Warbird Information Exchange

Lighten up Francis! BTW warbird2 does this sign posting below sound just possibly a little more civilized than the approach you believe in? Food for thought. Why the need for violence?

YOU ARE NOW ENTERING PRIVATE PROPERTY OWNED BY XXX YYY

We kindly ask that visitors to this land do not scavange, hunt or make fires or campsites.

Please remember that we find this land beautiful, and if you stroll through it, please enjoy it, and help us keep it beautiful

Sounds like these are the kind of property owners I would like to meet. You?

BTW, BTW I love warbirds for what they are today, not for what they were designed to do. But I respect them for what they were designed to do. That respect allows me to be able to type what I'm typing right now.

No wonder my ears are burning. Thanks to Steve S. for the OP.

Yes, I snuck in, in 2008 and yes, the caretaker was pissed. And armed. Dogs too. I wouldn't suggest it. Once I did my research and contacted the owners everything was fine, though on my second trip this past full moon, the caretaker still refused to talk to me.

Yes, normally I shoot abandoned locations, but I also do a lot of junkyard and boneyard work. This yard is not abandoned.

It's "Secret" because the owner specifically wants me to keep it that way. See, the audience for my work ranges far outside the realm of hardcore warbird guys like you (and me, tho not as hardcore) who love and respect these artifacts as priceless treasures. It's one thing for you guys, who can see one image and say "Hey that's a CA-27, not an F-86, it has to be (insert name here)'s yard!" than it is for casual observers at best, or metal scrappers, or tweaker vandal teenagers at worst, to know where it is. The owner doesn't want to be deluged with "Hey, can I come shoot that too?" phone calls, or to find the place all tagged up and ripped off while the caretaker is out some afternoon doing whatever it is caretakers do when they are not caretaking.

For the record, there is no fence to climb, just "no trespassing" signs to ignore. Anyone that thinks it's really ok to shoot simple trespassers who aren't causing mayhem needs reprogramming. Sometime trespassers are just that, trespassers, with no intention for theft or vandalism. I've been a serial trespasser for over 30 years and if you visit my website you'll see that it's in a huge variety of sites. I've been stopped by literally hundreds of cops from minimum wage security guards to federal agents and have never been arrested or cited. Specifically because It's clear that I'm just a photographer and I use human engineering skills and samples of my work to defuse the situation.

Because I think you guys will really like them, here's the full set of images from my 3 nights in the yard:

http://www.lostamerica.com/planezone/

If you like those, use the gallery button at the top of the page to check out the 2 other aircraft related galleries and all the other stuff.

And please, ask questions first and shoot later!

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S.

I think the thread was about some pictures...

If you want to get a thread locked please start one about shooting trespassers. I'll be more than happy to lock and load!

Tim

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www.tailhookstudio.com

LostAmerica, thanks for joining the discussion, I enjoyed looking at your pictures in the links. Keep up the good work.

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Share your story: Rutgers Oral History Archive http://oralhistory.rutgers.edu/

Those certainly are some fantastic perspectives and lighting on those aircraft hulks.

Thanks for posting!!!

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S.

Love your work. Please don't let some idiot off you while you're doing it.

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"I knew the jig was up when I saw the P-51D-20-NA Mustang blue-nosed bastards from Bodney, and by the way the blue was more of a royal blue than an indigo and the inner landing gear interiors were NOT green, over Berlin."

Thanks to everyone! The interwebs is an amazing thing.

Thankfully, I've learned that most people are civil. If you get caught in an airplane boneyard, relax, smile, talk about airplanes, show the guy some pictures of similar stuff. You have a very short window to prove you're a non-threat. Most people are proud of their junk, whether it's cars, planes or ocean liners. You need to bond with them, make them understand that you love this junk too. Sometimes a 12-pack helps too.

12 pack works wonders!

even worked on one of my wives!

Really cool stuff.

Do not be a stranger.

These are awesome shots!

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S.

I have no problem with landowners with signs of that nature, those particular people do not seem to mind if you are on their land. What I am talking about is the signs that say "Posted, No trespassing" and "Private Property", like the ones at Borrego Springs in California where these pictures were taken.

Even though the pictures are really cool and I enjoy seeing them, This guy that took these pictures admits that there was a no tresspassing sign but he did it any way. He also admits he's a 30 yr serial tresspasser. That makes him a 30 yr criminal. Yet for some reason it is ok because he takes cool pictures?

People get kicked off this board because they talk about politics but everybody thinks it is ok to break the law? That makes no sense.

I'm sorry, I didn't mean to climb way up on 'er and get 'er all pregnant , it was an accident , it just happened, it just kinda fell in that's it, that's the line

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Kind Regards,
Gary Lewis
J.A.F.O.

Lost America-
I enjoyed viewing your work, but am upset a bit by the subjects themselves- I love aircraft, and am one of those people who wants the all to fly, though I know I can't save every one, still makes me sad... In any case, Thanks for sharing them- I looked through a good number of the pics last night, and more this morning, and thought I'd say, if you ever get to the east coast, you might want to hit a place called Wade's Salvage, in Berlin, NJ... They are surrounded by pine trees, and have everything from locomotives and military trucks to aircraft... We also have the SS United States, a beautiful, but stripped, transatlantic liner sitting on the Pa. side of the Delaware River nearby- and the USS OLYMPIA and USS NEW JERSEY right across the river from each other(provided the OLYMPIA does not get scrapped...). There are also a few old pines forge towns- Batsto Village, for one, which might make nice shots. I even know a small siding on one of the back roads with a bunch of seemingly abandoned railroad cars! Including one from the "Texas-Mexico Railroad". What a passenger car from there is doing here, I dunno... And very easily accessible... We don't have the desert, but we have the eastern equivalent: Pine Forests as far as the eye can see. When I was growing up it was one of the largest pine forests in the world, the New Jersey Pine Barrens.

Scott
PS- Too bad you missed John Mahalchik's scrapyard: he passed away in the mid 1980s, and his place had everything military... At night a real interesting place. But, unless John knew you, you didn't get in- and he did carry a gun... But, knowing him, I am sure if you'd been introduced by a friend, he would have let you get pics once he got to know you. Unfortunately, that is all gone now, and the yard, long abandoned after the property auction, is now overgrown, and desolate...

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1942 Dodge WC-51 Weapons Carrier
I am a reenactor, have been since the early 1980s, and I am an aviation enthusiast, PILOT, A&P mechanic, and military vehicle owner. I have restored cars, trucks, and antique radios. These are MY hobbies- What are YOURS?.

Wow.., with the help of googlemaps.., Wade's Salvage really looks like a fun place to get lost in!

Thanks for sharing.

Are you on friendly terms with the owner?

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S.

Yeah Robbie, Wade's looks great. Too bad I'm on the west coast. There's junkyards like this everywhere, so I'd probably get waylaid 100 times before I got past New Mexico.

I love this stuff too, it's pretty obvious since I've been taking these pictures of it for 20 years. It doesn't make me sad though, it makes me want to take pictures. As this stuff disappears, the pieces that remain have even more value and mythology surrounding them, so I use that to my advantage. People frequently tell me my photography makes them feel sad. My stock answer is that it's OK for art to make you feel sad and poignant. Most macho warbird-type guys aren't used to that concept, but it's a perfectly normal reaction.

But yeah, I'm always looking for leads on new places to shoot in the western US. I have no doubt that the yard I shot that started this thread (that I still refuse to mention by name because the owner specifically said not to) is not the only place like this in the US. I've found the Tucson yards to be a tough nut to crack, but I did get in the place that convert's the P2s to firebombers back in 2001. I'd give a free 16x20 print ($200 value) to anyone that gets me in one of these places, as a finder's fee.



Yeah, Exactly.

And I'm sure you speed every day and roll stop signs. Ever driven drunk? Betcha you have. Cheat on your taxes? Disobey orders from your military superiors? Smoke weed and drink beer as a teenager? Cut the holier than thou crap. Everyone is a criminal in this police state we live in. What I do is a misdemeanor, at most, in every state in the union, look it up. I've been stopped by 100s of cops and while I've been told to leave countless times, I've never been arrested or cited. See, even the cops 'get it.' Maybe you'll 'get it' someday too.

I'm not the one being holier than thou. But now I get it. It's only a misdemeanor so it's ok to tresspass. And no, I have never driven drunk, cheated on my taxes or disobeyed orders. Never smoked weed either but I admit I drank under age a few times, better send out the marshalls. Maybe you do these things as well so it makes it ok for you to break other laws since you are already in the business. Do Carl and Tony know you have such a criminal past?

Thanks to your insight, I get it. I'm sure that if you keep tresspassing, you will eventually get it as well.