Concrete Airmail Arrows: Accessing the Bay Area’s Unique ‘Double Arrow’ Set | Hacker News Reader

Concrete Airmail Arrows: Accessing the Bay Area’s Unique ‘Double Arrow’ Set

99percentinvisible.org

103 pointsIntronExon17 comments

Shame these are unmaintained as a historic landmark. I bet it would completely change how kids see the world to understand that people used to rely only on visual clues to navigate not too long ago.

It’s one thing to read about it in a textbook, it’s another to be able to see and touch it.

The key to Superman's arctic Fortress of Solitude is disguised as a yellow aviation arrow.

So, yeah. One of these.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fortress_of_Solitude

Holy aviation arrows, Batman, you are right!

You know, your comment was a good lesson for me. At first glance I thought to myself, "This is pretty weird and how can it possibly be true? I'd better downvote the comment right now!"

Fortunately, I came to my senses and actually clicked the link, and sure enough, Superman's key to the Fortress really was a yellow aviation arrow (or disguised as one).

I think you have taught me to not jump to conclusions quite so fast. Thank you for making this interesting connection!

To me they look smaller than I imagined. Undoubtedly they were set away from built up areas but have since been encroached on.

I guess they also flew much lower than planes do now, even if towers served as indicators for the arrows.

From Wikipedia: "Many arrow markings were removed during World War II, to prevent aiding enemy bombers in navigation, while 19 updated beacons still remain in service in Montana."

You can browse photos and Google maps here:

http://www.dreamsmithphotos.com/arrow/contrib_photo.html

Doesn't look like there are any towers that have survived or been preserved, unfortunately. Noted in the article that they were dismantled in WWII for steel.

I was looking for towers to learn if they lighted the arrows at night, in addition to the beacon. Just curious.

In my area (the southwest), it's not unusual for modern municipal airports to have their standard airport beacon mounted on a tower that was originally installed for an airmail route beacon. Sometimes the tower has been moved, but sometimes it sits on the original base, usually sans arrow as it seems that intermediate fields (which were often later turned into municipal airports) didn't always have an arrow installed. My old home of Socorro, N.M. has such an example, and although I have not been able to properly confirm this it appears that the airport beacon there is actually the original airmail route beacon with lenses and electrics replaced. It nicely matches the drawings I've seen of the beacon lights. Many, even most, of the municipal airports in the southwest date back to CAA intermediary fields often placed along beaconed air routes, so keep an eye out in AZ, NM, TX. I'd guess this is true of other fairly rural states as well.

In Grants, N.M. there is a particularly interesting example at the municipal airport. There, there's a fully intact and nicely painted generator hut and beacon tower. It's been restored and is now operated by a historic society. Unfortunately, it had to be moved from its original location on a nearby hilltop into town because the actual beacon once located at the present site of Grants airport was removed many years ago. Still, one of very few I know of that is being preserved as a museum piece.

To my knowledge the arrows were not lit. In many places there are beacons without arrows, my understanding is that this was done because, at night, the next beacon was supposed to be visible by the time you flew over the previous beacon so that you knew which direction to head. During the day the arrows could be placed less frequently, generally only at turns, since pilots could see the direction and the towers in between would serve as confidence markers that they were on course.

Wow. I almost learned to fly at KONM ... didn't know that the beacon was originally an airmail tower. I will ask my (former) neighbor and original of the current Socorro Civil Air Patrol wing. Thanks for posting this!

Found one near where I grew up. It was on a airmail route run by Pitcairn Aviation between Atlanta and New York City. Pitcairn was sold to a firm that became Eastern Air Transport, which eventually became Eastern Airlines.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitcairn_Mailwing

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Air_Lines

From airmail to email, the bay area has a rich communications history.

From the Wikipedia page on Airmail: "Starting in 1903 the introduction of the airplane generated immediate interest in using them for mail transport. An unofficial airmail flight was conducted by Fred Wiseman, who carried three letters between Petaluma and Santa Rosa, California, on February 17, 1911.[5]

The world's first official airmail flight came the next day, at a large exhibition in the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh, British India."

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airmail

San Francisco's position at almost the most extreme west point of the country has given it a lot of interesting distinctions in aviation history. Crissy Field, now a rather pleasant park just off the Presidio, was once an army airfield and the ending point of the first transcontinental flight completed in one day, dawn to dusk. There's a small plaque there commemorating the event. For many ears in the early 20th century it was a stopping point for air mail flights. A few of the buildings along there, now under NPS management, are old hangers from its previous use. Treasure Island also used to be a major seaplane airport, even after aviation use of the island itself ended (it had once been slated for the location of San Francisco International Airport, as a bit of trivia).

Most extreme west point is actually in Washington state (Cape Alava).

Also the first trans-continental railroad originated in the area.

A hundred years later the railroad tracks served as ideal right-of-ways to lay fiber-optic cable to create the modern internet.

A have a slightly fizzy memory of finding a recently installed run of fiber optic cable along the old transcontinental route. I think near the Chinese Wall.

Trains are actually an excellent platform for all the equipment necessary to run fiber. They can have not only the heavy trenching equipment, but the endless spools of fiber on hand as well.

They literally drop a plow into the ground and lay the fiber in the resulting trench, then just drive the train forward to lay more cable. Very efficient if the route's planned out in advance.

Some interesting examples: https://www.quora.com/How-does-a-fiber-optic-cable-laying-ma...

Reminds me of this beast

http://industrialscenery.blogspot.com/2017/11/mow-jordan-spr...

Hmm, with the TSA baggage check that probably took longer than riding a horse between the two towns.

'Arrows on the ground to guide aeroplane pilots.' might be a better title.

The arrows are concrete, though they were built in 1920s with metal too.

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