Message posted by Peter Merlin (Member since 11/13/2003) on October 17, 2024 at 8:13:47 PST:
I didn't get to see any of the "good stuff" at the 413th; nearly every room was a vault. A special badge was required for entry into the compound, issued at the security checkpoint. I was there for a particular event, and also got to visit the chow hall afterward. I've been in the original hangar that was used for the Bell XP-59. It's the Museum restoration facility, now, and some people claim it's haunted. I occasionally worked with the Emerging Technologies CTF, which shares part of that building. Fun fact: they have the best vault ever; it's got a comfy couch, a record player, and an awesome collection of vintage vinyl. When the 18th Space Surveillance Squadron was at North Base, I got to tour their facility. They were responsible for tracking objects in Earth orbit from satellites and spent rocket stages to tools that were lost by astronauts working on the International Space Station. Everything is catalogued and tracked to ensure there are no collision hazards. At orbital speeds, a small flake of paint once made a substantial divot in the space shuttle's cockpit window; imagine what a stray bolt might do. The hangars that are now missing were used for the U-2 when Detachment G was at Edwards. The last thing I recall seeing in there were the derelict X-34 vehicles. One of the hangars was used for storage by NASA in the 1970s and 1980s. When I was a teenager, my friends and I used to go in there and play in the cockpit of the M2-F1 lifting body experimental aircraft. Good times. The NASA/Caltech Jet Propulsion Laboratory used part of North Base to support the development of small rocket You can also still see the remains of the 2,000-foot rocket-sled track that was modified with a mechanical braking system in 1946 to support high-speed deceleration tests. Between 1947 and 1953, anthropomorphic dummies, chimpanzees, and human volunteers were employed to study the effects of “g” There are a few notable crash sites at North Base including a couple of U-2s and a T-33A that supported the U-2 program at both Groom Lake and Edwards.
engines used for space probes and Mars landers. There are some test stands and bunkers connected by tunnels.
forces on the human body and to develop and test restraining devices and safety equipment. Aeromedical pioneer Dr. John P. Stapp used himself as a test subject on 26 sled runs and on one occasion survived a 48g deceleration. I got to meet Stapp once.
In Reply to: Re: North Edwards posted by noskcaJ on October 16, 2024 at 21:05:31 PST:
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