Chris Dodkin
West Coast Correspondent
Saw this excellent article in the LA times today - an interview with two local aviation buffs who spend their weekends combing the California desserts for military crash sites
1967 crash site shortly after a North American Aviation X-15 rocket plane broke up at 62,000 feet - Photo courtesy of NASA
Pair of 'geeks' sifts through history for aviation ruins - latimes.com
Fascinating stuff - Peter Merlin and Tony Moore comb through historical reports to locate likely crash sites, then head out to the desert to find them, and see what pieces still remain.
"Living this close to Edwards is like an Egyptologist living in Egypt," Merlin said. "It has been called the 'valley of the kings.'"
Must be amazing to actually find evidence of some of these historic aircraft - still out there after all these years.
Crashed NASA X15
X15 Memorial in the desert - Photo courtesy of Google
Once molten Aluminum at a crash site of the YB-49 Flying Wing
YB-49 - precursor to the stealth bombers of today
1967 crash site shortly after a North American Aviation X-15 rocket plane broke up at 62,000 feet - Photo courtesy of NASA
Pair of 'geeks' sifts through history for aviation ruins - latimes.com
Fascinating stuff - Peter Merlin and Tony Moore comb through historical reports to locate likely crash sites, then head out to the desert to find them, and see what pieces still remain.
"Living this close to Edwards is like an Egyptologist living in Egypt," Merlin said. "It has been called the 'valley of the kings.'"
Must be amazing to actually find evidence of some of these historic aircraft - still out there after all these years.
Crashed NASA X15
X15 Memorial in the desert - Photo courtesy of Google
Once molten Aluminum at a crash site of the YB-49 Flying Wing
YB-49 - precursor to the stealth bombers of today
