wendover airfiled and wandering.

[jmaxj]

This isn't gonna be much of a report but there's pics


to starting it off at saturday morning in wendover at the historic ww2 airfield. i had no idea that was so significant or had so much in helping end ww2. it was definitely a great experience. too bad they rarely do those tours or i'd go back for another one soon.

the pics are in no particular order.

officers building

mess hall

barracks

a hallway in the hospital

the super secret bomb sights were kept in here

the safes they were kept in

our group

the bombs were assembled in that fenced area.

rocket boosters

if that GMC could talk! it served the US during WW2 then got sold to the Norwegians for awhile then got bought back and returned to the US. all the plaques and stickers in the interior were not in american, it was pretty cool.

more to come....

 

[jmaxj]

heading to the bomb storage

there was an abundance of these on the base.

perfect example of the governments love for wasting money.

our old iron transportation for the day

the hole everyone is looking down was what they used to load the bombs into the aircraft.

enola gay hanger

one of the first british jet trainers

not one tire stored on that base(that i found at least) was newer than '47

even had a few stacks of brand new never ran viking tires from 1945-47 from norway.

looking south towards the runways from the tower.


still more........

 

[jmaxj]

east across whats left of the base

and of course gotta have the plane from one of my favorite movies

once that was done a couple of us headed through gold hill to the deep creeks for the night.

mercantile building in gold hill

headed down the pony express.

home for the night

seems that the church was right, and since it was a sunday we went left

heading down the weiss highway

taking pictures like this at 60mph on a dirt rd seemed to be a challenge

a forest in the desert

super secret hidden oasis

after looping around cherry creek and past vernon i decided to head to tooele and take butterfield cyn home.(it still sucks)

it was a great couple days, learned alot and seen something i never have and possibly never will again.

here's the links to the full albums.

 

[DrMoab]

I've heard rumors that they are trying hard to find funding to rebuild and restore the big hangar.

There are a few groups that really want it turned into a nice museum.

 

[jmaxj]

ya they are, 80% of what has been and is being restored right now is by private funding so far. they are looking for bigger contributors for it, they have really good plans for it also.

i know if a had a million dollar business i would definitely invest in it, especially after learning more what it actually was.

 

[Voteban]

Wow, I've always loved Airplanes, old stuff, and museums, I would love to go on that tour.

My grandpa used to take me to the Hill AFB all the time and tell me about everything, he was a pilot (not in the war or anything, just recreational) and I'm sure he would have loved to do this too. I'll try to go some day..

 

[jmaxj]

well the actual tour is rare, but you can wander around a small portion of the base and see the museum.

 

[Tom95YJ]

well the actual tour is rare, but you can wander around a small portion of the base and see the museum.

I'd love to find out when the next tour is, I enjoy those kinda things !

But I usually tour Civil war forts and battlefields.

 

[xjblue]

Nice report Derek, that tour was awesome. Some day we might have to see about setting one up for the club.

Another option, they will do limited tours during the airshow. Sept 22 this year.
http://www.wendoverairbase.com/airshow
I believe they show you at least some of the stuff on the ramp side of the active runways, the bombsite building, Enola Gay hanger, possibly the loading pit? and usually have the officers hall open IIRC.

It is a good time to go out and support the foundations efforts and see some cool historic aircraft and still see part of the base you won't be able to just by dropping in. This year there will be no jet teams but they are trying for more WWII aircraft it sounds like, and will still have the usual local T-33 or two. I like the more intimate feel of smaller airshows personally.

 

[jmaxj]

ya i was thinking about that jared. i got the guys contact info so maybe towards the fall we can do something like that.


thanks for the info on the airshow, i'm going to try and make it out this yr.