fholbert
Mod's - Please don't edit my posts!
The C-12's are civilian, the fly most VFR days dropping sterile med flies through out SoCal. I used to know two guys who worked for them.
Strange airport in Az?
- Thread starter Boyington
- Start date
The C-12's are civilian, the fly most VFR days dropping sterile med flies through out SoCal. I used to know two guys who worked for them.
fholbert
Mod's - Please don't edit my posts!
Remember the big crane at Long Beach Navel Shipyard we took from the Germans after WWII? Herman the German still had holes in it from the war.
An icon on the Port of Long Beach's skyline for nearly 50 years was the floating crane YD-171, located at the Long Beach Naval Shipyard. The crane was, of course, much better known by its unofficial nickname, "Herman the German" and it made its home at the Port from 1948 until 1996.
The nearly 375-foot-tall crane came by its "German" moniker honestly; it was one of three giant floating cranes seized by the Allies from the Nazis at the end of World War II. The Russians and British each had sister cranes but were unable to transport them successfully to their home countries.
The Navy carefully dismantled Herman and shipped it to Long Beach via the Panama Canal, reconstructing it in Long Beach at a cost of $350,000 (about $3.2 million today). The crane was erected here in January 1948 and after extensive testing put into operation on New Year's Eve, 1948.
Some interesting facts about YD-171: its hoisting capacity was 386 tons (but tests took that up to 425 tons), it used 11,681 feet of wire rope and its three 900-horsepower diesel engines at full load used 144 gallons of fuel per hour at 100% load.
Herman lifted ships, parts of ships, and even other cranes, but one of its most notable lifting jobs was in the early 1980s, when the crane was used to lift the Spruce Goose in preparation for its move to the dome next to the Queen Mary.
After the closure of the Naval Shipyard in the early 1990s, it was decided that Herman was no longer needed at the Port of Long Beach (its diesel emissions were a concern as well) and the crane was shipped in 1996 to Panama, where it is still in operation at the Canal. No longer "Herman the German," now the crane is "la Titan."
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fholbert
Mod's - Please don't edit my posts!
My Grandfather owned a couple of fishing boats in San Pedro when I was a kid. Bill's Bait Barge? He was Bill.
We lived in Lakewood and crossed Terminal Island all the time. It was a huge Navy Shipyard in those days. Between Long Beach and terminal Island you would cross a floating bridge that bobbed up and down terrifying my mom. The floating bridge was replaced by the bridge seen in the Herman the German picture above,
On the San Pedro side a ferry took you across the channel. Those who know San Pedro recognize this building as today's Harbor Museum. My Grandfather bought the two ferrys and sold them to an outfit in Alaska. Part of the deal was he had to delver the ferrys to Alaska, in the Anchorage area. Off the Alaskan coast he heard talk on the radio about a major earthquake (9.2!). Being an old salt he was smart enough to head for deep water to avoid damage from the tidal wave, today's tsunami.
A Life Aloft
Well-Known Member
She is actually floating, but she is also surrounded by a man made breakwater. She really hasn't been that great of a commercial success in truth and really after her arrival and the initial hubbub, most of the people who go to see her are tourists. They have had so much of the ship closed off during many of her years here, due to not being able to afford the refurbs, even though they did do a major refurb a few years back. The city has tried everything from movie nights, to "ghost" tours, to concert events, to special holiday events, you name it, trying to garner more interest/revenue. They kept raising the ticket prices too, which really have gotten ridiculous and just not worth it..You can still go there just to eat or drink and not have to pay for the "tour" but even that has lost some of it's luster with all the other venues now available in the area like the Aquarium of the Pacific and the whole new Pike area. It's undergone a serious of mismanagement and changes in management too which didn't help. They have tried to make it part museum, a place to have banquets and weddings, part this, part that and nothing has really succeeded all that well. You check out the hotel rooms on board and think, meh, I'll pass. I mean you go there and take the tour once and that's enough. The only thing worth doing there in truth, is the fantastic (and pricey) champagne brunch they have in the main ballroom on Sundays. Still, that's something you would do only a few times a year. Even the museum they kept talking about having there, never really panned out. I always said if that had they turned her into a floating casino/hotel, they would have made out like bandits.
The original hangar for the Goose was bought by a high roller, well known power developer in so. ca., refurbished and made into some offices and some sort of a movie studio that can be leased out to various entities the last I knew.
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FM_Weasel
Well-Known Member
Did the other poster not mean "From POINT A to POINT B?"
Might have missed it but didn't see a response. Total guess, is it because that NAVAID is not part of any airway structure?
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You win the prize!
Yes, IWA VORTAC exists solely to support a couple of instrument approaches to the airport itself, it has no airways running to/from it.....no airway structure, as you mention. Hence, no requirement for a compass rose.
Agreed. Which is funny because as I understand it, while they're not required to be depicted with a compass rose around them, they can have one if they want to. So on the PHX sectional, there is no compass rose around IWA. However, and somewhat a recent change, on the PHX TAC chart, a compass rose was placed around IWA VORTAC, yet there's no airway(s) running to/from it. So it just kind of looks funny......kind of bare.
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fholbert
Mod's - Please don't edit my posts!
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