1300s. If there’s one thing that became obvious during this and other UK tours, it’s just how much older everything in the UK is than here in the US!

Pee-Wee says: I love the TV show Escape to the Country, which often shows houses that are older than our entire country. Anything built after the 1960s is considered “new build.” Imagine living in a house that was around during King Henry IV’s reign.

It looks like we’ve hit the 10-screenshot limit, so we’ll finish this flight in Part 2, coming right up.

[LeafyNight67562]

So, we left off at RAF Binbrook. Let’s carry on!

The “Rambler’s Church,” officially the All Saints Church at Walesby, is just below N6635’s tail in this photo. All Saints was built on the site of a Saxon or Norman church and exhibits features dating from the 12th Century. A 1980s renovation once again allowed ringing of the church’s eight bells, two of which date from medieval times. Located along the Viking Way long distance footpath, All Saints boasts a stained-glass window donated by the local rambler’s group that depicts pedestrians who pass the church daily. We’ll see more of this footpath later.

Here we are passing the Market Rasen Racecourse. The town of Market Rasen, population 3,904, was near the epicenter of a 5.2-magnitude earthquake that rattled Lincolnshire in February 2008. It was the strongest tremor to strike the UK since 1984, and although there were no fatalities, one man was injured when a portion of his home’s chimney collapsed into his attic bedroom. Located east of town since 1924, the racecourse features a right-handed National Hunt course for both hurdles and steeplechases, and is unusual in hosting year-round events. We considered landing on the track, but decided the local “residents” wouldn’t appreciate an unscheduled visit from our rattling deHavilland.

Pee-Wee says: If you’ve even seen or, in this case, been on a spooked horse, you’ll understand. Summer of ’99 and a stock horse named Rosco. Probably the longest thirty seconds of my life.

And nothing scares her.

Pee-Wee says: You don’t know Rosco.

That’s the highest elevation airfield in Lincolnshire ahead, the former RAF Ludford Magna. From 1943 the station hosted 101 Squadron, whose specially-equipped Lancasters routinely jammed German fighter director communications during one of the first widespread signal jamming campaigns in modern warfare. The airfield, colloquially called “Mudford Magna” due to its propensity for impersonating a swamp, was one of fifteen in England equipped with the Fog Investigation and Dispersal Operation (FIDO) system, which used aviation gasoline pumped through perforated pipes to create “walls of fire” astride the runway and in the approach path that would “burn off” fog. I’d say that pretty much defines “wartime expedience!”

Pee-Wee says: ‘Excuse me, Group Captain, but the Department for Environmental Affairs is on the blower and would like a word with you.’

We circled the field and settled for landing on what appeared to be a portion of the former east-west runway. Bing imagery shows the remains of one or two structures, possibly the control tower or a hangar, in the center of the field immediately adjacent to our landing strip. Sadly, the ruins are represented by trees in MSFS. By the way, watch out for the power lines crossing the south end of the field.

We detoured slightly east of Ludford Magna for this photo. That’s the Viking Way footpath again, with Grim’s Mound just ahead of N6635. This 62-foot (19-meter) diameter round barrow is thought to contain burials from several surrounding deserted medieval villages, and numerous examples of flint tools have been found surrounding it. The Viking Way public footpath opened in 1976 and traverses some 149 miles (240 kilometers) in Lincolnshire, Leicestershire, and Rutland.

A few miles away stands the imposing Belmont Transmitter, a tubular steel and lattice mast towering nearly one quarter mile (one third kilometer) above the Lincolnshire Wolds. Built in 1965 and for 55 years the tallest structure in the UK, its 2010 digital conversion reduced the tower’s total height to 1,154 feet (351.7 meters), some 45 feet (14 meters) below the mast at Skelton. Today eight digital television, seven analogue radio, and four digital radio stations transmit from Belmont throughout Lincolnshire and portions of Yorkshire, Norfolk, and Nottinghamshire. The Belmont Transmitter and other unique scenery packages are available on flightsim.to thanks to ChrisJSetterington of Secret Studio. Flying nearly 600 feet below the spire, we stayed well away from the supporting guy wires, and winter visitors should too! Signs on the perimeter fence warn pedestrians to watch for falling ice.

Pee-Wee says: Just my luck, I’d be watching for falling ice and trip on a gopher hole. By the way, it’s interesting to note that the tallest radio mast in the US is almost 2,100 feet (630 meters) tall, nearly 1,000 feet (305 meters) taller than Belmont. In fact, Belmont would barely make Wikipedia’s List of Tallest Structures in the United States by Height. Thank the UK’s much smaller land area for the disparity.

Two and a half miles further southeast stands the Chain Home radar mast at the former RAF Stenigot. Built in 1938, the site’s Air Ministry Experimental Station (AMES) Type 1 radar scanned a 150-degree azimuth outwards to approximately 100 miles (160 kilometers). Used successfully during World War 2 to track German bombers and fighters, the Chain Home system was dismantled after the war as new technology appeared. RAF Stenigot was modified with four tropospheric scatter dishes as part of NATO’s ACE High long-range communications system. Today, the Stenigot mast appears much as it did during the war, and is one of only five AMES Type 1 towers remaining anywhere in the world. While the MSFS representation looks nothing like its real counterpart, the actual mast’s shadow is visible on the ground. The remains of the four scatter dishes are visible in the Bing imagery north of the mast, but are represented by buildings!

Pee-Wee says: Algorithm fail. Also, I wasn’t aware that any Chain Home radars were placed so far inland. Stenigot is 15 miles (24 kilometers) from the beach.

We flew further south over the Red Hill Nature Reserve before starting our final leg toward the Cadwell Park motor racing circuit. Located adjacent to Highfield Farm where our tour began, the circuit primarily hosts motorcycle races, although it appears in the British Superkart Championships, and several club associations race here. Originally three-quarters mile (1.2 kilometers) long and gravel when established in 1934 by landowner Mansfield Wilkinson, the current paved track is 2.175 miles (3.5 kilometers) long with corners cutting through both dense forest and open prairie, and features multiple sharp grade changes. The current track record is held by Superkart driver Sam Moss who burned around the circuit in one minute and twenty-one seconds (an average speed of just under 100 mph [156 kph]) in 2021. Many of the track’s curves are named for the original landowner’s family: that’s “Chris” in the distant right, with “Charles” in the distant left with “Mansfield” between. N6635 is over the “Barn” with the “Mountain” visible above, leading into the “Hairpin” and “Hall Bends” in the trees above and to the right. In this screenshot, we’re actually on a close left base to Runway 25 at Highfield.

Pee-Wee says: I’ve seen a race at Cadwell, and you should, too, especially if you enjoy watching motorcycles fly. I mean literally fly. Airborne. Try to get a spot overlooking The Mountain.

That’s it! Our flying time today was approximately 1 hour and 14 minutes, and we burned 12 gallons of fuel while covering 49 miles as the crow flies. We’ve gotten better at navigating over the British countryside’s meandering roadways and tiny villages, and only found ourselves “navigationally insecure” once near the Rambler’s Church. Be careful out there: many landmarks look alike or aren’t clearly visible!

To fly this trip yourself and see it the way we did, you’ll need scenery for Highfield and the Belmont Tower. Additionally, we highly recommend PuffinFlight’s outstanding We Love VFR-Region 1, which covers all of the UK with accurate radio and television masts, chimneys, power plants, radars and other obstructions. It’s available, along with Regions 2 and 3 that cover the rest of the world, at flightsim.to.

Thanks for tuning in, everyone. Have a wonderful evening!

[ArchBlizzard278]

Your sky tour posts are awesome! Your flight around upstate New York and Vermont caught my eye as a native of Mooers, just 20 minutes north of Plattsburgh. Your description of the area and the military history was spot on. Hope you enjoy the area if you visit this year!

[LeafyNight67562]

Thanks very much! I’m so glad you like our work.

Look for another tour soon (Nag is the writer, and he went to work for a few days…blah, blah, something about food in the 'fridge and a roof over our heads ), but we’re looking for a new and interesting place to tour after that. Any ideas?

[LeafyNight67562]

Welcome back! Today’s tour takes us to Miami and sunny Florida’s southeast coast. We’ll explore thirteen sites, ranging from CIA training facilities to abandoned airfields and an iconic lighthouse. For ease, we’ll break this one into three parts. Part 1 will cover sites near Homestead and south of Miami. In Part 2 we’ll see the area around Miami itself before heading north toward Fort Lauderdale in Part 3. We flew our newly acquired 1947 Piper J-3C-65 Cub, N69059, courtesy of BT Simulations. I’ll do the flying, while Pee-Wee navigates, scribbles, and scrolls.

Pee-Wee Says: Boy, I do love a classic Cub. I really miss A2A’s rendition, but the new BTS package isn’t bad. She flies very well, so it’s a shame the entire model—inside and out—looks slathered in gloss varnish! The BTS Cub is in early “factory” configuration, with no electrical system and no mixture, so plan accordingly. By the way, I really wish some of you painters out there would show this little gem some love!

We departed from the uncontrolled Miami-Homestead General Aviation (X51) airport a few miles west of Homestead, and almost forty miles southwest of downtown Miami. Opened in 1963 with a single 3,000 foot (915 meter) east-west runway, Miami-Homestead today averages more than 200 daily operations. Assuming sunrise to sunset operations, that’s a whopping fifteen an hour, or one every four minutes! There’s parachute jumping over and an aerobatics box adjacent to the airport, so keep your eyes open!

Pee-Wee Says: Based on feedback from our readers, we’ve added the latitude and longitude for each location in two formats. If you’re creating a waypoint in the MSFS flight planner, use the decimal coordinates. For those using Skyvector, use the string format. We’ll continue to provide Google Maps hyperlinks in the titles and text, too. Hope this helps!

Nukes in the Swamp: Nike Hercules Battery HM-69
MSFS: 25.369 -80.684
Skyvector: 252211N0804105W

Here we are circling south of our first site, HM-69, a former Nike Hercules surface-to-air missile battery southwest of Florida City. Constructed in 1965 and operated by Battery A of the Army’s 2nd Missile Battalion, 52nd Air Defense Artillery Brigade (A/2/52) until 1979, the site is currently maintained by the National Park Service, and is open for tours daily. The three missile sheds, visible in the foreground, currently house a restored Nike Hercules, and are occasionally used by the NPS to store sensitive equipment whenever hurricanes threaten. The smaller building on the left was the missile assembly and test building, and just above that is the dog kennel and support shack. The former battery control facility, seen up the road in the distance, is now the Daniel Beard Research Center, where the USGS Fort Collins Science Center assists South Florida’s national parks in managing invasive reptiles.

From here we turned east toward our next site, also related to rockets, but in a less explosive manner.

A Big Freakin’ Rocket: HM-65/66 and Aerojet’s Rocket Factory
MSFS: 25.362 -80.562
Skyvector: 252144N0803343W

Battery B joined the rest of 2/52 in South Florida in late 1962 and occupied a temporary site southwest of Florida City until 1965, when California-based rocket motor manufacturer Aerojet purchased the site and established a factory here for the production and testing of potential solid-fueled motors for the Apollo program. In this first shot, we’re flying south over the former HM-65/66 Nike launch site and Aerojet factory proper. The lighter colored roadway and clearings to our left are the remains of the original launch site’s radars and control facilities. The test silo is three miles further south down the road and canal.

And here we are over the test silo, which appears as a house in MSFS (in reality the silo is covered by concrete bridge beams laid parallel). Three 260-inch diameter motors (SL-1 through -3) were tested inside this silo, their nozzles pointed skyward. When fired, the motors reportedly shook the ground in nearby Homestead, and the massive flames and smoke plumes were visible in Miami.

SL-3 remains inside the silo to this day. During its only test firing, this motor produced nearly 5.4 million pounds of thrust, 63% more than NASA’s vaunted SLS Five Stage Booster, making SL-3 the actual “most powerful rocket motor ever.” Following NASA’s decision to use liquid-fueled rockets on the Saturn V, Aerojet shuttered its Dade facility. You can find many “urban explorer” visits to this site on YouTube.

Pee-Wee Says: Apparently NASA doesn’t have access to Google, or figured that nobody would actually research its SLS claim! I don’t get it. We all know that size doesn’t matter.

Next we headed further east toward our first “spooky” site. Along the way, we passed over canal C-111, also known as the Aerojet Canal. Excavated during the 1960s as part of a Corps of Engineers’ flood control program, the canal would have allowed Aerojet to transport its rocket components upstate to the Kennedy Space Center via Florida’s Intracoastal Waterway. Sadly the damage wrought by the canal to the Everglades ecosystem is still being repaired.

Dial-An-Infiltration: Bell South’s Card Sound Road Microwave Tower
MSFS: 25.325 -80.404
Skyvector: 251932N0802415W

This nondescript microwave relay station between Homestead and North Key Largo doesn’t seem important, and outside of telecommunications, it isn’t. But it was reportedly used during the 1960s by several nearby CIA training camps as a training “capstone” goal. Being similar to potential infrastructure targets in Cuba, student “spooks” were required to successfully infiltrate, “sabotage,” and egress this facility to graduate. As it was protected by active electric fences and armed (and unaware) security guards, the scenario was highly realistic!

Pee-Wee Says: And, no doubt, very stressful. Yikes! Before researching this tour, I had no idea just how prolific the CIA was in South Florida after Castro’s rise to power. It was, quite literally, everywhere, even the restaurants!

Nice segue…

Spooks and Conch Fritters: Alabama Jack’s Bar
MSFS: 25.291 -80.378
Skyvector: 251729N0802243W

Two miles further south, we found Alabama Jack’s Bar (Pee-Wee Says: Someone send them a map!), or at least the spot where it should be. MSFS displays only a single structure on the roadside lot, and it’s not even the bar itself! The Card Sound Machine cover band has been performing here for nearly three decades, and many foody websites credit Alabama Jack’s with the world’s best conch fritters. Oh, and CIA instructors and students apparently frequented this establishment on their way north from training camps in the Keys and barrier islands.

From here we turned north onto the longest leg of our trip. Along the way we passed the Turkey Point Nuclear Power Generation Station, the Homestead-Miami Speedway, and then crossed over the center of Homestead Air Reserve Base. Nothing much to report here, and sadly, no photos.

Pee-Wee Says: Turkey Point’s cooling canals were quite the site. You all should have seen them. Not sure how we missed taking a screenshot. Oh well. Go and see for yourself!

Gas Bags, Rolling Stock, and Zebras: Naval Air Station Richmond
MSFS: 25.62 -80.39
Skyvector: 253700N0802402W

Pee-Wee Says: Ooh! This one’s mine Here we are about fifteen miles southwest of downtown Miami, passing former Naval Air Station Richmond, the home of Airship Patrol Squadron Two-One, the Navy’s largest World War 2 “battle blimp” squadron. ZP-21 operated here with fifteen K and M-Class blimps between October 1942 and the war’s end, and is credited with helping reduce the number of Allied ships lost off Florida’s coast from 1943’s high of 114 to only 4 during its first full year of operation. The squadron’s K-74 was the only Navy blimp lost to enemy action when it was downed while attacking U-134 southeast of Miami in July 1943.

In September 1945, all three hangars collapsed and burned when “Kappler’s Hurricane” passed directly overhead. More than 360 military and civilian aircraft that had sought shelter inside were lost, as were 25 blimps. The hangars were never rebuilt. (Lt. Bernard Kappler was the meteorologist aboard the USAAC B-25 weather plane that discovered the approaching storm near Antigua three days before it struck Florida.)

After the war, NAS Richmond became the University of Miami’s “South Campus,” served as the command post and nerve center for Miami’s ring of surface-to-air missile defenses, and became the home of “Zenith Technical Enterprises,” a front company for the CIA’s clandestine intelligence gathering operation targeting Cuba. Much later, portions of the station were occupied by the Gulf Coast Railroad Museum and Zoo Miami.

There’s a lot to see in this photo, thanks to MSFS’s photogrammetry! The concrete “tower” in the center of this photo is the remaining portion of Hangar 1’s structure, which currently supports a Dade County communications mast. Hangar 2 stood in the field below our Cub, and if you look carefully, you can see the railroad track that ran through its center. Hangar 3 was located in the clearing below the red dirt piles near the photo’s left edge. The former station headquarters, now the Miami-Dade Military Museum, is visible directly above the tower, having been relocated from just out of the shot to the left. The buildings at the tower’s base and the sheds immediately to the right belong to the Gold Coast Railway Museum. Look carefully below those sheds and you’ll see some of the remaining concrete arches that supported the massive hangar. You can also see some the museum’s rolling stock, including FEC’s red and yellow E-8A #1594 directly above CB&Q’s silver E-9A #9913. The museum’s Track #4, the furthest occupied track to the right, originally ran through the center of Hangar 1. Directly to the left of our Cub is Zoo Miami’s parking lot, built atop the huge circular landing pad. Several of the original mooring mats are still visible, but they’re just out of the upper left corner of this photo.

I’ve been fascinated with Navy blimps since meeting one of the last remaining active-duty LTA NCOs in Jacksonville many years ago (he’d long since changed ratings). Two of my favorite books are American Airship Bases & Facilities and U.S. Navy Airships by James Shock. I’ve read both cover-to-cover several times! They’re hard to find, but if you’re interested in Navy LTA, I highly recommend them both! And if you’re an LTA nerd like me, look for an upcoming tour that covers all of the Navy’s CONUS blimp stations.

That concludes Part 1 of our Miami Tour. Stay tuned for Part 2, in which we’ll see one of the first CONUS naval air stations, more abandoned airfields, and another “nuclear neighbor.”

Pee-Wee Says: Thanks for tuning in!

[LeafyNight67562]

Welcome to Part 2 of our Gold Coast tour! We ended Part 1 southwest of Miami over former Naval Air Station Richmond and Zoo Miami. Let’s continue to the northeast and our first stop.

Clippers, Coasties, and Councilmen: Dinner Key
MSFS: 25.73 -80.24
Skyvector: 254340N0801402W

We’ve flown eleven miles northeast to the shore of Biscayne Bay, south of downtown Miami. That’s Dinner Key down below. Once the site of a Coast Guard air station and international airline terminal, Dinner Key today serves only the private boating industry with more “wet” slips than any marina on the US Eastern Seaboard.

Established in 1917, Naval Air Station Dinner Key served as a seaplane training base primarily operating Curtiss N-9s. Commercial carriers took over after the war, including Pan Am, which built a beautiful art deco terminal here in 1934. That terminal now serves as the Miami City Hall and is visible in the lower left of this photo on the circular drive near the water’s edge.

Five hangars from the field’s flying days remain, visible directly below our Cub. The furthest to the right was CGAS Dinner Key’s hangar until 1965. Look closely and you’ll still see “U.S. Coast Guard” painted above the door! The parking lot to its right was the tarmac where HU-16 amphibians and HH-19 and HH-52 helicopters parked. Follow the pavement down and to the left and you’ll find the seaplane ramp still extending into Biscayne’s waters. There are currently no aviation activities at Dinner Key.

Pee-Wee Says: I have a soft spot in my heart for our Coast Guardsmen and Women, those truly selfless heroes This story is a perfect example, from the days when aviation was still kinda’ sketchy. Talk about getting the job done! BTW, if you’re a movie fan, newly-delivered HH-52A #1388 from CGAS Dinner Key is the machine that rescues Commander Bond from a coral grotto in the 1965 movie “Thunderball.”

We flew northwest, climbed another thousand feet, and crossed over Miami International’s eastern boundary to avoid traffic landing to the west, then followed 8th Avenue north to our next stop.

An Air Traffic Nightmare: All American Airport/Master Field
MSFS: 25.88 -80.25
Skyvector: 255248N0801500W

Here we are northbound over the former All American Airport/Master Field, looking southwest. The adjacent Miami Municipal Airport, the city’s original air carrier field, was located in the distant right across the highway and former Seaboard Line tracks where the large T-shaped warehouse sits.

All American eventually became Master Field and served the Navy and Navy Reserve before closing in the early 1960s. Construction of the Miami-Dade Community College’s North Campus began on the site shortly thereafter.

Bits of All American’s aviation infrastructure remain today. The barrel-roofed maintenance building at the very left of this photo is a hangar dating from the 1930s, while a more recent Navy hangar is visible to the right of the swimming pools. We’ve outlined the remaining taxiway and runway segments. With a sufficiently capable STOL plane, you could easily land here Nothing recognizable remains of the neighboring Miami Municipal.

Pee-Wee Says: We couldn’t find any reasoning behind building All American right next door to Municipal. Add Opa Locka to the northwest and eventually the 36th Street Airport (the future Miami International) to the south and you have a very busy block of airspace. Watch out!

Top of the Ring: HM-03 Nike Hercules Launcher
MSFS: 25.961 -80.303
Skyvector: 255741N0801813W

Six miles northwest of All American we found another Cold War relic, the former HM-01/03 Nike Hercules launch site. Occupied by Battery C of the 2nd Missile Battalion, 52nd Air Defense Artillery Brigade (C/2/52) in 1965, HM-03 was the most northerly of the seven Nike and Hawk SAM batteries surrounding Miami and Homestead. Located just over one mile further south, HM-03’s control center was Homestead-Miami’s Secondary Master Fire Unit (SMFU). From there crews could control the other batteries if the main command post at NAS Richmond have been knocked out of action. The control center site is currently occupied by a Navy and Navy Reserve Training Center.

None of the launch site’s structures remain, although you can clearly see the pads where the missile sheds stood. The assembly building and dog kennel were located amongst the red shipping containers below our Cub. The buildings to the right are associated with the neighboring National Guard armory located below this frame.

Pee-Wee Says: As with the Lake Champlain area, I’m awestruck by the number of Cold War sites smattered around Miami. Assuming twelve Hercules per battery armed with the highest yield warhead, that’s potentially 36 missiles and approximately 1.4 megatons of defensive power. And some of those missiles were capable of surface strike. It’s a good thing the war never heated up

An Open-And-Shut Case: Opa Locka West Airport (X56)
MSFS: 25.95 -80.42
Skyvector: 255700N0802512W

We headed due west to an abandoned airfield on civilization’s western frontier, the former Opa Locka West Airport. Opened in 1970 as its namesake’s urgently needed reliever, the field boasts two 3,000-foot / 915-meter runways, a paved ramp, and loop taxiways at each runway end. Sadly, the field closed around 2006, the victim of the County’s desire to quarry the land instead.

The Countyline Dragway briefly operated on Runway 18/36, but ceased operations after crashing headlong into the brick wall of County politics.

Opa Locka West is still open in MSFS, although the runways are marked with X’s. Once again, the tree algorithm got overzealous. We’re on short final for Runway 36 in this photo. I had to slip the Cub onto the runway just past the trees, and while we (Pee-Wee Says: Barely!) cleared the trees off the other end after a touch-and-go, it would have been safer to stop, taxi back, and use the full runway length. User beware!

Pee-Wee Says: Because of the trees, the field is difficult to see until you’re almost over it if you’re flying low. Look for the green and turquoise quarries: the field is at their northwest corner. Oh, and perhaps we should check the tree height setting in AccuSeason?

That’s all for tonight! The third and final part of our Miami tour includes an airfield with connections to a mysterious legend and a Spielberg alien movie, the “Miracle on Commercial Boulevard” site, and a melted lighthouse. We’ll see ya’ then!

Pee-Wee Says: Bye for now!

[LeafyNight67562]

This final portion of our Gold Coast Tour takes us across the border into Broward County, where we’ll see former World War 2 air stations, the site of a miraculous crash landing, one of the country’s few active blimp bases, and a troubled representation of an iconic lighthouse.

We’d been airborne almost 90 minutes when we reached Opa Locka West, and the fuel stick was getting pretty short! This was our first major outing in the BT Simulations Cub and served as a test flight. Our fuel burn assumption was a little off, and as we turned back east toward our next site, we estimated only another thirty minutes of fuel remaining.

Pee-Wee Says: And we estimated another 20 minutes of flying to cover all our sites. It was going to be close!

The irony of being low on fuel wasn’t lost on either of us as we approached our next site.

Merle Fogg and Turkey Trainers: Fort Lauderdale International Airport (KFLL)
MSFS: 26.072 -80.163
Skyvector: 260419N0800946W

We’re back along Florida’s east coast here, flying north over Fort Lauderdale International Airport. Built in 1929 over an abandoned golf course, the airfield was originally named for local aviator Merle Fogg, an early aviation pioneer who championed a new airport in his adopted home. Aquired and expanded by the Navy in 1942, Naval Air Station Fort Lauderdale housed an advanced school for Grumman TBF crews, including Ensign George Bush, the future 41st President of the United States. In December 1945, NAS Fort Lauderdale was the launching point for five Avengers that disappeared during a routine training mission, and which would forever be known as “Flight 19” and “The Lost Patrol.”

Pee-Wee Says: The Naval Air Station Museum maintains a very informative website (www.nasflmuseum.com) that includes details about Flight 19’s proposed route. We’re going to try flying the route tonight. Hopefully, we won’t get sucked into the Bermuda Triangle and end up in the Sonoran Desert or behind Devil’s Tower

In the photo, you can see that none of the above ground World War 2 infrstructure remains, save for some areas of concrete. The airport expanded east over the years to include the current terminal’s site. To the lower left, next to the parallel taxiways for Runway 10L, you can see the official airport observation area. I spent many an afternoon in that area dreaming of flying the big airplanes that rolled past. Thirty years later, and I always make sure to wave back at the kids from the cockpit of my 737. Full circle!

Pee-Wee Says: Aww

From here we turned inland again toward the site of a little-known airplane accident that, thanks to some outstanding flying, resulted in a minor miracle!

Jeff Skiles and That Other Guy Weren’t the First: The Last Flight of N6202C
MSFS: 26.1942 -80.2618
Skyvector: 261139N0801542W

Here we are flying north over Commercial Boulevard just west of University Drive in Tamarac. Our point of interest is on the north side of Commercial directly underneath our Cub. It was on that spot that former Eastern Airlines Super Constellation N6202C crash landed after running out of fuel while repositioning from Freeport to Fort Lauderdale on August 5th, 1973.

N6202C was leased by the Happy Hours Travel Club only a few months prior to the accident. The flight engineer on the accident flight was unaware of a significant modification made to the aircraft’s fuel system by its former owner, a modification that allowed unexpected transfer of fuel between tanks. Everything was fine until all four engines quit. Unperturbed, the highly experienced Captain carefully planted the gliding Connie in the field between Commerical Boulevard and the new Fairhaven housing development. None of the eight crew aboard were injured, but the airplane was considered damaged beyond economical repair and was scrapped on site.

Happy Hours ceased operations shortly after the accident.

Werner Fischdick

Pee-Wee Says: N6202C was the second Super Connie built and flew for Eastern for nearly 17 years before being sold to a series of brokers. The late 1960s weren’t a good time for large, complicated pistonliners. Many of 6202C’s sisters met their ends at Fort Lauderdale.

Floating On Winged Feet: Pompano Beach Airpark (KPMP)
MSFS: 26.248 -80.118
Skyvector: 261452N0800642W

Here’s the Pompano Beach Airpark ten miles north of Fort Lauderdale International. Built during World War 2 as an outlying field for NAS Fort Lauderdale, Pompano today serves only the general aviation sector. Since 1979 Goodyear has maintained an active blimp base here, visible in the lower left corner of this screenshot. Unfortunately for us, the massive hangar is represented by a generic hangar without any of the blimp handling facilities. The circle beneath our Cub is the landing mat. In the distance you can already see our final site, the Hillsboro Inlet Light.

Pee-Wee Says: Several Goodyear blimps have called Pompano home, including GZ-20 N2A “Enterprise” and the current N2A, N07-101 “Wingfoot 2.” The new craft is technically not a blimp, but “Goodyear Semi-Rigid Airship” doesn’t ring the same!

Beacon in the Night: The Hillsboro Inlet Light
MSFS: 26.259 -80.080
Skyvector: 261532N0800448W

Sitting on the north bank of Hillsboro Inlet, the 138-foot (42-meter) tall Hillsboro Inlet Light has signaled to mariners along Florida’s coast for nearly 120 years and is one of the oldest structures in Broward County. Painted in iconic black and white (when viewed from seaside, the black stands out against the sky while the white is visible against the trees), this iron sentinel has been carefully restored over the years, and retains its original second order Fresnel lens. The Hillsboro Light Preservation Society claims the light is the most powerful in the world, and I tend to believe them: it’s visible from nearly 40 miles (64 kilometers) away!

Growing up in South Florida, we would often drive to see my Aunt on Pompano Beach. The tires singing across the drawbridge and that lighthouse rising above the palms meant we were only minutes away from my favorite place on Earth.

The light is represented in MSFS, but appears…melted. I know there’s limits to photogrammetry, but wow!

Pee-Wee Says: And it seems to overlook a strange Palm Tree Stonehenge! It’s funny, but two years ago we were still using FSX. Isn’t it amazing how fast we got used to major advancements in MSFS…and demanded more?!

From the Inlet we hopped back to Pompano and landed on Runway 9. Our total flight time was approximately two hours, and at shutdown, 1.33 gallons remained in the tank, or about ten minutes flying time. There’s no way I’d cut things that close in real life, but that’s the beauty of flight simulation! Now we know how much fuel the Cub burns, and we’ll reserve her for shorter flights or plan a fuel stop!

Pee-Wee Says: That was a neat trip! I’ve never spent much time in South Florida, although I did join Nag on an overnight one time.

And instead of heading to the beach, we went to see NAS Richmond. Seriously.

Thanks for tuning in, everyone! Researching and recording this flight took quite an effort, so I think we’ll spend the next week just flying and brainstorming more destinations.

Pee-Wee Says: Bye for now!

[LeafyNight67562]

Pee-Wee Says…

So much for that break Nag mentioned He can sit this one out.

I spent my morning using some books, Google Maps, and historicaerials.com to locate the exact location of every private, commercial, and military blimp base in the Continental United States, and my afternoon compiling my research onto a Google map, which I know sounds extremely nerdy, but stick with me here.

Anyway, I completed one flight today that ticked three boxes:

• Tried out Flyboysim’s Rans S6S that I picked up on sale from SimMarket;
• Explored the functionality of Touching Cloud’s Airshow Assistant;
• Landed at a former blimp base.

Flyboysim’s Rans was released last year, and I somehow missed it, much to my chagrin. She looks great and flies even better, and while she’s not as capable as my beloved Zenith or as fast as a souped up Cub, she’s rapidly heading toward the top slot on my favorites list. Yes, she has a few imperfections, but none that detract from her realistic flight model and good looks.

I started at South Lafourche Miller Airport (KGAO) south of New Orleans. My flightplan included landing in some pretty tight quarters and I needed to know just how slow the Rans could fly without getting into trouble, so I started with some departure, clean, and landing stalls. I never could get the thing to stall at idle, but with some power on, she rolled over without much warning at about 38 MPH. The published approach speed of 45 MPH seemed reasonable.

Here’s N280VR hanging at about 40 MPH, “stalled,” descending steadily at about 500 feet per minute with the stick in my belly and barely a shudder. When I finally managed a full stall, the resulting spin broke without any effort.

After three touch-and-go’s at Lafourche, I climbed to 4,500 feet and headed west toward Houma, Louisiana. I was joined now by my friend and pilot mentor Paul in a tricycle Rans, thanks to Airshow Assistant. Everything about this neat little addon worked as advertised, and I’ll sure be spending lots of time with a wingman now, especially in the Tiger Moth!

With 4,500 RPM the Rans cruised in the 95 MPH range. Adding another thousand RPM kept everything in the green but pushed 280VR past 110 MPH. Flying into a stiff westerly, my ground speed was about 75 MPH.

Here we are over former Naval Air Station Houma about 40 miles southwest of New Orleans. Commissioned in May 1943, Houma was home to the “Bayou Bombers” of Airship Patrol Squadron Two-Two (ZP-22) and their six K-Class blimps. By the time blimps arrived at Houma, the threat from German U-Boats in the Gulf of Mexico had been nearly eliminated. The squadron’s war record is therefore rather unremarkable: absolutely nothing happened, besides a few tragic crashes. ZP-22 was decommissioned after sixteen months in service and was replaced by ZP-21’s Detachment 4 from NAS Richmond. By year’s end, even Det. 4 was gone and Houma became a Naval Auxiliary Air Field hosting a few Navy and Coast Guard fixed-wing training units.

The single hangar’s unique design provided more usable floor space than any other timber building in the world. It survived until late 1948 when it was levelled and its materials reclaimed. Today, only the concrete floor and some skeletal supports remain.

The hangar floor and “ribs” are visible directly underneath N280VR in the photo above. One of the circular mooring pads extends down and to the right, and the remnants of two others are visible near the river beneath my wingman. Houma’s municipal airport can be seen in the distance, with parking lots and a helicopter ramp separating it from the old NAS.

My goal was to land on the 1,100-foot-long hangar floor. Knowing MSFS pretty well, I assumed correctly that the structural arches running in parallel the outer length of the hangar wouldn’t be present, but I made a low pass over the “runway” anyhow to make sure there were no obstacles blocking my way. It looked clear and flat, but there were some buildings nearby, including two in my intended approach path.

Almost there! The winds favored landing to the northwest, which meant approaching over the two buildings ahead and to the right. The Rans is pretty slick on final, and I had the power near idle to hold 45 MPH. You can clearly see the railroad tracks that run the length of the concrete pad, once used to haul helium and blimps into the massive hangar. My aiming point is the clearing to the left of that track.

Goal achieved, with plenty of room to spare! My ground roll of around 500 feet wasn’t shabby considering nearly full tanks, two adults, and some camping gear!

The next trick was taking off, and once again the Rans made easy work of it. Here I’m circling over one of the mooring pads. The concrete circle is clearly visible directly beneath 280RV, with another to the right. Houma had five such pads in addition to the main landing mat, meaning the entire squadron could be moored in the open. After landing on the main pad, blimps would be attached to mobile masts and towed to one of these smaller circles, where they would be free to weathervane with the wind.

Google

Standing 160 feet tall and a quarter mile long, the massive hangar would have dwarfed everything around it. The Navy stored airplanes inside after the war, a mothballed air wing that reportedly included 330 SNJs, 25 PBYs, 29 Helldivers, and 64 Hellcats, a total of 448 airplanes! For reference, I’ve superimposed the current CV-41 Midway and a “short-hull” Essex-Class carrier over the hangar floor in this image. The Essex may have fit completely inside Houma’s hangar!

I landed on the hangar floor again and parked for the night. I love aviation archaeology and especially exploring abandoned airfields, but in the past decades so many sites have disappeared beneath urban sprawl that I sometimes feel like I’ve missed the party. If only MSFS had come along twenty years earlier!

The Rans is definitely a keeper, and Airshow Assistant is a game changer! I highly recommend both.
Next time, I’ll put the tricycle Rans through her paces. But where to? Hmmm…

Bye for now!

[ZenAviator]

Have to say it. I never went into the other thread, so didnt see your earlier work. But samples i have read here… wow! I love your content. The writing and the style of the screenshots are very nice. Enjoyable reads.

It makes me want to take up sim blogging, or whatever this kind of content would be. Sadly my writing skills and screenshot talents are disappointing to me. Any tips on getting going, overcoming fear or posting, production methods. Any advice at all really.

[LeafyNight67562]

Thanks! You made my day with that.

We’re not expert authors, but here’s some advice that got us started. I was going to send this as a PM, but thought it might be useful to others.

• Write what you enjoy. Nag and I share a passion for modern archaeology. There’s something about standing on the abandoned Tennessee Pass line and imagining a lashup of tunnel motors thrashing upgrade or lying on a plot of broken asphalt in the Lincolnshire fields where B-17s and Lancasters roared off towards Germany. We enjoy the challenge of finding old photos, personal stories, and all those little snippets that connect us with a location and the people who were there, so that’s what we write about. Step one is to figure out what you like!

• Write for yourself. Others will have opinions about your work–good and bad–and while you should accept feedback, remember that at this is a hobby and you should be writing for your own enjoyment. Don’t fundamentally change who you are and how you write to please others or get “likes.” And if you start writing about a subject and realize its not holding your interest, toss it in the bin! There’s at least three or four Skytours that we started and never finished.

• Find your style. Our style is part storyteller, part tour guide. I try to keep my tone light and conversational, while Nag is slightly more formal (I joke with him that I sound like your friend and he sounds like your professor ). Writing realistic dialog is a challenge for most authors, but talking is easy. I usually put on headphones, crank the sound of falling rain, and talk out loud while I write.

• There’s never a hurry, and you never have to press the “Reply to Topic” button. When you’re done writing, step away and take a deep breath. Come back later or even the next day and proofread your work. A fresh perspective usually helps when polishing. We usually write in Notepad so that we can save our work offline (and unlike some word processors, Notepad won’t insert hidden codes that mess with bulletin boards).

• If you’re writing about history, do your research. The Internet is a wonderful place, but it’s full of misinformation and factual errors. Always be wary of things you read: you’ll often find errors copied directly from one website to another. (Classic example: “Fred Rogers of Mr. Rogers fame was a cold-blooded Marine Recon sniper in Vietnam with tattoos up both arms, which explains why he always wore long sleeves.” That story is demonstrably false, but shows up so frequently online, many people think it’s true.) Take your time and enjoy the search!

• Remember that nobody here knows who you are, so there’s no reason to be embarrased! Anonymity is your friend

As far as screenshots go, first learn how to use Drone Mode, and don’t be afraid to zoom in! You’ll find that higher zooms help add “drama” to a shot. Most of our screenshots use a zoom level above 80%. And, yes, we adjust brightness and contrast afterwards to help with clarity. Did I mention that you should learn how to use Drone Mode?

Did that help? I hope so, because it’s true that everyone has a story inside that’s waiting to be told, and I’m sure we’d all love to hear yours! Feel free to PM if you need a proofreader!

[LeafyNight67562]

Pee-Wee talked with an old friend yesterday, and the conversation took her back to the late '90s and her brief stay in Northern Colorado. I’m not familiar with the area, but after a quick peek at Paul Freeman’s seminal “Abandoned and Little Known Airfields” website (our favorite place on the Internet), we were off and running!

We took the Rans for a workout around Fort Collins, Colorado. She was a rocket down at sea level in Louisiana, so we were curious to see how she would do in the rarified air of the “Nine-Tenths of a Mile High City.” Just in case, we left behind a few hundred pounds of camping gear and gas. I also encouraged Pee-Wee to forego the second “60/40” at Big Al’s Burgers and Dogs (more on that, later).

Pee-Wee Says: Careful, buddy. The ice is getting pretty thin.

Fort Collins (population 169,000) straddles the Cache La Poudre River in the high Colorado desert beneath the Rocky Mountains’ Front Range. It’s about 60 miles north of Denver if you’re a crow, or about an hour driving on Interstate 25. Cheyenne and the rolling, windswept plains of Wyoming are 40 minutes north. Defense contractor Woodward, Inc. produces aviation governors and synchro-phasers in Fort Collins, and your cell phone’s Otter Box is from here, too. For the lushes out there, the town boasts more than twenty breweries ranging from small family-run operations like Gilded Goat and Jessup Farm to large corporations Anhauser-Busch and New Belgium.

The most important tenant to our tour today, though, is the Colorado State University, which occupies nearly 600 acres in central Fort Collins. Approximately 27,000 students attend this public land-grant college annually, which boasts one of the country’s preeminent large animal veterinary schools. It also has its own airport, and that’s why we’re here!

Here’s our Rans, N280PW, on the ramp at Northern Colorado Regional Airport (KFNL), midway between Fort Collins and neighboring Loveland. The tricycle-geared, tundra-tired Coyote isn’t the most attractive airplane ever built, but she’s comfortable and capable. We chose this paint scheme to match CSU’s green and white.

Pee-Wee Says: I just realized she looks like a Lego airplane. Now she’s definitely my favorite!

Yes, there’s still snow on the mountains! Fort Collins experiences milder winters than surrounding areas, but the heaviest snowfalls in town usually occur in September and May. Residents never fully pack away their winter gear! The distant peak above 280PW’s left wing is Mount Blue Sky, formerly known as Mount Evans. In 2023, growing concern over namesake governor John Evans’s legacy became the impetus to rename the peak in honor of the native Arapaho and Cheyenne tribes.

The Choice City: Fort Collins, Colorado
MSFS: 40.58 -105.07
Skyvector: 403453N1050437W

Here we are flying north toward central Fort Collins. Ahead you can see CSU’s Veterinary Health Complex and the James L. Voss Veterinary Teaching Hospital. Beyond that is the CSU Main Campus, including the new 36,500-seat Canvas Stadium. Old Town Fort Collins’s quaint curio shops, coffee bistros, comic bookstores, and craft restaurants, including the aforementioned Big Al’s Burgers and Dogs, are on the east side of campus. BNSF’s Front Range Subdivision runs through the heart of town, connecting Denver with the railroad’s Wyoming operations and points north.

Pee-Wee Says: That line is how I got to Fort Collins the first time. Long Story. Anyway, Big Al’s is a local restaurant in Old Town, and its signature burger is a double-stacked, culinary masterpiece dubbed the “60/40.” Each patty is 60 percent ground beef and 40% ground bacon. Be still my beating heart! (Figuratively, not literally. I wouldn’t consider it “health food” )

Big Al’s doesn’t seem to publish nutrition information on its website. Weird.

Here’s another algorithm failure of epic proportions. That holed structure below our Rans is supposedly Canvas Stadium, complete with office building atop the north endzone. Nice try, Asobo!

Part-Time Unofficial Seaplane Base: Fort Collins Downtown Airport (3V5)
MSFS: 40.588 -105.041
Skyvector: 403518N1050230W

From downtown we turned east and overflew the former Downtown Airport, once Fort Collins’s busiest airport. Prone to flooding and with development encroaching, the field closed in 2006, replaced by KFNL further south. Curiously, it’s still “open” in MSFS with the identifier 3V5. To the north is BNSF’s Vine Drive yard, where cars are sorted for movement north to Anheuser-Busch’s Wellington brewery and interchanged with the Great Western Short Line, which serves industries in Windsor and Greeley, including Vestas, one of the nation’s leading manufacturers of large wind turbine blades.

The Tic Tock Before Tic Tock: Stations WWV and WWVB
MSFS: 40.6787 -105.0447
Skyvector: 404043N1050240W

And now for something completely different! Several miles north of Fort Collins, rising above farmland between several reservoirs, we found the skeletal masts of radio stations WWV and WWVB. Operated by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), these two stations transmit continuous time signals that are used by organizations as diverse as the Department of Defense, television networks, and watch manufacturers for establishing extremely accurate timing. Six on-site atomic (Cesium) clocks–four for WWV and two for WWVB–provide the time basis. Do you own a clock that automatically updates its time? Chances are the signal emanates from Fort Collins! The taller masts on the left are WWVB.

And here’s the shorter masts of WWV. For the amateur radio enthusiasts, Wikipedia has excellent articles about WWV and WWVB. Want to hear the signal yourself? Dial 303-499-7111.

Pee-Wee Says: The signal is pretty monotonous. Definitely don’t listen after downing a 60/40.

A Mercenary Pilot and the President’s Wife: Christman Field (CO55)
MSFS: 40.5965 -105.1443
Skyvector: 403547N1050839W

Here we are northwest of town, approaching Christman Field (CO55), originally the Fort Collins Municipal Airport. Opened in May 1929, it was later renamed Christman Field in honor of Fort Collins native Allen Christman, a Naval aviator who died in January 1942 while fighting with the American Volunteer Group (“The Flying Tigers”) over Burma. The true history buffs will remember that Christman was also the illustrator of the newspaper comic strip Scorchy Smith. He reportedly put his artistic talents to use in China, personalizing his squadron’s aircraft.

Beyond the airfield is Horsetooth Reservoir and two of the four earthen dams holding back the 157,000 acre-feet of water stored within. Soldier Canyon Dam is on the right with Dixon Canyon in the distance. To our left is the local firefighter academy, and just beyond the runway is a solar farm, with CSU’s Engineering Research Center and Advanced Laser for Extreme Photonics (ALEPH) laboratory against the ridge forming the reservoir.

Pee-Wee Says: Remember that knucklehead who was buzzing boats in a lake back in '22, and then crashed his Cessna and fled the country? That was Horsetooth. Rest in peace, N9049H.

The three hangars directly below 280PW date to World War 2 and housed the local Civilian Pilot Training Program’s Stearman biplanes. The hangar to their right came later, as did the Army National Guard Armory in the lower right. In 1955 local arc welder manufacturing company Forney purchased the production rights to ERCO’s legendary Ercoupe monoplane from Univair and began production here of its Forney F-1 three years later. Forney completed 138 F-1s and F-1A trainers before production ended in 1959. Remarkably, 49 F-1s and 9 F-1As are still registered in the United States today, including two in Colorado.

Christman is still open, but not to the public. It currently serves as CSU’s drone testing and flight facility, although its 4,000 foot (1,220 meter) runway is occasionally used by National Forestry Service firefighting helicopters.

Pee-Wee Says: Eleanor Roosevelt delivered CSU’s commencement address in 1958 when her grandson graduated. She landed at Christman Field with her son, World War 2 USAAF veteran Elliott.

The tricycle Rans was easy to land, being less “squirley” than most MSFS light airplanes, even with a direct left crosswind. Visibility over the nose is definitely more restricted than other similarly configured GA planes I’ve flown, but not unmanageable. And while her performance suffered a little at our density altitude of 6,800 feet (2,100 meters), she still managed getting airborne in about 1,200 feet (365 meters).

That’s all for today! We’re both out of town this coming weekend, but we’ll return next week. And for those of you in the middle of the country, remember to not look directly at the sun!

Pee-Wee Says: 60/40. Mmmm

Fly safe!

[LeafyNight67562]

Stop the presses! After finishing the Fort Collins writeup, I stumbled on an interesting historical curiosity.

Don’t You Fu-Get About Me: The Swets Farm Bombing
MSFS: 40.5222 -104.9867
Skyvector: 403119N1045912W

Beginning in November 1944, the Imperial Japanese Army launched 9,300 hydrogen-filled paper “Fu-Go” balloons from mainland Japan and hoped that at least some would reach the Continental United States, where the incendiary and anti-personnel explosives they carried would ignite forests, kill civilians, and cause general panic. The balloons were terror weapons, and while many reached North America, the damage and casualties they inflicted were miniscule. Only six people in Oregon died when the anti-personnel bomb they were investigating exploded.

One of these balloons discharged its weapons on Timnath, Colorado, a tiny farming community southeast of Fort Collins. They landed on John Swets’s farm, where one of the incendiaries detonated and damaged a storage shed.

The farm is still owned by the Swets family. Located on Harmony Road just east of Interstate 25, the farm was home to the “Swetsville Zoo,” a local attraction featuring metal sculptures, modified cars, and other curiosities conjured by Mr. Swets. In the photo above, you can see the farm in the center of the photo, on the western shore of the Cache la Poudre River. After comparing this photo with aerial imagery from 1956, I surmise the bomb landed somewhere near the river.

Sadly, the Swets Farm will soon succumb to urban sprawl. A Costco and Walmart Super Center lie just outside this frame, and housing developments are visible in the distance. A massive shopping center, complete with multi-story hotel and apartments, will occupy the field adjacent to the river. Time marches on.

Here’s the interesting part. There’s some indication that the Timnath bombs were the only ones to land within the boundaries of an incorporated town, although this is difficult to confirm. If it’s true, then Timnath is the only town in the Continental United States to ever be bombed from the air by a foreign power.

Pee-Wee Says: I really think they need that on a sign. Now go to bed.

Okay, that’s really all. Good night!

[LeafyNight67562]

Welcome back to the Sunshine State! In this multi-part Skytour, we’ll explore some abandoned airfields, Cape Canaveral’s historic launch sites, a hazard to navigation with a funny name, a beautiful stone tower that sings, and a church that once held Sunday services underneath a supersonic jetliner. There’s much more to Central Florida than Disney!

To see these sites as we did, you’ll need some addon scenery modules, all available for free from flightsim.to. There’s a complete list at the end of each writeup.

And with that…gear up!

Pee-Wee Says: We chose the Zenith for this tour, since some of the abandoned fields we intended to visit had very short runways–if any runway at all–including one that appeared covered in storage containers and trucks.

Okay, so the gear will stay down.

We started at Valkaria Airport (X59) ten miles south of Melbourne. One of two satellite fields serving the day fighter school at NAS Melbourne during World War 2, Valkaria boasted three runways and a CVE-sized wooden deck complete with arresting gear and catapult used for initial carrier training and for instructing new Landing Signal Officers. Speaking of LSOs, Lieutenant Commander Dave McCampbell served as head LSO instructor here in 1943 before returning to the Pacific, where he downed 34 Japanese aircraft, becoming the highest scoring US Navy ace of World War 2 and earning the Medal of Honor to boot!

Since 1959 Valkaria has served the general aviation community and, more recently, drone operators, and was named the Florida Department of Aviation’s Airport of the Year in 2019.

Pee-Wee Says: Valkaria once hosted a tracking system used for ranging NASA and military rockets launched from Cape Canaveral. There’s a reason this part of Florida is called the Space Coast: it seems that every locale has some connection to the space program!

Bounces and Paddles: NOLF Malabar, Malabar Transmitter Annex
MSFS: 28.02 -80.68
Skyvector: 280112N0804048W

Our first stop was former Naval Outlying Field Malabar, NAS Melbourne’s other satellite field located seven miles northwest of Valkaria. Malabar apparently remained active until 1954 when it was leased to local farmers as grazing pasture. Two years later the Air Force acquired the site for use as a communications station supporting nearby Air Force and NASA activities.

In this northwest-facing photo you can still clearly see the remains of Malabar’s three runways and several taxiways. Just above our Zenith’s left wing is the communication annex’s control center and single 200-foot (61-meter) radio mast. Above us, in the northwest corner of the field, there are several domed buildings that may date back to early 1960s and an Air Force laser testing program.

Pee-Wee Says: We landed near those domes on the western end of former Runway 11. Malabar lies within MSFS’s default Palm Bay photogrammetry area, so the environs look great, but the grass is on a whole different level…literally. It made for a weird sight picture while landing!

The Florida Army National Guard will construct a readiness center and armory at Malabar in the near future, so if you’re planning a simulated landing here, you should do so sooner rather than later!

Florida Panther Country: Florida Institute of Technology, Florida Tech
MSFS: 28.064448 -80.624569
Skyvector: 280352N0803728W

Here we are flying north over the Florida Institute of Technology’s main campus in Melbourne. “Florida Tech” is a private research university and one of very few universities in the United States with an entire college dedicated to aeronautics. The L-shaped building at center right is George Skurla Hall, home of the College of Aeronautics.

FIT opened in 1958 as the Brevard Engineering College, and provided continuing education opportunities to the employees of newly formed NASA working at nearby Cape Canaveral Missile Annex, leading some wags to nickname the school “Countdown College.” In 2023 Florida Tech enrolled nearly 4,500 students on campus, with a further 4,800 off-campus and online.

Pee-Wee Says: FIT sounds like a really nice place to get an education, especially if you’re interested in aviation or oceanography. But you’d better rob a bank first: annual tuition is just shy of $45,000, and the price soars to almost $61,000 when you factor in additional costs like eating. I wonder if they’ll accept payment in solid gold bars, kidneys, and small children?

Not Really in Orlando: The Melbourne Orlando International Airport (KMLB)
MSFS: 28.1012 -80.6451
Skyvector: 280604N0803842W

Continuing north we passed over the Melbourne Orlando International Airport. That’s the air carrier terminal dominating this screenshot, with general aviation parking in the distant right. Just in front of our Zenith is FIT Aviation, where Florida Tech students learn to fly. Just beyond that, to the left of the control tower, is Northrop Grumman’s facility, the birthplace of the Air Force’s E-8 J-STARS. Thanks to Bullfrogsim for this wonderful (and recently updated) scenery!

NAS Melbourne and Operational Training Unit Two were established here in 1943. Initially a fighter training school utilizing war weary F4F Wildcats, by 1944 Melbourne had transitioned to the F6F Hellcat, with 150 aircraft managed by 1,800 officers, enlisted, WAVEs, and civilians producing approximately 92 trained fighter pilots per month.

During the 1960s National Airlines in particular flew between Melbourne and various locations in Texas and California bringing thousands of engineers and other workers to the launch sites at Cape Canaveral. Today, Melbourne is served by four domestic and one international airlines and touts its proximity to Orlando.

Pee-Wee Says: The drive from Melbourne to Orlando takes one hour, assuming you don’t die on Interstate 95. It’s a nice idea, but I think I’ll stick with MCO.

Our next planned stop was the Brevard Zoo off Interstate 95 north of town. Alas, the MSFS rendition is almost completely overgrown by trees, and there was nothing to see.

Pee-Wee Says: But it’s probably the best little zoo I’ve ever been to! There’s a waterway that encircles the main large animal exhibits, and you can kayak all the way around with no fences between you and the animals. It’s awesome, especially with kids. Remember your sunglasses and sunscreen!

Sand Fleas and Golf Courses: NAS Banana River, Patrick SFB
MSFS: 28.2387 -80.6099
Skyvector: 281419N0803635W

Naval Air Station Banana River was commissioned in October 1940 but didn’t receive mission aircraft until a year later when six PBM seaplanes arrived from Norfolk. After the war, the station was transferred to the Air Force and renamed Patrick Air Force Base. Gained by the fledgling Space Force in 2020, units here operate both Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and the Eastern Range, while the Air Force Reserve’s 920th Rescue Wing flies SAR HC-130s and HH-60s here.

Back in December 1945, one of Banana River’s PBMs was lost searching for Flight 19, the five TBM Avengers that disappeared on a training flight from NAS Fort Lauderdale. While no definitive probable cause was established, the Mariner was known for occasionally exploding when gasoline fumes trapped in its bilge ignited. Thirteen sailors were lost.

Here we are approaching Patrick from the northwest from over the Banana River. Immediately to our left is one of two remaining seaplane ramps that allowed water access from the original hangars just beyond. In the distance are the more recent hangars and airfield. A memorial to PBM BuNo 59225, lost while searching for Flight 19, stands at the water’s edge just north of the seaplane ramp. This scenery is included with MSFS.

Pee-Wee Says: Banana River also served as a forward operating location for NAS Richmond’s blimps, and the two mooring pads remain today, southwest of the Runway 20 and 29 intersection. To give you an idea of the Zenith’s capabilities, we touched down about one plane length inside the paved circle.

Oh, if you want a touching story about a fallen “service member,” read this 2023 story from the Space Coast Daily.

Pee-Wee Says: He cried a little.

Business in the Front, Party in the Back: Port Canaveral
MSFS: 28.4099 -80.6113
Skyvector: 282435N0803640W

We’re at the east entrance of Port Canaveral in this photo. To our right is the Navy’s Trident Wharf, and to our left is the dock where SpaceX’s Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ships (ASDS) tie up. Further in the distance are several cruise ships terminals and the Canaveral Lock, which connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Banana River beyond.

Barges carrying Saturn V rocket assemblies and Space Shuttle external tanks and solid rocket boosters would pass through the Canaveral Lock enroute to the Kennedy Space Center. From the Banana River, a channel allows passage directly to a dock adjacent to the Vehicle Assembly Building (more on that in the next episode).

Pee-Wee Says: There’s one thing that’s not well represented in MSFS. Follow the shoreline to our left up to where it makes a tiny 90-degree jog to the left, just before the SpaceX dock. Right there, if you look closely, you’ll see a single tree casting a big shadow. That’s supposed to be the sail of SSBN-636 Nathaniel Greene, one of America’s “41 for Freedom” ballistic missile submarines, placed here as a memorial to those first “boomers.”

I think Cape Canaveral, our next stop, will require its own episode. There’s a lot to cover!

That’s all for now. Join us very soon for Part 2 of this tour in which we’ll explore Cape Canaveral and its historic launch sites!

Pee-Wee Says: Good night!

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You’ll need the following files to see this tour the way we did, all available from flightsim.to:
KMLB - Melbourne Orlando Intl Airport by BullfrogSim
Water Fixes for Merritt Island/Kennedy Space Center Area by michail71

[LeafyNight67562]

Welcome back to Central Florida! At the end of Part 1, our intrepid heroes were turning north toward Cape Canaveral. Let’s pick up the story there…

But first, a little clarification:

• Cape Canaveral is a headland on Florida’s Atlantic coast, separated from Merritt Island by the Banana River. It was renamed Cape Kennedy in 1963 but that name never stuck, and it officially reverted to Cape Canaveral in 1973.

• The Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (formerly Air Force Station) is located on Cape Canaveral.

• The Kennedy Space Center is located on Merritt Island, immediately northwest of the Space Force Station.

Non-locals almost always conflate these locales. The Space Shuttle didn’t launch from Cape Canaveral and the Mercury flights weren’t launched from the Kennedy Space Center. There’s no place named Cape Kennedy.

Pee-Wee says: Now when you visit Florida you can avoid sounding like a tourist. This concludes our public service announcement.

Candle in the Wind: Launch Complex 5
MSFS: 28.439398 -80.573315
Skyvector: 282622N08034524W

Now here’s some real history! We’re over the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, and below is Launch Complex 5 (LC-5), where Navy Lieutenant Commander Alan Shepard blasted off into American history aboard Freedom 7. Only two other Americans would fly here, both aboard Mercury-Redstone rockets: Air Force Captain Gus Grissom aboard Liberty Bell 7, and Ham the chimpanzee aboard Mercury-Redstone 2.

Freedom 7 is on display at the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum in Washington D.C. A mockup Mercury-Redstone rocket currently stands at LC-5 and may only be viewed by appointment when visiting the adjacent Cape Canaveral Space Force Museum. (You’d better hurry: this Redstone has already been blown over once by Hurricane Floyd.)

Pee-Wee says: We all know Shepard’s and Grissom’s stories, but what about chimpanzees Ham and his virtually unknown cohort Enos? Ham survived his harrowing flight aboard Mercury-Redstone 2 during which he experienced almost 15 g and overshot the intended landing site by 130 miles (210 kilometers). He died of natural causes in 1983 and is interred at the International Space Hall of Fame at Alamagordo.

Enos completed two orbits aboard Mercury-Atlas 5 and performed brilliantly in the face of compounding mechanical failures, including a malfunctioning environmental control system and an “avoidance conditioning” system that randomly zapped him with electrical shocks. Forced to deorbit earlier than planned, he endured three hours inside his floating spacecraft until the Navy arrived. Enos died from an intestinal infection in 1962. His remains were sent to the Smithsonian, but disappeared without a trace.

God speed and thank you, Little Chimps.

From Test Site to Hallowed Ground: Launch Complex 31B
MSFS: 28.451479 -80.555202
Skyvector: 282705N0803318W

About one and a third miles north of LC-5 is LC-31. Built in 1961 for testing the Air Force’s new Minuteman intercontinental ballistic missile, LC-31 and neighboring LC-32 both feature an above ground launch pad (LC-31A and -32A) and underground silo (LC-31B and -32B). Ninety-two Minutemen were launched from these two sites, including 35 from LC-31B and 53 from LC-32B. There are no recoded launches from LC-32A.

In this screenshot you can see LC-31B in front with LC-32B behind, immediately under our Zenith’s tail. That’s LC-31A in the lower left corner and 32A hiding in the trees across the road behind us. In the distance is a portion of the Skid Strip (KXMR), named for its initial use as the recovery strip for Snark missiles, which relied on metal skids rather than traditional landing gear. In the upper right corner is the Cape Canaveral Lighthouse.

The wreckage of OV-099 Challenger is interred inside LC-31B, although a single piece of her fuselage was exhumed in 2015 for display at a memorial inside the KSC Visitor Complex. Thirty-six years after her accident, a History Channel dive team searching for the PBM lost while searching for Flight 19 stumbled upon a large section of Challenger partly buried in the seabed off Cape Canaveral. Per the surviving familes’ wishes, that piece remains where it landed, its location a closely guarded secret.

Pee-Wee says: OV-102 Columbia was lost in February 2003. Her remains are kept in a secured hall on the Vehicle Assembly Building’s 16th Floor.

Space Light: Cape Canaveral Lighthouse
MSFS: 28.460319 -80.543430
Skyvector: 282737N0803236W

He we are passing the Cape Canaveral Lighthouse and Rocket Assembly Hangar C. Built after the Civil War, this 151-foot (46-meter) light stood on the Canaveral shoreline next to its predecessor for thirty years until threatened by erosion. In 1893 it was moved to its present location and placed atop a foundation made from the crushed remains of the first light. Cape Canaveral Lighthouse is the only such building owned by the Space Force and is managed with the cooperation of the Cape Canaveral Lighthouse Foundation.

Hangar C is one of the oldest large structures remaining at the Space Force Base, and was used for assembling early rockets like Bumper, Bomarc, Navaho, Mace, and Vanguard. Today it contains thirty restored launch vehicles and is included–along with the lighthouse–in the Space Force Museum tour.

Pee-Wee says: The lighthouse was built from metal and designed to be taken apart and moved. A government project that adequately planned for the future? Weird.

What Goes Up Might Come Down: Launch Complex 13, Landing Zone 1 and 2
MSFS: 28.485670 -80.542968
Skyvector: 282908N0803235W

That’s former LC-13 to our right and LC-14 ahead, two of the four pads built in the late 1950s for the Atlas ICBM test program. LC-13 was the primary test site for the Atlas-E variant and, more recently, the site of twin landing pads for the recovery of Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy boosters, two of which are visible in MSFS.

LC-14 was the first Atlas pad in operation on the Cape and supported all four manned Mercury-Atlas flights, including Colonel John Glenn’s first orbital flight aboard Frienship 7. Today the partially restored site includes two memorials to the Mercury astronauts, one at the entrance to the facility and another at the launch pad, and a time capsule scheduled for opening in 2464, 500 years after the end of Project Mercury.

Pee-Wee says: 2464? Hold on, let me mark the calendar…

A Bad Fire: Launch Complex 34
MSFS: 28.521790 -80.561122
Skyvector: 283118N0803340W

Here’s LC-34, site of the Apollo 1 tragedy. Only seven rockets were launched here between 1961 and the site’s decommisioning in 1968. Astronauts Grissom, White, and Chaffee would have manned the first crewed flight of Project Apollo, but that distinction went instead to Schirra, Eisele, and Cunningham aboard Apollo 7, the final launch from LC-34 and the only manned Apollo flight to launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

Today the site is abandoned and closed to the public. Three memorial benches, one for each astronaut who perished in the fire, are located on the south perimeter of the pad. Look for them on the small concrete square just left of the 12 o’clock position in this screenshot. Two plaques are also attached to the concrete launch pad in the middle of the complex.

Bang, Zoom, You’re Going To The Moon: Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39

LC-39A
MSFS: 28.608412 -80.604140
Skyvector: 283630N0803614W

LC-39B
MSFS: 28.627282 -80.620751
Skyvector: 283738N0803714W

We’ve finally reached the Kennedy Space Center and the twin launch complexes built to accommodate massive Saturn V rockets. That’s LC-39A in front and LC-39B in the distance. NASA originally planned three additional pads to the north.

Every Apollo mission except Apollo 10 launched from LC-39A, as did Skylab and 82 Space Shuttles. Today SpaceX uses LC-39A for launching Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets, one of which is seen ready for launch in the screenshot above.

The first Space Shuttle mission launched from LC-39B after Apollo was, unfortunately, Challenger’s ill-fated STS-51L. Discovery closed out the north pad’s Shuttle era in 2006, although Endeavour was stacked there and ready for launch in support of STS-125 in 2009, the final mission of the Shuttle program. LC-39B currently supports NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS).

A Tool, Not a Monument: The Vehicle Assembly Building
MSFS: 28.586139 -80.651395
Skyvector: 283510N0803905W

The building to the left is NASA’s absolutely massive Vehicle Assembly Building. Designed for stacking massive rockets and protecting them from winds up to hurricane force, the VAB was at one time the tallest building in Florida, and is currently the world’s eighth largest by volume. The four massive doorways are the largest in the world, and take 45 minutes to open or close. For reference, the American flag’s blue field is roughly the size of a professional basketball court.

Behind our Zenith’s wing is the Launch Control Center, often incorrectly referred to as Mission Control (the actual Mission Control is in Houston). To the right, where the curved roadway meets the water, is the dock where NASA’s Pegasus barge ties up to deliver major rocket assemblies. Just out of view to the right is the visitor/press viewing area and the famous countdown clock. LC-39A and B are visible in the distance, as is the 130-foot (40-meter) wide crawlerway that connects the two pads to the VAB.

Pee-Wee says: Thanks to a friend, I was able to watch a Shuttle launch from the press site way back when. That was twenty years ago, and my teeth are still rattling! I’ll admit it was extremely emotional, and I don’t really know why. My friends tell me that the bleachers were mostly cleared out and I was still standing there looking up into the sky, mouth hanging open. If they hadn’t pulled me away, I’d probably still be standing there. It was the exact moment I fell in love with our space program.

The Gator Tanning Facility: Shuttle Landing Facility
MSFS: 28.615154 -80.694508
Skyvector: 283654N0804140W

Here we are “high diving” to the longest runway in Florida, the 15,000-foot (4,600-meter) Runway 15/33 at the Shuttle Landing Facility northwest of the VAB. This grooved runway is constructed from special “high drag” concrete to maximize the Orbiters’ stopping performance. The taxiway to the right leads to the Shuttle processing facilities near the VAB. The press site and orbiter mockup Inspiration are roughly halfway down the runway on the right, but are hidden by our Zenith in this screenshot.

Challenger was the first Orbiter to land here during STS-41B in 1984, and 77 others followed. Today the runway is used by NASA, the DoD, and various private companies, including Starfighters Aerospace and NASCAR.

Years ago ATC would authorize a “Shuttle” or “Cape Tour” if asked, and allow pilots to fly down the runway, staying west of the centerline and above 500 feet. I did it once, and really wanted to do a touch-and-go! Based on some YouTube videos, it appears the tour is still available.

Pee-Wee says: We actually did a touch-and-go here, since there’s no FAA in MSFS.

And that is that! We’re only halfway through the tour now, but we’re out of space (Pee-Wee says: See what he did there?). I’m heading to work again this weekend, so tune in next week when we bring you Part 3 of the Central Florida tour. Bye for now!

Pee-Wee says: Hey, space nerds. Remember that tomorrow is April 12th, the 63rd anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s first flight into space, and the 43rd anniversary of STS-1, the first Space Shuttle flight. I made cake!

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We didn’t photograph every interesting site on the Cape. Here’s some other launch sites you can explore:

1. LC-3, site of the first launch at Cape Canaveral
   MSFS: 28.466335 -80.536224
   Skyvector: 282758N0803210W

2. LC-19, the Gemini-Titan launch pad
   MSFS: 28.506822 -80.554240
   Skyvector: 283024N0803315W

3. LC-26B, site of Explorer 1’s launch
   MSFS: 28.444632 -80.570516
   Skyvector: 282641N0803414W

4. LC-37B, the first Saturn IB pad
   MSFS: 28.531837 -80.564993
   Skyvector: 283154N0803354W

5. LC-41, site of Voyager 1 and 2 launches
   MSFS: 28.583466 -80.582889
   Skyvector: 283500N0803458W

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Here’s the scenery addons you’ll need to complete this portion of the tour, all available for free at flightsim.to:

• Kennedy Space Center by Acktu
• Water Fixes for Merritt Island/Kennedy Space Center Area by michail71
• KTTS–Shuttle Landing Facility at Kennedy Space Center by michail 71
• Cape Canaveral Light House by PhilUSA

[LeafyNight67562]

Welcome back to Part 3 of our Central Florida Skytour! In Part 1 we toured historic sites on the Atlantic Coast from Melbourne north to Cape Canaveral. Part 2 focused exclusively on Space Force and NASA rocket launch and landing facilities on the Cape. Today we’ll head inland toward Orlando and see what we can find!

Pee-Wee says: Most of the areas we’ve flown over benefit from photogrammetry, and it makes a huge difference. I wish we could cover the whole world with that!

Highest Obstacle on the Chart: The Bithlo Towers
MSFS: 28.5973 -81.0756
Skyvector: 283550N0810432W

From the Shuttle Landing Facility, we headed almost due west toward Bithlo about fifteen miles east of Orlando. There’s not much happening in this unincorporated community that was known for many years only for its trash dump and mosquitos, but it’s well-known to pilots because of its hazard to navigation.

If you’ve flown an instrument approach into Orlando, you’ve probably noticed the 3,000-foot Minimum Safe Altitude (MSA) and the 1,749-foot obstructions northeast of the airport. Those are the Bithlo Towers, a group of six massive television and radio transmission towers, two of which are depicted on the chart.

Here we are in the vicinity of the towers, flying west. Dozens of television and radio stations transmit digital and analog signals from Bithlo in a service volume that covers much of Florida. Disclaimer: do not fly near these towers in a real airplane! The guy wires extend out hundreds of feet from the towers and are virtually invisible to pilots.

Pee-Wee says: We flew toward the general location of the towers at 500 feet, hoping to spot them before hitting them, which was a little uncomfortable. Definitely do NOT try this at home!

Big Ugly Fat…Memorial?: B-52 Memorial Park
MSFS: 28.449642 -81.312767
Skyvector: 282659N0811846W

Here we are over B-52 Memorial Park at Orlando International Airport. Easy to spot but hard to get to, visitors can access this free park by following signs for Air Cargo or North Economy Parking. Access via Bear Road from the northwest side of the field is easiest and allows a nice view of the west side runway complex.

56-0687 (manufacturer’s serial number 464058) is one of sixty-nine B-52Ds built at Wichita and was delivered to the Air Force in 1957. In 1964 she was stationed at Fairchild AFB with the 92nd Strategic Air Wing’s 325th Bomb Squadron. There’s painfully little information online about her twenty-seven-year career, but it’s very likely that she flew combat missions over Vietnam. Having reportedly spent some time with the 306th Bomb Wing at McCoy AFB (the future Orlando International Airport), 687 was flown here in 1984 when the 7th Bomb Wing at Carswell AFB wound down its B-52D training operations.

Pee-Wee says: I found a photo that shows two names painted below the aircraft commander’s seat on 687, and thought I it was important to look them up…

Colonel Keith Heggen was assigned to the 325th Bomb Squadron at Andersen AFB and was serving as an observer-pilot aboard B-52G 58-0198, callsign “Olive 01,” on December 21st, 1972, when it was downed by an SA-2 near Hanoi. He escaped from the aircraft but succumbed to his injuries within a week while in captivity. His remains were repatriated in 1974. Colonel Heggen is interred at Arlington National Cemetary, Section 11, Grave 105-1. He is survived by his wife and two children.

Chief Master Sergeant Charlie Poole was assigned to the 346th Bomb Squadron at U-Tapao RTAFB and was serving as the gunner aboard B-52D 56-0608, callsign “Rose 01,” on December 19th, 1972, when it was downed by an SA-2 near Hanoi (a portion of the aircraft remains to this day where it crashed in Hồ Hữu Tiệp lake near Hanoi). He was unable to exit the aircraft. His remains were repatriated in 1996 and identified in 2003. Master Sergeant Poole is interred at Hillcrest Memorial Park and Mausoleum in Red Chute, Louisiana next to his wife, Army nurse Sergeant Laura Poole who passed away in 1994, two years before Charlie’s remains were discovered.

Rest peacefully, gentlemen, and thank you

It’s a Small Strip After All: Lake Buena Vista STOLport
MSFS: 28.398912 -81.571120
Skyvector: 282356N0813416W

Here we are fourteen miles west of MCO over the former Lake Buena Vista STOLport, Walt Disney World’s very own airport. You can see the Magic Kingdom’s iconic monorail station and Space Mountain rollercoaster in the distance above our Zenith. Built during the early 1970s, the airfield briefly served Shawnee Airlines’ Twin Otters carrying parkgoers from Orlando International Airport. Today the 2,000-foot (610-meter) closed runway is used for staging busses and storage.

Pee-Wee says: But since it was an abandoned airstrip, we had to land there!

We landed to the south on the runway’s north threshold, touching down just after the blocks near the bottom edge of the photo. With a slight headwind, our ground roll was negligible. Taking off was a different matter: it was difficult to see the trees with such a nose high attitude! If you intend to land here, definitely bring a STOL-capable machine!

Pee-Wee says: And extra undies.

Yesterday’s Airport That Never Was: The EPCOT Airport of Tomorrow
MSFS: 28.329023 -81.556706
Skyvector: 281944N0813324W

This spot is a little different from the others we toured since there was absolutely nothing to see, and that was the point! Walt Disney’s original design for an Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow (EPCOT) included an “Airport of Tomorrow” for both air carrier and general aviation traffic. The intended site was near the current Interstate 4 and US Highway 192 interchange. Disney eventually built a scaled-down EPCOT in the late 1970s which dispensed with the overly ambitious airport.

We’re flying east over Interstate 4 in this photo. That’s the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex directly above us, with EPCOT and the Magic Kingdom beyond. The Airport of Tomorrow, with its three runways, the longest measuring 7,000 feet (2,140 meters), would have been located in the trees directly under our Zenith.

Pee-Wee says: I can only dream that, had this airport been built, the controllers would have used Goofy’s voice for the ATIS. ‘EPCOT Airport Information Bozo, Time One Six Five Four Zulu, yuk, yuk, yuk!’

The Church of Speed: The SST Air Museum
MSFS: 28.279548 -81.352412
Skyvector: 281646N0812109W

America’s dream of an indigenous supersonic jetliner ended in 1971 when Congress terminated funding for the delayed and incredibly expensive (i.e. controversial) project. Boeing had already built a full-sized metal mockup of its winning Model 2707-300 in Seattle, and with the program’s end, had no need for the 300-foot (91-meter) long behemoth. Enter billionaires Mark Morris and Don Otis, who offered the Government $31,119 (about $235,000 today) for the mockup. After considering locations in Nebraska, Colorado, and Kansas, they settled on Kissimmee, Florida, near Disney World’s Magic Kingdom as the home for their new supersonic transport (SST), and on July 4, 1973, the SST Air Museum opened its doors.

Left Boeing / Right Larry Johnson

Although constructed specifically for the museum, the building wasn’t quite big enough for the huge SST, and its vertical stabilizer protruded through the roof (see the photo on the right, above). Eventually the museum went bust and the building–with the 2707 inside–was sold to a church, which routinely held services underneath the mockup (the photo on the left, above). The SST was evicted in 1990 and wandered for years between owners including the Hiller Aviation Museum in San Carlos, California, before finally returning to Seattle and the Museum of Flight. Unfortunately, only the forward fuselage remains, but museum volunteers plan on restoring it for display.

Today, the old museum building lives on as the Life Christian Academy, located at Partin Settlement Road and Aeronautical Drive. A nearly complete rebuild removed any hint of its former tenant, and the open fields that surrounded the museum are filled with apartments, an ice rink, and a fire station. We’re flying southeast in the screenshot above, the direction in which the 2707 pointed.

Pee-Wee says: The American SST program died for many reasons, not the least of which were noise and potential environment damage. What a blow that must have been: America put a man on the Moon and built the 747 but couldn’t manage to build a really fast jetliner.

Oh, by the way, that B-25 in the photo above? That’s none other than N9079Z, better known as “Panchito,” the Delaware Aviation Museum’s restored B-25J!

Who Needs Airports When You Can Have Even More Houses?: St. Cloud Airfield
MSFS: 28.234 -81.284
Skyvector: 281402N0811702W

Here we are ten few miles south of MCO, scanning the former St. Cloud Airport for suitable landing ground. That’s East Lake Tohopekaliga in the background. The winds favored Runway 8, which was quite smooth and actually had the grass in the right place.

St. Cloud Airfield opened sometime between 1959 and 1965 with four runways, the longest of which was 2,300 feet (700 meters) long. Two T-hangars were located northwest of the runways. Their remains are visible below our Zenith’s tail, to the right of the trees just north of Runway 8/26. Having been closed for years, we were both surprised by how little St. Cloud had deteriorated.

Pee-Wee says: The latest Google imagery shows a housing development going up over the top of St. Cloud, so if you plan on landing here, you should do it before the Bing imagery catches up! What an interesting thought: you might be the last person to ever land at this airport, real or simulated!

The Singing Tower: Bok Tower Gardens
MSFS: 27.935337 -81.577573
Skyvector: 275607N0813439W

Here we are passing one of Pee-Wee’s favorite places on Earth: Bok Tower Gardens in Lake Wales, Florida, about thirty-five miles south of MCO. Edward Bok, editor of Ladies Home Journal, built a beautiful garden and bird sanctuary atop Iron Mountain after retiring here, and commissioned a spectacular combination water and carillon tower in 1925. The 205-foot (62-meter) stone tower was dedicated by President Coolidge in 1929, only months before Bok’s death.

Today the 250-acre Bok Tower Gardens is open to the public daily, and features walking paths, reflecting pools, a koi pond/moat surrounding the tower, and daily performances by the 60-bell carillon. The Bok Tower is included with MSFS.

Pee-Wee says: I first visited the Singing Tower when I was living in Jacksonville, and I still think it’s one of the most beautiful places to visit, especially during an evening concert under a setting sun, with the birds singing and the glowing tower reflecting in the water. Oh…it’s amazing!

From the Bok Tower we flew north-northwest to the Fantasy of Flight airfield where we parked for the night. Our total flight time was just over three hours, and we landed with almost eight gallons of fuel remaining. This was a particularly interesting outing because of the varied sites we found, from rocket launching sites to botanical gardens to television transmitters.

That’s all from Central Florida! We’re already planning our next flight, so check back here for more Skytours. May your simulated skied be always blue, but not Blue Screen of Death blue. Just regular blue.

Pee-Wee says: Thanks for flying with us! We’ll see you soon.

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To see this tour as we did, you’ll need World Update #10 (for the Bok Tower) and the following scenery addons, available for free at flightsim.to:

• We Love VFR - Region 2 by PuffinFlight
• B52 at KMCO, Orlando, FL by Timberleaf