Alaska Locator

[mrhenniger]

I have just taken the Alaska Locator as far as I can...
http://www.aerialvisuals.ca/Locator.html#USA_AK

A few questions...

#1: Is there a H-21 at Elmendorf AFB in Anchorage?

#2: Apparently the Kulis static displays will be, are or have been moved to Elmendorf. Can anyone confirm?

#3: Has anyone been to Pike's Aviator Greenhouse and Sweets in Fairbanks? Where exactly is it?

#4: Do I have a good map reference for the "Transportation and Industry Museum of Alaska" in Wasilla?

#5: Is there a C-47 and C-123 in Wasilla?


I was planning on working on the Australia and New Zealand locators, but Todd Hackbarth introduced me to a Geocache search result with about 150 pages of warbirds with coordinates (I feel like a kid in a candy store). I plan to complete the task of transferring all this good data into my new entry queue database before continuing with Australia and New Zealand (the new information will be expecially useful to me in building the locator for these countries). In the mean time I thought I would start the "left" coast by completing Alaska first. I plan on jumping over to Hawaii next before returning to the main land with Washington.

Mike

[RMAllnutt]

Ask and ye shall receive... Here's Pikes Aviator Greenhouse and Sweets. great little icecream store. I was there in August, 2006. It is located on the main highway about a mile east of the airport if memory serves correctly.



There are a lot of C-46's, C-118's, C-54's and C-131's at Fairbanks International Airport, as well as the only US-based airworthy Carvair, and a few C-119's. There is what looks like an original Curtiss Jenny in the airport atrium as well.

You can see a few more images on my website here...

http://www.rmallnutt.com/fairbanks/

I also remember seeing a H-21 at Elmendorf... it is away from the main air-park. Kulis is closing, and its Air Guard assets are being moved to Elmendorf as part of the 2006 BRAC. I am not sure whether the gate guards will be moving to Elmendorf. I would suspect not. Not sure about the museum at Wasilla.

Hope this helps!
Richard

PS. Keep up the good work Mike, this is an interesting and useful project you are undertaking.

[mrhenniger]

Ask and ye shall receive... Here's Pikes Aviator Greenhouse and Sweets. great little icecream store. I was there in August, 2006. It is located on the main highway about a mile east of the airport if memory serves correctly.

If you don't mind, could to take at look at the map reference I have and tell me which direction I need to go in?

There are a lot of C-46's, C-118's, C-54's and C-131's at Fairbanks International Airport, as well as the only US-based airworthy Carvair, and a few C-119's.

Check.

There is what looks like an original Curtiss Jenny in the airport atrium as well.

A new entry has been created.

I also remember seeing a H-21 at Elmendorf... it is away from the main air-park.

How far away? Helos are very hard to distinguish from ground clutter. What part of the base? Did it have it's blades installed?

Hope this helps!

It most certainly does.

The update has been uploaded.

Mike

[a26invader]

#3: Has anyone been to Pike's Aviator Greenhouse and Sweets in Fairbanks? Where exactly is it?

Yes, if you pass the main terminal/road going into town you can't miss it.

#4: Do I have a good map reference for the "Transportation and Industry Museum of Alaska" in Wasilla?

Sorry, don't understand map reference?

#5: Is there a C-47 and C-123 in Wasilla?

Two C-47s and one C-123

[a26invader]

Also remember the derelict T-28 frame marked "44" at Roger Brooks facility at Fairbanks.

And Wasila and Palmer is not the same place. Palmer is a regular sized airport (up to 4 DC-3s and 2 C-119s + maybe a DC-6 in the hangar) The museum at Wasila is a bit away from Wasila municipal airport.

[mrhenniger]

Thanks for the tips.

Yes, if you pass the main terminal/road going into town you can't miss it.

The problem is I am using Google Earth, and the view is somewhat different. You would think the forward fuselage of a plane would stand out mounted on top of a building, but not so. Could you give me the name of two streets that form and intersection neary by?

Sorry, don't understand map reference?

Aaaaahhh... well, you will see that I have a map link for the "Transportation and Industry Museum of Alaska" labeled as "Area". If I had the exact "X marks the spot" location it would be labeled "Map", "Site A", "Site B"... "Area" means it is in the neighborhod of the map reference, but you will need to do some looking and you may need to drive around a bit to find it. "Sight" means that map reference is very close and chances are the airframe you are looking for would be within eye sight of the map reference. No map reference means I have no clue where the aircraft/museum is.

If you have tried it, click on the map reference and a Google Maps window will open pointing to the site.

My question really is... Is the location pointed to by the Google Map accurate for the Transportation and Industry Museum of Alaska?

#5: Is there a C-47 and C-123 in Wasilla?
Two C-47s and one C-123

Are they displayed someplace? If so where? Or... are they active aircraft?

Thanks again for your input.

Mike

[mrhenniger]

Also remember the derelict T-28 frame marked "44" at Roger Brooks facility at Fairbanks.

I just quickly created an entry for this one. Is the facility pointed to by the map reference (you can use the satellite image button to view) the Brooks facility. There could be a T-28 in that cluster of planes. Does he have a website?

And Wasila and Palmer is not the same place. Palmer is a regular sized airport (up to 4 DC-3s and 2 C-119s + maybe a DC-6 in the hangar) The museum at Wasila is a bit away from Wasila municipal airport.

I may not have covered the notation of the Locator well in the "Usage" section...
http://www.aerialvisuals.ca/Locator.html#Usage
...I will add that in the next few days.

The Locator is sort of a rudimentary trip planner. The idea is you will have a road map in front of you as your are planning a trip, or maybe you will be flying to some location and want to know about the aviation museums and sites in the area. What you do is look up that location using the locator. The "City" category for a particular entry will list the city name which represents the greater area first, then the smaller center which contains the site of interest. This is done to help a someone planning a trip what is where in easy to understand terms so they may choose to make a rough cut at what they can get to, OR, to let them know about the other sites in an area (which can't be done by using strict alphabetical order). Eventually I will have the locator operating from an on-line database so you will be able to find what other sites are in area of another site, but until then the current format must do for now.

So to get back to your point, the museum is in Palmer which is part of the greater area known as Wasilla. I have seen some museum lists reference one or the other which can get confusing. I choose to list both (for the reasons given above) and provide a map reference so hopely the user won't have trouble finding the place if they are in the area and looking for it.

Regards,

Mike

[RMAllnutt]

Hey Mike. I looked up the address, it's on Hoselton Rd., but the place where mapquest puts it is definitely not the location. I just drove out of the main terminal's parking lot, bearing right. The store was on the left fairly soon after, and before hitting the developed area of town. The store is actually owned by the Congressman for that district along with several other developments bearing the name "Pike".

I could not find the place using Google satellite images. I think that it is a fairly new place (last three years). The cockpit of the DC-6 was put up within the last two years, that much I do know. It is not accessible from inside the store, and is gutted internally, I believe. Still looks cool though, and it got me in the store to buy an icecream.

With respect to the H-21 on Elmendorf, I honestly can't remember where I saw it, but I am sure it's there. I remember reading about it before I went too. I didn't photograph it... didn't want to jeopardize my F-15 ride at the time, as you can imagine!

There are several other aircraft around the P-38G on display at Elmendorf, including an F-102, T-33, F-89, F-4, F-15 and a C-130.

One other thing, there was a disassembled former Mexican Air Force T-28 at the Brooks Fuels facility (owners of the Carvair) at Fairbanks.







Also, if you want more information on the stuff at Wasilla, you can find some recent images on Airliners at this address...

http://www.airliners.net/search/photo.search?placesearch=Off-Airport%20-%20Wasilla&distinct_entry=true

Oh... and don't forget the Lady of the Lake... B-29 in the lake at Eielson AFB.



pretty cool place to visit!

Cheers. Richard

[mrhenniger]

Hey Mike. I looked up the address, it's on Hoselton Rd.

Based on your description, my map link is close.

With respect to the H-21 on Elmendorf, I honestly can't remember where I saw it, but I am sure it's there.

I haved included it as Site C without a map link. Maybe someone else will have seen it.

[quote="RMAllnutt”]I remember reading about it before I went too. I didn't photograph it... didn't want to jeopardize my F-15 ride at the time, as you can imagine![/quote]

No kidding!

[quote="RMAllnutt”]One other thing, there was a disassembled former Mexican Air Force T-28 at the Brooks Fuels facility (owners of the Carvair) at Fairbanks.[/quote]

I already added an entry for that one. I think I have the correct location for the map link.

[quote="RMAllnutt”]Oh... and don't forget the Lady of the Lake... B-29 in the lake at Eielson AFB.[/quote]

I did forget about that one. I have been trying to find the “lake”. Googling indicates the lake was a gravel pit off “Transmitter Site Road”. I am not having much luck finding it. I take it you were there. Is it accessible to the public? Any cluses as to the location?

Mike

[a26invader]

The museum at Wasila is at

lat=61.5773548552, lon=-149.544418659

Two C-47s + C-123 are all part of the museum collection. They wont fly anywhere soon...


Can't see the DC-6 rooftop either, but the address should be on Airport Road... must be near Pikes Landing RD.

[RMAllnutt]

Hey Mike... re. Lady of the Lake, yes, it is on base, but the base public affairs officer told me that they run tours to it most fridays iirc. You would have to call well in advance I should think, but they didn't have much trouble taking me there.

You take an almost immediate left once you enter the main base entrance, and follow that road for some ways. It's off that road. You should be able to see it faintly in the lake in this link...

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Fairbanks,+AK&ie=UTF8&z=17&ll=64.702911,-147.127522&spn=0.002072,0.01075&t=h&om=1&iwloc=addr

Cheers. Richard

PS. If you look towards the end of one of Eielson's runways you can actually see a C-130 on a low pass.... pretty cool!

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Fairbanks,+AK&ie=UTF8&t=h&om=1&z=17&ll=64.643696,-147.082375&spn=0.00198,0.010085&iwloc=addr

Last edited by RMAllnutt on Wed Jan 10, 2007 10:59 am, edited 1 time in total.

[mrhenniger]

The museum at Wasila is at

lat=61.5773548552, lon=-149.544418659

Thank-you sir!

Hey Mike... re. Lady of the Lake, yes, it is on base, but the base public affairs officer told me that they run tours to it most fridays iirc. You would have to call well in advance I should think, but they didn't have much trouble taking me there.

That Google link put me right on it. There are quite a few ponds around there. Thanks!


The changes have been uploaded.

Mike

[RareBear]

The C-130 is on short final to RWY 31. The aircraft and its shadow are right next to each other it's so low.

Walt

[RMAllnutt]

You're absolutely right Rarebear... I had got in so close that I didn't see the relationship. Should have guessed though. Incidentally, I have updated the link so that it goes right to the C-130 now.

On another note, there seem to be a bunch of F-18 Hornets on the ramp... I wonder if these are Canadian ones? I saw a squadron of them when I was there last August.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Fairbanks,+AK&ie=UTF8&t=h&om=1&z=17&ll=64.676179,-147.10393&spn=0.001978,0.010085

Also, if you look here you can see that one of the KC-135's has just taxied in, because you can see a ghost of its image to the rear. I guess this must mark a join between successive photographs to make this aerial map. Pretty cool when you think of it.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Fairbanks,+AK&ie=UTF8&t=h&om=1&z=17&ll=64.66688,-147.095615&spn=0.001979,0.010085&iwloc=addr

Cheers. Richard