Gawain 0 #1 December 2, 2003 Today, I got to go out to NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards AFB. A truly scenic area despite being in the middle of nowhere. Imagine driving up the highway, taking an exit which has a small assortment of a stores, etc. Two traffic lights and the edge of town is reached and you're on a road with no cross streets, in the desert with the road rolling in front of you as far as the eye can see. Several miles down the road, a large sign at the side of the road announces that you're crossing onto the base. Following that sign is a smaller sign indicating it's another 15 miles to the gate (I think that is so cool). There are signs along the roadside in sequence, most notably, "If you have been drinking" ... "And have been driving" ... "And haven't been caught" ... "You're about to be" et voila, there's the entry gate, barricades and all. Still, this post alone is completely isolated. No sign of a "base" at all. I smile to myself as I pull up to the gate and am greeted by a young Air Force soldier, fully armed. He directs me to the parking area and I walk into the guard post to pick up a permit and confirm I'm on the "list". I am cleared and on my way up the road, which continues with no significant changes in the landscape. A few miles later I see a sign directed to the housing office which is a road to the left which disappears into the distance as well. Finally, the first thing I see as I drive up (Rosamond Bl) is a museum of sorts which has many of my favorite planes on display (B-52, SR-71, F-111, F-4, F-105 Thud). Good stuff. Then I see signs of the "business" side of the base, the library, housing. Not many hangars that I can see. Though, I can sense the activity. I drive to the north end of the base and pull on to Lily and DFRC. The parking area is behind a new gated area and outside another gated area with a few hangars in sight, and a bright white F-15 parked in plain sight. As I walk to the building where my meeting is I hear jets in the distance and suddenly, directly overhead, a crisp *grumbl-BOOM* (I've heard sonic booms before, but they're different when they're overhead! F**k**g Cool!!). I hear three more of them while meeting in the DFRC Learning Center. The meeting is over and the north gate is closer, but I decide to head back the way I came, just to see it again. Certainly, the area seems "understated" but I was wholly impressed. What's more, I know that I barely got to "see" anything. At least I was as close to the flight line as I was willing to go (not that I'd get far). It was really cool. Definitely not a bad way to start the week. So I try and I scream and I beg and I sigh Just to prove I'm alive, and it's alright 'Cause tonight there's a way I'll make light of my treacherous life Make light! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sundevil777 102 #2 December 2, 2003 What do you sell? I was a mech eng at Boeing for 8 years 'til '95 (B-1B & 777). Have you been to the Airforce Museum at Wright Patterson AFB, Dayton? http://www.wpafb.af.mil/museum/index.htmPeople are sick and tired of being told that ordinary and decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired. I’m certainly not, and I’m sick and tired of being told that I am Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Aviatrr 0 #3 December 2, 2003 You could've actually driven right up to the main runway damn near. Once you're on base, there are quite a few places you can get to without passing into any restricted areas. You can't get anywhere near "North Base"(the "super secret" project area), but just about anywhere else on the base is accessible. I guess I took all that stuff for granted since I grew up there, and got to see it all(and much more that you won't see anymore) on a daily basis. Mike Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PLFKING 4 #4 December 2, 2003 It's a small world.....my dad was stationed there twice - in the late 50s (if I remember correctly, my sis was born in the base hospital) and he was deployed from there in '68 before he was KIA in Vietnam. I remember it as a cool place to be a kid too.....millions of things to do. I'm sure it's changed just a little in the last 35 years or so. Don"When in doubt I whip it out, I got me a rock-and-roll band. It's a free-for-all." Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
