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These are the remnants of
Transcontinental Air Mail Route Beacon 37A, which was located atop a bluff in St. George, Utah, U.S.A. With concrete arrows indicating the direction to the next beacon, a rotating light tower, and a shed that usually held a generator and fuel tanks, these beacons were once
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sections with concrete footings. Some facilities used concrete arrows pointing in the direction of towers. In areas where no connection to a power grid was available, a generator was housed in a small building. Some buildings also served as weather stations. Many arrow markings were removed during
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The first nighttime airmail flights started on July 1, 1924. By eliminating the transfer of mail to rail cars at night, the coast to coast delivery time for airmail was reduced by two business days. Eventually, there were 284 beacons in service. With a June 1925 deadline, the 2,665 mile lighted
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24 inches (610 mm) diameter rotating beacons were mounted on 53-foot (16 m) high towers, and spaced ten miles apart. The spacing was closer in the mountains, and farther apart in the plains. The beacons were five million
186:"When Undertaking Very Hard Routes Keep Directions By Good Methods". Engineers believed the variations of beacon height along hills and valleys would allow pilots to see beacons both above ground fog, and below cloud layers.
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World War II, to prevent aiding enemy bombers in navigation. Nineteen updated beacons remained in service in
Montana until 2018, maintained by the Montana Department of Transportation's Aviation Division.
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Construction pace was fast, and pilots wishing to become airmail pilots were first exposed to the harsh wintertime work with the crews building the first segments of the lighting system.
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By the end of the year, the public anticipated anchored lighted airways across the
Atlantic, Pacific, and to China.
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airway was completed from New York to San
Francisco. In 1927, the lighted airway was complete between
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Car headlights) were also used, placing four separate lights at different angles. Airports used
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Beacon 61B on a modern display tower, originally installed on route CAM-8 near Castle Rock, WA
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A former concrete arrow of the
Transcontinental Airway System in Walnut Creek in August 2018
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New
Brighton Minnesota: Aviation Foundation of America, 2003, First edition 1972. No ISBN.
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situated every 10 miles on air routes across the United States beginning around 1923.
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and airways used red beacons. The beacons flashed identification numbers in
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81:(NACA), and deployed by the Department of Commerce. It was managed by the
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were a substantial navigation aid in an era prior to the development of
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A comprehensive map of airway beacons with downloadable beacon data
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397:"Arrows Across America; Transcontinental Air Mail Routes"
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Aeronautical Branch. The first segment built was between
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Concrete Arrows and the U.S. Airmail Beacon System.
303:Piloting the U.S. air mail flying for Uncle Sam
243:Piloting the U.S. air mail flying for Uncle Sam
27:Navigational aid deployed in the United States
73:funded a sequential lighted airway along the
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273:The American aviation experience: a history
79:National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics
256:"Lighted Airway over Atlantic Predicted".
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150:Light, tower, shed, and concrete arrow
417:Aviation history of the United States
77:. The lighted airway was proposed by
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349:Montana Department of Transportation
345:"Airway Beacons -The End of an Era"
288:Aviation and the Role of Government
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329:"Air Mail Arrows Still Visible".
317:The Ford Air Ttours: 1925-1931.
189:Towers were built of numbered
75:transcontinental airmail route
40:Transcontinental Airway System
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34:The 1924 U.S. Air mail route
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71:United States Congress
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333:: 47. November 2014.
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412:Air traffic control
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83:Bureau of Standards
62:1928 Commemorative
382:The Survey Station
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258:Popular Mechanics
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359:22 January
331:AOPA Pilot
228:References
191:angle iron
180:Morse code
142:Technical
117:Las Vegas
184:mnemonic
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198:Gallery
129:Chicago
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87:Chicago
54:History
133:Dallas
127:, and
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