My first post! Personal aerial pic of groom and papoose...

reply to post by Imtor


It was probably 2003 in that image and I didn't have a digital camera at the time. I had a disposable camera with me. They don't like you taking pictures flying out of edwards so I had to hide it anyway. I'm going to get a scanner pretty soon and see if that helps but it's not a digital picture. Just a disposable 35mm camera.

reply to post by boomer135


I ran into a photographer that had worked for NASA. He said he had an incident at EDW where he angled his camera a bit too far and security was on top of him immediately. Given the nature of EDW, it must be a tricky place to enforce OPSEC. They do partition the facilities a bit, with I believe "south base" being the spookier area. That was where the directed energy tests were done. And of course there is "north base" where they run Groom Lake.

Any photography that is not on the net is always worth a look. You never know what someone captured until fresh eyes look at the image.

Flying by Papoose and seeing nothing merely confirms what everyone that has viewed the area direct has reported. There is the delusional Google Earth crowd that sees a tunnel under every rock, but there is nothing like seeing something with your own eye. Google Earth has compression and other artifacts. It is useful to find areas to explore, but you can't depend on Google Earth as the sole source.

I shot this from near Bonanza Peak. I only had a 400mm lens with me, but did look through binocs as well. There is nothing at the alleged S-4 site. Anyone who says otherwise simply never looked for themselves or took one too many bong hits.


I'm going to haul the telescope to the peak someday. It's a wicked climb with a full pack The only good news is it has a real trail with countless switchbacks so the hike isn't all that steep nor dangerous (other than potential altitude issues). Often there are patches of snow when hiking the mountains west of the NTTR until late May.

The trail to the actual peak is a bit tricky from what I read. I took the shots from near the peak because I figured by the time I find the offshoot to get to the actual peak, the thermal distortion would ruin the shots.

Great post Boomer! Don't mind some of the people complaining about the quality.. Last time I checked, those folks haven't ever produced any media or interesting objects, themselves.. Just a bunch of links to others' work. Yours is not only your own, but you have the stories AND professional experience to back it all up

Out of curiosity, without over-divulging specifics, but in your past trips in and around that area of interest.. Have you seen anything that could possibly explain these giant triangular silent aircraft, that have been reported all over the place? (often referred to by tin-foil hat enthusiasts as the 'TR-3B')

Just a simple yes or no, would be bueno haha, that was the very first thing that popped in my head, to ask.. So there it was

I also want to give you a big hat-tip and say thank you for serving our country proudly and having devoted years of service to keeping our country safe and free.

reply to post by weavty1


Just a FYI, Travis AFB does the refueling for Groom Lake tests. based on observation. The tanker leaves Travis on moonless nights. Callsign Sierra99. If you have a copy of Trevor Paglen's "I could tell you but then you would have to be destroyed by me", their patch is on page 28.

From my observation, they use a KC-10, though the book says both the KC-10 and KC-135 are used for refueling test articles.

Regarding the TR3B, the story has morphed on the internet beyond all recognition. It wasn't associated with large flying triangles when it first started.

I suspect many large flying triangle sightings are merely UAVs flying in formation. I've witnessed this myself, though not in a triangular formation. They fly with an almost mechanical separation between aircraft due to computer control.

reply to post by gariac


I would have to say that all my tdy's to Edwards in support of the f-22 and other aircraft I've never seen a kc-10 in the air or on the ramp. Never even heard them on the radio so that's pretty cool. Learn something new everyday.


As for the triangles, no. Never seen any of those out there...

reply to post by boomer135


Sierra99 seems to be used in daylight too; it was the callsign of the KC-10 that we videod refuelling an F-117A in October 2010.

From memory, I think it only used this callsign when on task in the range, changing to something more dull when transiting to/from Travis. gariac probably can confirm. It would be more fun to use Sierra99 for the transit too, as it would boost the listening figures for the LA Center freqs on liveatc.net......mind you, if the callsign allocation department for Groom/NTTR tasks is reading this, they're presumably changing the standard callsign for spooky tanker tasks as I type.

reply to post by boomer135

Thanks for sharing this Boomer, nice to see a picture that we know is genuine. I don’t like how everything is digital now, it just makes photographs easier to manipulate. Heck, you can even get Photoshop for iPhone and do it on the go now!

I personally haven’t heard much about this Papoose Lake, is this another Bob Lazar story with a cult/following?

S+F

I've seen aerial refueling on the range, at least up close, twice. Once was when I camped at the Cedar Pipeline Ranch. It wasn't my idea since the place gets a lot of road traffic to the TTR (Cedar Gate is open 24 hours a day). In fact, I thought it was going to be a waste of time. However I was proven wrong when I KC10 was refueling a B2 at stupid O clock in the morning. In fact, the ranch was the turning point in the operation. Apparently there is a very low altitude refueling track running from the Cedar Pipeline Ranch to some point to the south. The other refueling I saw was from Tikaboo. They refueled a F16 a bit south of the base. I didn't have a camera lens on me since I figured nothing would be close enough to shoot. Now I make it a point to bring a lens as well as the telescope.

There is a refueling track for the TTR running roughly from the base to a point east of the base. I didn't see this, but someone else caught it. They called it the Monitor Valley track on the radio.

NTTR offcial refueling tracks at this link. I'll invite our boom operator to comment on the text for accuracy.
www.lazygranch.com...

reply to post by spongthrush


Sierra99 I assume is a callsign for a mission. It could be for the pilot, but I don't think there is only one pilot chosen for Groom tanking. Who knows...

Checking my records, the following tankers have been Sierra99: All are KC-10A assigned to Travis.
87-0117
87-0123
86-0034
84-0185
86-0029

reply to post by gariac


I'm checking on some stuff about that and see if maybe i can draw a map of the refueling tracks we used in the test range. I'm currently looking through all my pictures right now to see what I have...get back to ya!

you guys will love this. I found a bunch of digital refueling pics...some of the F-22, some of the grey F-117's, F-16's with secret radar pods, and a pic of the thunderbirds. Should I start a new thread or just post them here???

New Thread! I cant wait to see them, I actaully find myself looking at your profile now seeing if you have any new posts cause I'm very intrigued on some of your experiences.

my new picture thread.....enjoy!

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Nice pic.

Flying over there at groom an papoose lake, have you ever seen any potential evidence of Sector 2 and Sector Four?

reply to post by tino96


I've never seen anything at papoose that would leave me to believe there's hanger doors or anything.

Originally posted by gariac
reply to post by boomer135

 

Flying by Papoose and seeing nothing merely confirms what everyone that has viewed the area direct has reported. There is the delusional Google Earth crowd that sees a tunnel under every rock, but there is nothing like seeing something with your own eye. Google Earth has compression and other artifacts. It is useful to find areas to explore, but you can't depend on Google Earth as the sole source.

I shot this from near Bonanza Peak. I only had a 400mm lens with me, but did look through binocs as well. There is nothing at the alleged S-4 site. Anyone who says otherwise simply never looked for themselves or took one too many bong hits.

Looks like you got lost somewhere around Albuquerque because that's not Papoose lake. Even if it was, certainly the S4 'tongue' area of the lake is not visible from your vantage point. No wonder you saw no activity.

Originally posted by HumanOnEarth
Looks like you got lost somewhere around Albuquerque because that's not Papoose lake.

This is a guy that works/worked refueling in the boom pod of a KC-135. They fly a set refueling track. They do NOT get lost.

Even if it was, certainly the S4 'tongue' area of the lake is not visible from your vantage point. No wonder you saw no activity.

No activity because there is nothing there. Not even a road. That's because S4 doesn't exist. At least not at Papoose dry lake.

reply to post by FosterVS


Actually, that was Gariac, who has taken a lot of pictures and followed a lot of the activity at Groom and other areas.

reply to post by HumanOnEarth

Looks like you got lost somewhere around Albuquerque because that's not Papoose lake. Even if it was, certainly the S4 'tongue' area of the lake is not visible from your vantage point. No wonder you saw no activity.

I guess you have never been to Nevada, or anywhere near the NTTR.

Here is a shot of Bald Mountain from the same location:



Kind of tough to shoot Bald Mountain from New Mexico, don't you think?

Here is a panorama of 50mm shots:




Here is a black and white shoot of Papoose Dry Lake:



Here it is zoomed in:



Again, from a person that has actually climbed the mountain and looked for himself, there is nothing at Pappose Dry Lake.

Or you can trust some guy that thinks I was in New Mexico.

Originally posted by Zaphod58
reply to post by FosterVS

 

Actually, that was Gariac, who has taken a lot of pictures and followed a lot of the activity at Groom and other areas.

Oh, I know gariac
I should have read a little closer, thought that was boomer135 posted that.