More than 100 years ago, pilots had to trust a compass and their own bearings to navigate long distances — there was no such thing as GPS. At night or during bad weather, air travel was almost impossible due to poor visibility.
The U.S. Postal Service was severely affected by this, as there would often be large delays in deliveries if flying conditions were not suitable. One of the first attempts at overcoming this dilemma was to light bonfires that would mark routes to various destinations.
Unsurprisingly, this proved to be rather impractical, as a lot of time, effort and money was required each time an aircraft required them. Learning from this, the government then decided on the construction of several large and illuminated concrete arrows along popular aviation routes, which directed pilots to cities in America.
This development was named the Transcontinental Airway System, and it resulted in the construction of 1,500 concrete arrows across the country, outlining 18,000 miles of delivery routes. The arrows were 70 feet long and painted bright yellow to ensure maximum visibility.
At the center of each of them stood a 50-foot tower that illuminated the shapes when all other light was gone. They were around 10 miles apart from one another, and each arrow pointed to the location of the next along the course.
Construction began in 1923 and ended 10 years later, but by the 1940s, the arrows were already becoming obsolete.
That’s because of the radio. It was now the main form of communication, meaning that pilots were no longer alone while flying from one place to another. Radio and radar navigation meant that the Transcontinental Airway System became unnecessary, and eventually the beacons were removed.
Most of the towers were dismantled and recycled to aid the war effort, however a preservation program called Passport in Time was able to save three beacons, where the metal structures and generator huts are still intact.
The arrows, on the other hand, were not removed by the government. They were abandoned, with most of them losing their bright yellow coating of paint and their sharp edges due to yearly winter freezes.
Several of them are still stumbled upon by those trekking the American outback, and various travelers have set out to try and find them all. Some fanatics have even chartered private jets to follow the arrows as far as possible before the trail runs to an end.
Many of them have been removed so that the area they covered could be built upon, but other landowners have decided to keep them as a homage to history.
Thanks to the folks at Chapman-Freeborn for sending this to us.
Thanks to all that commented-great reading. I have flown over much of eastern MT, including from Great Falls to Helena and back and now wish I had known what to look for. Again thanks to all for the comments.
Gary
When I was taking my first lessons in 1963, there was a beacon southeast of Pittsburgh (Allegheny Co Airport) near Mt Pleasant, that I could see at dusk in the practice area. We never went south that far, but I knew from the chart it was light 16B and had course lights. The lights marked the direction to the next beacon. Don’t know if it had an arrow. Actually I never heard of these arrows until now. By the 70’s 16B had been shut down. It was part of the lighted airway system through the mountains. I still have it’s position on an old “Pittsburgh Local Chart”.
There are still Airway Beacons in use in Montana today. I just retired from the State of Montana, Aeronautics Division in May of 2015. Overseeing the maintenance of the last usable Airway Beacon system in the world was both a challenge and a pleasure for me. These beacons are still charted on all FAA Great Falls sectional charts. They basically align along the airways from Bozeman Mt through Helena to Missoula on to Lookout Pass on the Idaho border to the West. There is also a route from Monida Pass on the Southern border North through Dillon on North to Helena then on to Great Falls. It basiclly helps VFR pilots navigate through the mountainous portion of Montana. The Airway Beacon East of Helena was just added to the Historic register which I am hoping all of the system will be added. Sadly there is talk from the state of turning off the system. There is no evidence of concrete arrows around any of these sites. In reality there would be no room on top of a ridge filled with trees to put an arrow. I am sure the concrete arrows were associated with towers in the flat lands of Montana.
Thanks, Mike. If you look at the sectional for SW Montana (see vfrmap.com) you can see the marked lights (indicated by a star) with the morse code identifier next to them. These can be seen along V257, V86, V21, V2 and possibly more. It’s interesting for the rest of us that have never seen these rare symbols on the chart! Hopefully they will keep lighting the way.
Hi John.
All it will take is a little interest and input from pilots. The cost to maintain this system is very low compared to how much it would cost to pay a company to remove the towers from the remote locations they are built on and to reclaim the land back to the condition it was before the towers were built. Also we will never know how many lives these beacons have saved and will save in the future.
Mike
There is a complete airmail beacon, tower, generator shed, and YELLOW arrow at the airport in Newark, Oh. KVTA.
I remember those airway beacons. When I was 5, 6 7 years old I remember seeing one just south of Glens Falls, NY. Then I began flying in 1953. While in the USAF I was on 30 day leave, being transferred from Larson AFB (closed during the mid 1960’s) to Eielson AFB, Alaska. Was going back to spend leave with Mom and Dad in upstate NY, driving a 1941 Ford with my buddy from West Virginia. I remember seeing several of the airway beacons while driving across Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa during night-time.
We have an arrow in Bethany Connecticut we will be uncovering and restoring some time soon. What makes it interesting is that it has a 10 deg bend in it to align with a route between New York and Hartford.
mark—-would like to try to see arrow–is it in an area that is accessible by auto?–thanks ,ct.–lou r. —8/22/15–
The arrows are usually visible on google earth.
Look a bit N/NW of the junction of CA24 and I680 by Walnut Creek CA.
I flew over the two there and photographed it in HD720 video.
A lost hike knows if they follow the arrow their is civilization within a certain distance
One of the towers is currently in use as the airport beacon at KEMP, Emporia, Ks. The tower was relocated to KEMP in the 1940’s from a location nearby and has been in continuous use since then. The original light has recently been replaced, due to lack of repair parts for the rotating mechanism, and should be placed in a museum.
Unbelievable amount of responses to this article! Nostalgia is alive and well in GA. A cross-country flight using these references would be a hoot.
There is an airway beacon on top of Mount Diablo just east of San Francisco that was just restored a couple of years ago. It sits at almost 4000′ elevation, and was visible on a clear night from Bakersfield to Redding. It was last in service on December 8th 1941, and was not used again until 1964. In a ceremony to remember the Pearl Harbor attack, Admiral Chester Nimitz relit the beacon. It has been turned on every December 7th since. If the weather is nice, I will fly up and circle it. More info here….
The original tower and I think the arrow was removed prior to WW2 and the beacon was moved to the existing building.
http://www.savemountdiablo.org/activities_events_beacon.html
I have frame grabbed photos of the two arrows on a hill near Interstate 680 and State highway 24 in California. I’ve been told you can see them using Google Earth. I flew over them with an HD170 video camera mounted on my Lancair Super ES.
Duane, can’t seem to find them. Which way from the intersection. Tx
N by NW about 1 mile from the intersection. Probably more west than north.
https://www.google.com/maps/search/++I680++CAlifornia+24+Walnut+Creek+CA./@37.9025333,-122.0780331,150m/data=!3m1!1e3
Tx
Thanks, got ’em
http://surveymarks.planetzhanna.com/map-of-ngs-airway-beacons/
Not affiliated with this site, but a great resource!
We have a restored tower at Covey Trails Aviation Community (X09), Fulshear, Tx…It is a functioning beacon. When it was initially taken out of service, it was used as the beacon for Andrau Airport, which has been closed for many years.
There is an arrow and light tower set up just like the picture at the airport in Dubois, ID I have been considering Cleaning it up and seeing if it can be registered as a historic structure.
Good idea William. The Dubois beacon site is very complete with arrow and power shed. It appears only the course lights are missing. Another artifact of early air navigation at Dubois is the remains of the four-course, low-frequency radio range, complete with the central transmitter/generator building and all 5 antenna tower bases in the typical 425-foot square. It is at 44° 07.883′ N, 112° 12.829′ W which is 2.64 statute miles SSE (169 degrees True) from the light beacon. When I was at Dubois in 2008, fences, etc. prevented getting to the radio range site. Dubois is fortunate in having well-preserved artifacts of two early air navigation systems. And as at Grants, NM, adjacent to a major Interstate highway!
This airways system was surpassed by the airlines setting up a system to monitor there aircrafts positions not Radar, radar was of post WWII use and even then much later. The airline accident over the grand canyon in the mid 1950’s brought in radar for enroute monitoring by the FAA and the replacement of the old HF 4 course beacons by the Variable Omni Range (VOR) system. When I got in the USAF in 1975 the old 4 course was still in the instrument book but only one section in AZ or NM was still keep up for practice. You also have to remember in the prewar period the 4 course and the ADF/NDB was all there was to find the route and the airports. Want to know more about it read a little Earnst K Gann for fun. Bad engine reliability, unpressurized airplanes so having to fly low in and around the mountains, poor heating and ventilation, and ADF/ 4 course approaches to fairly high minimums, it’s amazing any flight ever made it. Sure glad I did my time in reliable Jets and turboprops (only 3 engine failures in my whole career) that were pressurized to go over the mountains and most of the weather and could do Cat II and III approaches when the weather was bad.
Jeff – the HF 4 course beacons you made reference to were in reality “Low Frequency Ranges” usually depicting four separate courses to and away from the low frequency transmitter. When I began learning to fly in the fifties in Washington State, all of our instrument navigation involved the use of these ranges (including instrument approaches in many locations). We never navigated using “High Frequency Beacons.” We were greatly relieved when the “Victor Omni Range” (VOR)came into being, as it made navigation a walk in the park.
To two previous commenters:
I believe VOR stands for VISUAL Omni Range — relating to the fact that left-right course deviation is shown visually by the course needle on a panel instrument, not as A/N code (or constant tone) in your headset, as was the case in LF Four-Course Ranges.
Just working from memory, but believe yours is wrong on the “V” in VOR.
I am 85 years old my father (STANLEY BEAVER) and grand father (AMOS TEPLE) were care takers there. The one that was located at the numidia airport is long gone. as a young boy, i can remember the arrow. i think the arrow that was 10 miles east of numidia, located on top of ring mountain may still be there. I plan to look for it soon
It wasn’t made of concrete, but there used to be a giant yellow arrow (approx. the same size as the concrete arrows) painted on the granite dome of Stone Mountain, Georgia pointing the way to the Atlanta Airport some 20 miles SW. Since the 1970s I have watched this marker deteriorate; you can still see a few flecks of the paint if you know where to look. It’s kind of on the NW side, maybe 50-75 feet below the peak pointing SW. You have to walk over it to see it, and even then it is hard to see. It gives me goose bumps to find history like this in plain sight…so many tourists walk right by without noticing.
What is the location of the three remaining towers?
Our Aviation Cadet instructor at Bartow FL commented on the morse code (light) at each tower letting the pilot know which 10 mile point he was seeing–10 was W and I recall 20 was N and the 30, V. . The memory “crutch” was an admonition: When Navigating Very Hard Routes Keep Directions By Good Means. Please allow some slippage for 60 years of mental notes).
One of the last “lower 48” lighted airways to be discontinued was across the mountains in southern Pennsylvania and Maryland, basicly from Washington National to the old Pittsburgh airport. I’ve flown it several times, back then, in clear weather, SE Cessna, lining up the code flashers which identified the airway bearing. …Much smoother, later, higher, in the Cessna Twins, flying the VOR/VORTAC tracks and even noting the lonely VAR at Wellington, Ohio.
Harold: One of those airway beacons was about 5 miles north of where I grew up. I would see the white beam rotating every night. The tower was located in a field with high elevation but I don’t remember seeing an arrow with it. On the back side of the rotating beacon there was a mores code identifier in red lights. the tower was located between West Newton and Madison Penna. just off state route 136. Pittsburgh’s old airport was Allegany County which is still there (AGC)
Al, I would like research the West Newton/Madison beacon. This beacon between West Newton and Madison seems to have been a part of the early Pittsburgh – Washington airway. Some time in the mid to late 30’s or early 40’s the airway was realigned to include Greensburg which moved the airway north of Madison. The site you describe was either abandoned or moved to a new location.
Sites built after 1930 did not include the arrow. It is very possible that the West Newton/Madison beacon had an arrow that was destroyed or buried. There are two possible sites that match your description; the first is .75 miles SW of Madison and the second is 2 miles SW of Madison. Can you help me narrow it to one of these? Please write to [email protected]
In the interest of accuracy a correction needs to be made. The flashing red airway alignment lamps were located BELOW the rotating beacon NOT on it. The tower between Madison and West Newton flashed the letter “B” for the number 8. for tower 18. The Washington/Pittsburgh airway terminated at two airfields,Bettis field 1924-1948 and Allegheny County 1931-present.
Where can we find a listing of the still visible landmarks/arrows? This sound like a terrific cross-country trip!
Send me an email I will forward a list with all the known arrow and beacon locations. [email protected]
Go to http://www.cibolahistory.org/aviation-heritage-museum.html
for a really good write up, and pictures of the preservation of a station from the Midcontinental Airway near Grants Milan airport KGNT in New Mexico by the Cibola County Historical Society.
One of the airway concrete arrows is still quite visible about 10 nm East of Gallup on the south side of I-40
The lighted airways were still being taught in 1955 when I learned to fly. Each tower had a lettered code that identified its sequence in a 100 mile route. I remember a memory aid like ” When undertaking difficult tasks maintain order with good methods” or something close. Each letter was the repetitive code on the towers.
We have an old lighted airway beacon in storage at the Morris, IL (C09) airport. In addition the current rotating beacon (new) sits atop on of the old tower that at one time was just west of the airport. Supposedly Lindbergh landed next to the tower one evening because of weather.
I have one of these 50′ airway beacon towers at my fly-in residence in N. Atlanta. It was moved to my site long ago after it was removed from it’s original location NE of Atlanta’s Hartsfield Airport. A shopping mall now occupies the land this airway beacon tower once stood on.
I just told my wife of one I saw and took pictures of in Hardeville, SC just today
I was just commenting to my wife that I saw a beacon and tower In Hardeville, SC and took a few pictures
There’s a beautifully maintained and still functioning beacon tower on the ridge at Mounds Park near my house in St Paul MN; well worth a visit if in the area. No arrow, though. And if anyone is interested, look up “Arago: Beacon Stamp Issue” for the history of a very pretty (and cheap) 1928 airmail stamp showing a tower.
I believe that is a standard airport beacon, if it is the one I believe you are speaking about. All airports (or at least most), and it is a standard rotating beacon. It is located up on the edge of the river valley, because St. Paul downtown airport is down in the river bottom right near downtown, so a beacon there would not be visible very far. Not the same system as the article was referring to though.
There are several in existence in Indiana that I’ve seen. One on the airport property in Shelbyville, IN KGEZ.
I have a Google Earth Map of all known beacon locations. At the end of their service life there were hundreds!
Also, many of the beacons used in conjunction with their arrows made their way to small GA airports to be come the airport beacon.
Finally, you can still see a beacon station in all it’s former glory here: http://www.cibolahistory.org/aviation-heritage-museum.html
Can you share this map?
When I first started flying more than a half century ago every small town had it’s name painted on the city water tank. With that and a Shell roadmap we could find our way anywhere. The roadmaps were more to identify locations as we typically flew the railroads which tended to be more direct.
You can still fly the lighted airways through Montana. Really fun thing to do and great history lesson for new students.
I learned from lots of “Old Timers” and I flew what I believed was the last Lighted Airway in California with my instructor in 1976. I thought they were all gone. Nice to know there is something left in Montana! One of the guys in my flying club in the 70’s still carried a receipt from the Wright Brothers Bicycle Repair Shop!
“Most of the towers were dismantled and recycled to aid the war effort”. I believe this is a bit of a myth. It just wasn’t worth the effort. Most of the towers were actually moved to airports and still serve as the airport beacon tower – though the windsocks (not shown in your diagram) are cropped off the side. And the lights have been changed for green and white beacons.
Geo-cachers also still actively use the remains for their hobby. Last time I checked there were still something like 174 identifiable sites visible – though this can mean part of an arrow, part of a tower, a depression in a field that still shows an arrow shape….
The state of Montana actually still maintains and uses some of the actual beacons up in the mountains – though the arrows are no longer maintained.
Also – just for a laugh – try searching the Internet for “Arrow Concrete”. You will find that business name all across America making pre-cast concrete forms. Wonder how they ever got started in business? Most of them don’t know – but one or two I called DO know that they were casting concrete arrows for the airway system back in the day.
Are there any in Texas. I would like to see one in person.
Thanks
Yes. There are about 35 in Texas. I am on the road; but, will send you a list of locations if you send me your email address.
I would like a list of the arrows still located in Texas!
What other web sites are there to help identify these arrows. Any in Wisconsin?
The vast majority of the sites in the eastern US were intentional destroyed in the early WWII era. The fear was that the emeny would use these navigational aids to help them target airports and major cities. Most sites were simply bulldozed and the arrows buried or ripped up. The towers were sometimes reused. In the western states the site were left vurtually untouched; however, due to a lack of care the towers toppled and the arrows were overgrown. I am happy to provide a spreadsheet and a GoogleEarth file that shows the known sites. I can be reached at [email protected]
Would you share your tower map?
How can I find some of the geocaching sites? I tried searching for “concrete arrow” and found nothing. I live near Denver.
I live in Aurora. Search for airway or beacon. Otherwise send me an email and I will froward a list. [email protected]
There is an arrow a few miles south of KDKB in Illinois.
Do you know where exactly it is? I fly out of Aurora and haven’t seen it in all my trips in and around Dekalb. I’d like to go out and take a look at it.
How far south of the airport?
Please elaborate on this site. I maintain a database of all known sites (with and without arrows) and this may be a previously undocumented location. Lat and longs are preferred but any physical description would help. Please send to [email protected]
Can you give directions?
From that day when the Wright brothers made the first flight, flying has made a quantum leap forward along with space travel. It won’t be very long when people will fly hyper-sonic airplanes to travel across the globe.
Sounds like a favorite fantasy from the 70’s when SST’s were being developed. Fast is expensive (Hypersonic is VERY expensive) and flying these days is all about economy, how to move the most people for the lowest cost. You regularly read about concepts for such aircraft but that is as far as any ever seem to go.
Suresh,
Flying and space travel made quantum leaps from 1903 until about 1970. At that point, we were putting men on the moon and the first supersonic airliner had been flown. While there were some further advances like the Space Shuttle in the late 70’s, there hasn’t been much in the way of groundbreaking developments in either aviation or space travel since.
If anything, we’re traveling backwards. Funding for space travel has decreased drastically, we no longer have supersonic airliners nor the ability to put a man on the moon. Airliners have gotten more efficient, but there really hasn’t been anything fundamentally new developed in manned air and space travel in 35 years. 🙁
AIR MAIL BEFORE THE CONCRETE ARROWS
http://numidiaairport.com/usairmail.html
Many older buildings have or had on their roofs arrows pointing to neaarby airports. IOn many cases, these sre still visible.
I live near the now retired WW II Walnut Ridge Army Air Field near Walnut Ridge, Arkansas. It was where many young army pilots received their training during the second World War. I remember many roofs with these arrows (with a small circle at the tail) pointing towards Walnut Ridge. My dad worked at the airfield with the post engineers and said the arrows were placed there “to help errant new pilots get the plane back home.” Haven’t seen any in years; buildings torn down, or new roofs applied. Thanks for mentioning that!
Look at GOOGLE EARTH for Hugoton, KS. The top of water tower still has one of those circles, with arrow, and with distance to the airport.