Hiking With A Challenge
Without 4 wheel drive, getting to the site of the abandoned Naval Base on the shore of Salton Sea was a little over 2 miles each way in soft sand and high winds. Well worth the effort to see and photograph a part of history.
The Salton Sea was also the location of testing of dropping the first Atomic Bomb. Crews from the Crews from Wendover Air Base made hundreds of practice runs near and over Salton Sea dropping 10,000 pound dummy bombs from B-29 bombers at 30,000 feet.
The base was turned over to the Atomic Energy Commission in 1946 through 1961. Abandoned it was subsequently used off and on by the military for live munitions training and Gulf War training maneuvers.
The Bombardier Over Salton Sea
My buddy Hunter Johnson about to take off this morning in the Bombardier seat in the B-29 Superfortress “FiFi”. It is the only still flying B-29 in the world. This was especially historical because out of the Palm Springs Air Museum the flight was over the Salton Sea. During 1944-1945, Lt. Col. Paul Tibbets led the 393rd Heavy Bombardment Squadron in classified missions dropping dummy atomic bombs over the Satlon Sea. Then on August 6th, 1945 by Tibbets’ flew the B-29 Enola Gay to drop the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima Japan. You can go see the B-29 “FiFi” at the Palm Springs Air Museum tomorrow Sunday and perhaps there might still be a seat available for you too! Check it out! http://psam.org
“FiFi” Ain’t No Dame!
“FiFi” is the World’s only still flying B-29 Superfortress. Flown at the end of World War II, it was B-29’s that dropped the Atomic Bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. There were 3,970 built and “FiFi” is the only one still flying as you can see in my photographs with her coming in to the Palm Springs Air Museum yesterday. You can go see this immense historic aircraft yourself through Sunday. Not only can you just go and look but you can tour the interior or even book a flight. But do not miss the opportunity to see this incredible part of history!
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