Concrete Arrows

Thread revival due to the cool factor:

The remains of an airway beacon. North of Grove, Oklahoma at the intersection of SH 10 and E. 223 Rd. Not much to look at now but interesting to think of what once was.

From Wikipedia:

An airway beacon was a rotating light assembly mounted atop a tower. These were once used extensively in the United States for visual navigation by airplane pilots along a specified airway corridor. Approximately 1,500 airway beacons were constructed to guide pilots from city to city, Airway beacons were constructed by the Post Office and the Department of Commerce between 1923 and 1933. The proliferation of two-way radios ended the need for the beacons.







Would've looked something like this:

Lind Washington

I'm glad you bumped this thread. This is where I first read about these concrete arrows. That led me to search a while ago and find one near me here in the hills of PA. It ended up taking a couple of trips to ACTUALLY find an arrow, but I'm happy I put forth the effort. If interested you can read about it in my ride report here.

https://advrider.com/f/threads/sportstour-in-the-alleghenies.1142203/page-10

A 30 year aviation career, and I learn about concrete arrows on a motorcycle forum. Mission for the day:

There's one arrow remaining in Oklahoma but it looks to be inaccessible. It's pretty far away but next time I'm in the area I'll see if I can find an open gate or some way to get in. It's here: 34°25'01", -97°08'59"

Did you ever look for this ?

Don't know if you have these links. Seemed like this might be a good place to store them




https://docs.google.com/document/d/15C0f9i5PsNQE7biizQ_tUz_bJ4EFSUHd9cFFNWkzO6o/edit



https://thesurveystation.com/map-of-ngs-airway-beacons/

I haven't been back to that area yet.

This stuff is interesting. I took the time to create a couple of files, a Google Earth and a Garmin gpx waypoint file (attached).
As well as a few screenshots:


View attachment 2732441 View attachment 2732442 View attachment 2732443 View attachment 2732444 View attachment 2732444 View attachment 2732441 View attachment 2732442 View attachment 2732443 View attachment 2732444

Very interesting. I've never heard or seen one of these but now I must go see for myself.

I looked on google earth and,I don’t see it. I must be blind

Just to the left of the Google location marker, inside the lower right corner of the fence around that antenna farm.

Got it thanks.

Let us know if you go there. I suspect the gate by the highway will be locked but sometimes I have found antenna and windfarm gates to be open.

Sounds like a plan.

I uploaded the GE and pics again, post #30. I think something went amiss before

I had a thread about them here ! https://advrider.com/f/threads/the-forgotten-giant-arrows.935606/

Finding at least one of these arrows is on my to do list now that I'm retired.