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white whale
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Registered: 12-15-2015
Location: canada
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What a great thread for a covid sidetrack. Sorry can't contribute but thanks to those that did .... an even more from ESG !, the guy just never quits
with Baja history.
There must be lots of emergency landing strips all along Baja.
This ain't no party, this ain't no disco, this ain't no foolin' around Life During Wartime
- Talking Heads '79
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David K
Honored Nomad
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Mood: Have Baja Fever
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There were over 200 landing strips in Baja at one time. Then, the drug runners ruined things for private pilots as the Mexican army ditched most of
the remote strips and demanded places with the rest to pay up to keep open.
Have you seen the old Erle Stanley Gardner Baja trip photos at www.vivabaja.com/choralpepper ?
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AKgringo
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Location: Anchorage, AK (no mas!)
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I understand that many of those "emergency" landing strips were closed by digging a trench across them!
If you are not living on the edge, you are taking up too much space!
"Could do better if he tried!" Report card comments from most of my grade school teachers. Sadly, still true!
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PaulW
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Yes these landing strips are everywhere. Some near the ranches, farms, emergency, and mines and some way out in the boondocks where it is very
suspicious as to the purpose.
The strips also were used for mineral exploration as the are found in various places with no road access.
Never found one that did not have either trenches dug across them of lots of rocks piled to make it difficult for a typical light plane. Either way
many of them are on our driving paths we like to use.
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white whale
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DK , no wonder you get the "honored" title. Wow great photos.
Airstrips - yes assumed must be some drug strips mixed in, 200 is crazy. Side tangent, Is the drug business in Baja a shadow of its former self, if
there was one? A side benefit perhaps of the US/Can decriminalize/legalize efforts in the last few years. The mainland, yes that never ending
bloodshed will be there until there's no money left to be made.
Choral Pepper - I like her just from her name! A great historical record of the region. The bonus of having a helicopter. You think back in the day
the border only applied to cars and foot traffic - no paperwork required ! Never knew about La Bufadora. Shot of old tech desalination works , now i
have to figure how that might work.
Great post.
This ain't no party, this ain't no disco, this ain't no foolin' around Life During Wartime
- Talking Heads '79
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white whale
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Registered: 12-15-2015
Location: canada
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my contribution via Davids photo link. Learned some more tricks from google earth as well so the entire thread is in bonus territory. ESG had enough
pull to hire out the Goodyear Blimp - even back in '67 what a slight that must have been for those on the ground.
This ain't no party, this ain't no disco, this ain't no foolin' around Life During Wartime
- Talking Heads '79
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David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 64864
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
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Mood: Have Baja Fever
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The blimp ride was featured in the book, 'Mexico's Magic Square' by Erle Stanley Gardner (1968). Choral Pepper (editor of Desert Magazine) was invited
to be on the historic flight (first blimp in Baja).
[Edited on 7-29-2022 by David K]
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David K
Honored Nomad
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Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
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Since this thread was posted, I have obtained many photos taken by Erle Stanley Gardner, thanks to the Temecula Valley Museum. Included in them a re
many showing plane wrecks in Baja: https://vivabaja.com/esg/
Here's one:
[Edited on 7-29-2022 by David K]
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vacaenbaja
Senior Nomad
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I remember in the mid seventies when I started driving down Baja
the roadside was filled with wrecks of rusted old cars. Everything
from model T's to the latest vintage victims. If they were at the side
of the road or over the side there they stayed for years. Same with
light airplanes. I remember one or two but cannot recall where they
were along the road that had made a hard landing and stayed there
for a number of years. They were sort of a land mark for me. No one
ever moved them. However there was a point in time where some
of the more accessible plane wreaks visible from the road began to
get removed. Maybe someone thought that there was money in the
scrap?
Also all the older roadside wrecks disappeared especially the ones on
the outskirts of La Paz. Within more time even the seemingly very
unrecoverable cars that would fall off those curvy mountain roads down
into a gulch 200 ft or so were removed. Nowadays every town
seems to have a "Yonke" or two.
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Stickers
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Registered: 4-12-2006
Location: SoCal
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Recent airplane wreck
I was watching a YouTube of a plane landing at Hotel Serenaded Mulege and noticed as it was touching down a wrecked Cirrus off to the side in the
bushes! Cirrus are very expensive planes so I assume it was trucked out of there and salvaged.
I took this screenshot as the landing plane passed the wrecked plane.
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