Flying to the Walt Ray Memorial
Did you fly somewhere cool, take photos, and feel like telling the tale to make us drool from the confines of our offices? Post them up!
Last month, a trip report about my trek to the Walt Ray Memorial in the mountains of eastern Nevada was published on PhotoRecon.net. This was one of the most exciting backcountry trips I've ever done, so I thought I'd share some of the details and new information about it here, in case anyone else might have an interest in visiting. For those who don't know, Walt was a CIA pilot involved with testing the secret Lockheed A-12 aircraft, the follow-on project to the U-2 and the forerunner to the Air Force SR-71 Blackbird. He was tragically lost in an accident on January 5, 1967. For many years, all details of the crash and its location were protected by CIA. Mainly through FOIA requests and hard work on the ground, aviation enthusiasts and warbird wreck hunters eventually located not only the crash site but the place where Walt came down after his ejection as well. They've put up an informal memorial to him there which consists of a model of his plane mounted on a pole at the base of the mountain and a plaque. It's really a great location for camping and hiking along ridgelines, except that it's become very difficult to get to. One used to be able to drive most of the way in with a good 4x4, but flooding and washouts have now removed this possibility. Hiking in is absolutely not safe due to the distance involved, so the available options have pretty much been reduced to horseback or helicopter EXCEPT that I have now located an area nearby that might accommodate a safe landing by a STOL aircraft flown by a capable pilot. It's basically a 900' - 1,000' section of backcountry road on BLM land. Landing here would put you less than two miles from the memorial site and leave you with a pretty straightforward hike. I'm going to check it out in detail during my next trip which should happen this fall. In the meantime, any potentially interested parties might want to start doing your research and planning. To get started, here's my story: http://photorecon.net/my-trip-to-the-walt-ray-memorial/. I've added an album of photos to this site, plus these here...
A 50-year-old campfire left by the USAF recovery crew. There's still an old C Ration can in there...
The Air Force recovery crew out of Nellis AFB cut down all the trees on this little saddle using det cord explosive to make this clearing for the Huey helicopters operating out of Mesquite. The recovery operation used the code name Law Code, so we call this spot "LZ Law Code". As far as we know, there have been no other helos up here since 1967...
Last edited by
Area51Flyer on Wed Aug 09, 2017 7:01 pm, edited 4 times in total.
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Area51Flyer offline
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I finally got the GoPro video edit finished. Still haven't any news on the area's fixed-wing airstrip possibilities. Please be patient and stay tuned for that...
Last edited by
Area51Flyer on Wed Aug 09, 2017 3:53 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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Area51Flyer offline
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Have to admit, I'm pretty jealous of the R44 flying. Cool.
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Zzz offline
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Half a century spent proving “it is better to be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.”
Amazing story. Thanks for posting it.
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PapernScissors offline
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That's interesting that you bring up the German tourists! That's Tom Mahood you are referring to - the very same guy who spent the better part of a decade searching for this very plane and was the first civilian to find it!
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Area51Flyer offline
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That would be this story:
http://www.otherhand.org/home-page/area ... t-for-928/I originally read the german tourist story a few years ago and was struck by the amount of planning just to get back to some places in Death Valley (hikes for the sole purpose of stashing water for example).
Man, some of those temperatures! 124 in the daytime with a low of 91?!?
I'm not built for that kind of weather.
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aftCG offline
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