32 SL-O Medicine Bow DOCILF

Drone Photos

Click on small photo to see large version

Contributors Photos

Courtesy of Greg Cobia and Kaarin Engelmann August 11, 2018

Click on small photo to see large version

Location / Airway

Location / Name

WYOMING: Carbon County

Commonly called Medicine Bow Airport
AKA 32 SL-O Medicine Bow DOCILF, Department of Commerce Intermediate Landing Field, site no. 32 on the Salt Lake-Omaha airway

GPS: 41.887107, -106.189908

Transcontinental Airway

Route established September 8, 1920

Pilots Log February 21, 1921 between Rock River and Walcott.

CHE + 60. Rock River Wyo. — On the Union Pacific, 20 miles north of the course. The double-tracked Union Pacific passes through 2 miles of snow sheds at this point.

CHE + 80. Elk Mountain Wyo. — To the north of the Medicine Bow Range, a black and white range of mountains, the black parts of which are forests and the white snow-covered rocks. Elk Mountain is 12,500 feet high. Fly to the north of this conspicuous mountain over high, rough country. The Union Pacific tracks will be seen about 15 miles to the north gradually converging with the course.

CHE + 114. Walcott. — Cross the S. & E. Railroad 2 miles south of Walcott. The S. & E. joins the Union Pacific at this point

Night Airmail

Flights started on July 1, 1924

Contract Air Mail

CAM #18 San Francisco CA-Chicago IL
Salt Lake City-Omaha Airway
Medicine Bow-Sidney Section

Operator

Boeing Air Transport awarded CAM #18 on January 28, 1927
Route established July 1, 1927

Observations and Notes

The Medicine Bow Arrow is located in a small airport approximately ½ mile off of Hwy 30 in the town of Medicine Bow, Wyoming.  The road to the airport is a county maintained dirt road.  We were able to drive right to the arrow.  This arrow was the most unique of our trip because in addition to the arrow (which was complete), it still had the original beacon tower (and beacon) & original generator shed.  I found this amazing due to the harsh weather conditions that exist here during the winter.

The arrow is in good condition with only a few minor cracks.  The tower & beacon are also in fairly good condition, the glass has been broken out of the beacon.  The generator shed is weathered and has been vandalized, but still retains some of its original paint.  The arrow is only 47 feet in length.

This arrow is located at an airport making the use of a drone within 5 miles of it or any airport prohibited under Federal regulations without an FAA certification. Brian recieved his FAA Certified Drone Pilots License in December 2017, so we were able to take drone photos here on June 26, 2018 during Arrow Quest 2018 .

The pilot would approach the tail of the arrow on a compass heading of 83° (basically East), and then exit the arrow on a compass heading of 138° (S-SE).

Links

MEDICINE BOW-NOW AND THEN

Radio Range Beacon Service

On February 12, 1931, the Department of Commerce radio range beacon at Medicine Bow, Wyo., was placed in continuous service operation, completing the directional radio marking of the entire route from San Francisco to New York.

National Register of Historic Places Application

This application has some wonderful old pictures of the airfield, buildings, arrow, and beacon.  This is definately worth the long down load time.

Medicine Bow Airport

Magazine article about growing up at Medicine Bow Airport, has photos from the 1930's

"Good Medicine For the Bow: A History of Medicine Bow, Wyoming", By Marvin Cronberg (page 210), FriesenPress, Feb 20, 2018

Edwin Cruickshank, was the airway keeper at Medicine Bow until 1935. The houses were auctioned off and moved and the radio equipment sent to other locations.

W. C. West purchased on of the houses and moved it to 306 Oak St. He modified the building by adding a sun porch to the front.

Make a comment on our Facebook Page "Arrows Across America" about this arrow.