Message posted by Super Dave on July 28, 2004 at 21:43:27 PST:
I've been following this web site for quite a while and wanted to chime in. For the last 4 years I've been a Flight Test Engineer for the 418th Flight Test Sqdn, Det 4, 412th Test Wing, Edwards AFB. I was physically located in Marietta, GA flight testing the glass cockpit/re-engined C-5. Part of my job involved all of our flight planning. Surprisingly, it was not hard to request navigation pubs for the Operating Location at Groom. I never did, because someone at work would have looked at me funny when the stuff started arriving through UPS. We had an account directly with NIMA (now NGA) and I could get just about any unclassified flight planning items I wanted. Some of the threads I've seen state that Edwards Det 3 is the operating agency for the Groom facility. I'd have to shoot this one down right away. Edwards has many operating locations, and I've yet to see one with this naming convention. Maybe Det 3 of some squadron. Not just Det 3. They don't name them that way. We have a bunch of sister squadrons that deal with fighters, UAV's, etc. We were flying the heavies. Anyhoo, I just wanted to check in, in case anyone had any questions I could answer. I worked with a number of guys both military and civilian contractors that had flown out of the Ranch. I've recently moved back here to SOCAL and keep in touch with most of them.
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