Roswell AFB?

[Guest lovelacm]

Evenin', Folks!

I've just returned home from a morning Pilot Pro sortie that started yesterday morning at 0545... Yeah, you read that correctly... YESTERDAY at 0545.

We headed down to Roswell to shoot some pro and help out some PJs who needed some HALO jumps. We landed at Roswell and the Front-Right main gear brake locked up on us (nobody jumped on the brakes... just happened)... Hot brakes... smoke... nasty smells... ground egress.

I never thought I'd spend 10 hours down at an FBO on a nice, big airport like that.. freakin' 13000 x 200 main runway with a couple of others around 8000 long. The main RWY's even got a Christmastree and had an alert facility at one time..

Anybody got a line on when the base shut down and was turned over to the community? It's turned into a huge civilian plane boneyard.. UPS, Polar Cargo, American, Continental, ATA, etc...

The Best Western is a good place if you're stuck like us.. Free shuttle will pick you up! Southwest Aviation is THE HEAT.. free fountain drinks and coffee all day long... cable TV... WX, NOTAMS, etc. Cute girls workin' the front desk.. even helped us explain the location to the idiots at Dominos Pizza to feed our crew and the MX guys who worked through the night to get us home today.

Huge thanks to the MX guys, the fire station at Roswell (for spontaneous billeting of the MX crew), the SW Aviation crew, and the Bartender at the Best Western.

Beware the Alien Death Ray... it'll seize your brakes, too!

Cheers!

Linda

[Guest rotorhead]

Walker AFB, Roswell, N.M. (closed 1967; Roswell AAF redesignated Walker AFB 13 Jan 1948)

Lots of folks don't know that in addition to being a B-36 base, it was an ICBM base...a dozen Atlas missiles.

check out https://www.airforcebase.net/usaf/joeslist.html

[Guest AWACker]

On your way out...shoot one approach...the Widowmaker. It's "toned down" now...but it's worth the fun. Sheeyit...even a fat pig of an AWACS can make it (with full flaps and gear, and scaring the **** out of our livestock...er...goats....er...mission crew.)

[Guest flyindw]

Hey Linda, I won some money there in a rodeo and then got the hell out of town. Thinking of doin the ol switcheroo to MCs. was wondering on what you did to pull off the switch.

[B-O-double-Z]

The "Widowmaker," that brings back some memories.

Once during UPT, I landed there with my instructor. There were several other white jets (ATC then...now AETC) on the ramp. I looked over at the T-38 next to me shutting down, and it was my Academy room mate, who I hadn't seen in a year. He was going through Williams AFB (now closed). I was at Shepard.

Anyway, we felt like pretty big stuff, flying those white rockets. That day sticks out in my memory. It was 18 years ago...seems like yesterday.

[Guest lovelacm]

At Southwest Aviation, they've still got the shirts, "I survived the widowmaker" with the picture of the approach plate on the front... LOL! They also have a collection of UPT (and other) patches that goes back to the early 80s... it's awesome!

[Scooter14]

We wnt there in the TONE a couple of times. I hooked my only ride in T-1's there, as a matter of fact (if you are going to go around after flying a shitty single engine approach, and you are below 100 ft AGL, use BOTH engines), but they have a red MiG-17 in the hangar next to the FBO. That was cool to check out.

[ 22. December 2005, 20:30: Message edited by: Scooter14 ]

[Bergman]

Google Earth provides a pretty good view of the ramp there. You can see the old christmas tree and a few DC-10/L-1011s sitting there waiting to die.

[Guest lovelacm]

They've got a LOT more cannibalized birds than they're showing on Google Earth... They were even out there on Tuesday night pullin' something off one of 'em...

Kinda sad to see, really.

[Chuck17]

Roswell wasnt the worst for me.

I think I hooked at least 2 rides (Bergman can vouch) at Dyess...

That damned Hi-ILS... HATE IT. I swear as you ride the localizer you pass the tombstones where unsuspecting SNAPs died on their nav checks...

And dont forget to watch for the several nice 'Sh!t collections' of the locals... beautiful rusty cars and toilets in the front yard...

Chuck

[Guest rumblefish_2]

There is a great beer that is brewed in that region called Alien. We diverted into there on a X-C that was supposed to be to Vegas. Even though we never made it to Nellis I still had a good experience and was pleasantly surprised at how good looking the FBO girls were.

[Techsan]

Originally posted by Scooter14:

We wnt there in the TONE a couple of times. I hooked my only ride in T-1's there, as a matter of fact (if you are going to go around after flying a shitty single engine approach, and you are below 100 ft AGL, use BOTH engines), but they have a red MiG-17 in the hangar next to the FBO. That was cool to check out.

I remember hooking a ride @ ROW, for a single engine approach as well. I was more than a dot low at one point and didn't state "transitioning to localizer mins"...even though I got back on glide slope right away. I hated that IP.

Roswell also has a pretty good mexican joint on the north side of town...takes about 15 minutes to get there though.

[Dead Last]

That restaurant is called Tia Juanas, but there are a few more holes in the walls there that are way better, just got to know where to look. Flew the Widomaker in the Tweet during my cross country followed by the backcourse localizer to the same rwy. Good times.