White Sands Missile Base -
Saw it mentioned here recently. Who's been there and when? 66-69' for me.
Watching Dad, blow stuff up.
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I was there in 1977 as a Project Engineer for the Defense Electronics Company that I worked for. We were taking an Army Artillery Control system, that we designed and built, through Hardware and Software testing before it could be classified as Ready for Production. 0 -
Nike, Chaparell (sp?) As well as all the new shoulder fired weapons coming on line. I wanted to go in for Armor/Tanks. My Dad talked me out of it.
"You are not going to hide behind a tree in a tank, Son."
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headed there in December for an oryx hunt 3 -
Lots of good times there.
Surfing the dunes on waxed cardboard Etc. The half round corrugated metal desert in White Sands National Park, family enclaves with BBQ pits. Etc.
The Missile Forest. (Forget what it was called.) Sorry.
Fond memories.
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Old-Colts said:I was there in 1977 as a Project Engineer for the Defense Electronics Company that I worked for. We were taking an Army Artillery Control system, that we designed and built, through Hardware and Software testing before it could be classified as Ready for Production.
My son is a prototype engineer for the Army DOD at Redstone Arsenal at Huntsville, Al. Last November he and a crew took a Prototype missile control system to White Sands for testing before turning it over to a contractor. They fabricated it in their Huntsville shop out of a one forth of a Conex container. The government has lots of money to spend and he helps them well.0 -
I have hunted Oryx there and have been to Trinity Site. 6 -
I started flight testing missiles there in 2012.
It was the ultimate job for any engineer & my run lasted until December 2019.
I loved every visit and every flight test I played a roll in.
I thought my employer was going to make me the site director of our WSMR operations in 2018 but thats not how it played out. I even took my family to Las Cruces and WSMR on a few occasions.
Good people. Great food, and experiences I am immensely proud to have played a part in.
Photos are a no-no in the areas I work but here I am at the petting zoo.
If I am ever given the opportunity to run WSMR I am taking it- there is nothing else like it.
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My only trip to White Sands was a four-ship practice bombing mission during Ground Attack Fighter School back in '70, flying a two-seat F-80. Didn't get to see much. 3 -
You are a lucky man to draw.kumate said:headed there in December for an oryx hunt
This tag is on my list.
Be sure to post pictures after the hunt.
Mule3 -
Trinity test site...
ATEC...
Located in the San Andres Mountains, the Oscura Mountains, the San Augustin Mountains, the Tularosa Basin, and the Chupadera Mesa in New Mexico...
32°20′08″N 106°24′21″W[3] Condron Army Airfield near the southernmost WSMR point
They launched 67 V2 missiles there post war with a bunch of the operation paperclip Nazi's...
We shot one into populated area in Mexico by accident - kept using them till 1951...
In 1970 we lost an Athena V-123D than also dropped in Mexico.
Only used once it contained one of the emergency landing alternate space shuttle sights...
Almost 3200 square miles...
WSMR borders the 600,000-acre (2,400 km2) McGregor Range Complex at Fort Bliss to the south (southeast Tularosa Basin and on Otero Mesa[11]) making them contiguous areas for military testing...
Holloman AFB borders WSMR to the east.
Add it all up and it's bigger than some states and countries.
The White Sands Test Center headquartered at the WSMR "Post Area" has branches for Manned Tactical Systems & Electromagnetic Radiation and conducts missile testing and range recovery operations...
I bet Ken could often be found just inside the "El Paso gate" on the south is outside of the Post Area...
Last home of the convair F106 delta dart - they were converted into test drones but they did pull some out of Davis motham that were near pristine and rumor is they had several back to full operational status for astronauts and vips and special aviators to fly...
- McDonald Ranch House, location of the final assembly of the world's first nuclear weapon
- Kapustin Yar, the Soviet analog of WSMR
- Peenemunde Army Research Center, WWII German rocket center
Comments???
Mike
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Dad was a ABN CSM at Ft. Bliss, when we came back from 6 years in Europe. 3 years at Ider Oberstein (Black Forest) and another 3 years at Strasburg (French Alps) both beautiful places.
El Paso back then was a good place. Mexico was still safe. We would go to Juarez often for meals and sightseeing, wandering the streets usually on Sunday after church.
Still remember the address. We lived at 1440 Backus St. I went to Cielo Vista Elementary.
We would go to White Sands often, as I said before to watch Dad blow stuff up. (He was in the up and coming Missile [ADA] primarily Nike and Hercules at that time and shoulder fired anti-tank field.) Sometimes we would camp in the Park. Brother and i would take big sheets of cardboard, wax the bottom and slid and surf the biggest dunes we could find. I can still see in my minds eye, the unusual metal half shelters (rolled curved top over the picnic tables and grill.)
Good times.
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Not to thread Jack or steal Kens thunder but I thought these links might be appropriate or appreciated so I will throw them up on the board...
Let me know if they are useful or well received or good content.
Ken,
Good clip of "the Division" 🙂 🤔 😷 (last emoji is masked as a precaution) dropping in on white sands (see what I did there???) 😃😅😛
White Sands Missile Range
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEnfv7Y8i3Mhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6aI4fh69rQhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vxl1jdLSrgchttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8Kzi4hTgEEhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4i4JCfhS1Ps
White Sands Missile Range Official Page Published Feb 11, 2015 This is the official Facebook page for White Sands Missile Range, one of the premiere testing ...Enjoy.
Mike
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No "Thread Jack." It's all good Brother. We are all discussing White Sands Missile Base.
Can't get videos to load on my tablet, or i would have watched them by now.
Thanks Mike.
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Sorry - I forget that with my now 4+ year old wonder phone that not everybody can stream YouTube programming care free...
A lucky purchase of a closeout deeply discounted back up phone whose brand I was unfamiliar with - that paid off like a jackpot over the last 3 years...
Or that even those using home console PC's or having their own better newer super phones might not necessarily have that capability.
Some good military history programming that I know you would like if and when you get to view it.
Yes white sands missile test range and it's satellite facilities and military neighbors is a good thread topic and exploring the internet to check some of my facts lead to quite a bit of good content to keep me learning...
I have several hours of stuff / programming bookmarked to watch overnight...
Good stuff and no worries.
Mike
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Your 2 cents and input are always welcomed Mike.
Love you Brother.
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Forgive me for my yankee roots fella's but I had to look up oryx just to see what you were hunting!
Looks like an African beast from pics I googled up!0 -
I went there just about every month to get the Ranger Students and bring them back to GA. At that time the Desert Phase of Ranger School was at Bliss. It started at Bliss then went to Dugway Proving ground then back to Bliss. I was Ranger Instructor then and we would fly out to Bliss restructure the students into Platoon/Company size elements and them we would fly C141's back to Benning and Jump the students in. Then we would spend 24hrs at Benning and then bus them to Camp Merrill in Dahlonega where I was stationed.We would go to Juraez or just party in El Paso. I got drunk one time did a bungee jump from this big crane they had set up at a bar.
It was a good time. I had a good buddy of mine who was the CSM out there and will killed in a HALO accident..................RIP CSM Shockley.
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I always wanted to take an oryx with a Norma oryx cartridge...
I have had oryx done on the grill of charcoal and apple wood - and it was an epic good meal...
Also have always been somewhat amused by the oryx backstory - why we have them and hunt them...
An oryx hunt would definitely be a bucket list item for me / IMHO.
What rifles and cartridges do you gentlemen prefer considering the location - what optics - and what kind of distances are shots being taken at???
What's the weight and size on a good healthy average oryx???
Arabian oryx are the smallest of the 4 antelope varietals - the other 3 being dark continent natives???
Oryx, (genus Oryx), any of three large antelopes (family Bovidae, order Artiodactyla) living in herds on deserts and dry plains of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula
Mike
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Mike I hate to bust yoyr bubble but Oryx hunting on WSMR would be the equivalent of hunting cattle on a dairy farm.
I have personally been there (through the North gate) where a legally blind man was able to kill one. They are so common on the north side of the range it is hard to explain.
My buddy Jerry is a bit of a legend on WSMR as he has hit 4 of them with rental cars.
wasting no time we have determined Jerry is more of a threat to wildlife than enemy missiles.
I will add this, as it is a detail very few would know but ya’ll might enjoy.
the day of a flight test brings us down range very early, typically onto the base between 1 - 3 am to prep for the shot. WSMR etiquette, though an unwritten rule, is engineers wear ties to flight test.
I always loved that part; we were expending 10 or maybe 20 million dollars in a day and it was proper to dress the part.
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????? what was the old spanish treasure supposedly found around there ???? 0 -
https://www.outdoorhub.com/news/2020/02/03/new-mexico-oryx-hunting-bit-africa-nm/mrmike08075 said:I always wanted to take an oryx with a Norma oryx cartridge...
I have had oryx done on the grill of charcoal and apple wood - and it was an epic good meal...
Also have always been somewhat amused by the oryx backstory - why we have them and hunt them...
An oryx hunt would definitely be a bucket list item for me / IMHO.
What rifles and cartridges do you gentlemen prefer considering the location - what optics - and what kind of distances are shots being taken at???
What's the weight and size on a good healthy average oryx???
Arabian oryx are the smallest of the 4 antelope varietals - the other 3 being dark continent natives???
Oryx, (genus Oryx), any of three large antelopes (family Bovidae, order Artiodactyla) living in herds on deserts and dry plains of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula
Mike
Mike and others,
if I ever get drawn, I, in keeping with dreams of the Dark continent, Peter Hathaway Capstick and others, will be using my Sako in .375 H&H topped with a 3x9 Leupold and fed with some hand loads using some discontinued 229 gr Barnes bullets that have worked very well on cow Elk.
Post hunt, being optimistic here of a successful hunt.
Be it Africa or WSMR, I have always said with the beautiful color of the Gemsbok/Oryx,that I would entirely skin the animal and have the complete hide tanned and only the head mounted in the cape, so that I could put the entire tanned cape and head on the wall, would be like a bear rug if you will.
That way the entire hide could be viewed without taking up the space of a full body mount, which one can only see one side at a time anyway.
I would also do my best to cook the majority of the meat over an open fire just because.
Sure it might not be a most technical and challenging of a hunt, but it's one exotic that can be hunted at a pittance of what it would cost to hunt one in its native environment.
Just one mans opinion.
Mule0
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