Re: A few questions


Message posted by Peter Merlin on August 19, 2005 at 19:41:03 PST:

To answer a few of your questions:

The North base runway at Edwards is now mainly used for the King Air flight to Groom and Tonopah. It has been used for many things in the past. This was originally Muroc Flight Test Base, built in the early 1940s as a test site for the early jets (P-59 and P-80). later it was used for testing the B-45 and F-89. In 1957, it became the U-2 test site after that program departed Groom. It has been used for NASA projects such as the T-33 Monocular Vision System and the LoFLYTE subscale waverider model. It has been the home base for the 6513th Test Squadron "Red Hats" and 413th Flight Test Squadron "Bomcats" (later absorbed into the Electronic Warfare Directorate).

The three D-21B drones outside the Space Shuttle Area belong to NASA Dryden Flight Research Center. They are Articles 513, 529, and 537. Article 525 was loaned to the Blackbird Airpark in Palmdale. I am trying to get one of the other three transferred to the CIA Museum in Langley, Virginia.

The closed runway at gromm will probably not be rebuilt unless there is a serious future need. For example, in 25 to 30 years the new runway may be worn out and costly to maintain. Then the old runway can be rebuilt as a replacement. The Edwards runway needs to be replaced soon. A temporary runway will be built first so that work can proceed on rebuilding the original without interupting operations.

Groom Lake has served as a takeoff and landing site for many aircraft. It was used extensively for crosswind landings during the U-2 program. I can't recall if it was actually used for the A-12. According to one source, Dave Ferguson had to land a MiG-21 on the lakebed extension of Runway 32 during a night checkout flight. Lt. Gen. Robert Bond landed an F-117A on a lakebed runway because of strong crosswinds on the main runway.


In Reply to: Re: A few questions #2 update posted by Sundog on August 19, 2005 at 16:42:31 PST:

Replies:



[ Discussion Forum Index ] [ FAQ ]