Question - Lakehusrt area

[Ford Friendly]

While doing some work on the McGuire AFB area, I zoomed out and DOH, there was Lakehurst! Like I said, DOH! And I thought I was pretty good at geography...

Anyway, as you can see from the pic

I looked slightly SW of Lakehurst itself and saw something somewhat interesting - an apparent airstrip @A and 4 "radials" @ B that could be any number of things. Somewhat to be expected, default FSX has nothing to reflect this area and none of the payware landclass or ground texture packages (UT USA, Scenery Tech, FS Genesis, etc.) do either.

So, does anyone know what that airstrip @ A is? ICAO? Name?
What about the 4 radials @ B thing? What is that? I'm guessing some sort of high speed/jet engine on rails test tracks thing.

Any information would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Ford

[Ford Friendly]

Okay, for those who might be interested.
Initial comments deleted.....
Thanks.

------Edited to add----
Questions answered/problem solved.
I should have looked at Global Security.org first.

The runway, which is dedicated solely to testing, is approximately 12,000 feet long with a mark length of 10,160 feet. It's equipped with landing aids and a runway lighting system. There are steam catapults at the approach end; shipboard arresting gear at the mid-section; shorebased arresting gear at various locations; and a Mk 8 Mod 0 Fresnel Lens Optical Landing System (FSOLS).

The Test Catapult Complex is composed of the TC13 Mod 0 and TC13 Mod 2 Steam Catapults, and a high pressure steam plant, located at the threshold of a 12,000 foot long runway. This test facility is used to simulate the launching of naval aircraft from the flight deck of US Navy aircraft carriers. These test catapults are capable of launching both aircraft and deadloads, thus allowing both manned and unmanned testing. Both catapults at the test complex are capable of launching weights up to 100,000 pounds and producing endspeeds up to 185 knots. The steam plant is capable of 138,000 pounds per hour. A unique feature of the test site is the capability of launching deadloads. Recessed guide slots are used to maintain stability of the four wheeled vehicles, and a friction brake brings the vehicle to a stop after release at the end of the power stroke. Although used primarily for testing catapult performance, the site can be used as a linear acceleration/ deceleration force platform for testing such things as drop tanks, cargo slings, aircraft fuel tanks, and fuel cells. The object under test can be oriented to obtain programmed forces in the X, Y or Z axis, and loads up to 15 G’s when required.

The Runway Arresting Landing Site (RALS) site is unique in its ability to make both high speed ground roll-in arrestments and fly-in arrestments on either the Mk 7 Mod 2 or Mk 7 Mod 3 arresting gear. Over 3,000 feet of runway are available to build up speed while the aircraft remains on the runway with over 8,000 feet after the arresting equipment. The runway arrested landing site includes an underground complex located on a 12,000 foot dedicated runway. MK-7 Mod 2, Mod 3, and Mod 3+ arresting gear are located under the runway, and accurately simulate a fleet aircraft carrier installation. It provides a place to test changes to aircraft recovery equipment and aircraft under safe controlled conditions prior to introduction to the fleet. The RALS is the only facility in the world capable of making both high speed ground roll-in and fly-in arrests on all types of recovery systems used in the fleet. The roll-in procedure is especially useful because it allows safe, repeatable test conditions. If the aircraft should bolter (miss the arresting gear wire), there is 7,000 feet of runway in which the aircraft can either takeoff or come to a safe stop.

The three operational tracks range in length from 7,500 to 9,150 feet. In-ground catapults identical to those aboard the carriers are used for troubleshooting and developmental evaluation of catapult improvements. They are also used to evaluate compatibility of aircraft systems and components prior to shipboard introduction.

[Ford Friendly]

Having answered my question, I played around with the area just SW of Lakehurst a bit.... yep, same area as that Test Catapult and Test Arresting Gear Facility.

Here's the view of my "MS FSX default" - with UTX-USA landclassing/textures

reverse view - looking back towards Lakehurst inthe distance

Switching to true MS FSX default, FS Genesis or Scenery Tech landclass doesn't make any significant difference.

Preliminary results after manual hand-landclassing and dummy afcadding the test facilities

reverse view - looking back towards Lakehurst inthe distance


Reasonable preliminary results which illustrate fairly clearly, I think, the true limitation of relying on UT(X)-USA or other payware landclasses for any kind of "accuracy" in non-urban areas.
Add to that the fact that Lakehurst is now officially part of a 3 base complex - McGuire AFB, Ft. Dix and Lakehurst itself. So, to really do this area/base/complex up right, I'd need to continue that big forested area well to the west towards at least McGuire/Ft. Dix. Major roadwork and construction of clearings in the woods representing ranges, storage and exercise/training areas would need to be done... and on and on.

Fwiw, I'm trying to modify a recent FS2004 scenery package depicting Lakehurst to match up with this preliminary work.... It's at least as much of a pain doing so as parts of my Kola peninsula project have been - but has reached that pain threshold much quicker!!!

[Firebird]

You don't pick small projects do you, Ford ?

[Ford Friendly]

Actually, I consider myself to have "wild hair in butt" syndrome.

I stumble across something/someplace accidentally and notice something that gets under my skin. 2 or 3 days later (often less), whatever caught my eye has really begun to dominate my thoughts and I just can't make them go away. So I think, I'll just take 15 minuites to "'fix this little bit' and it'll be alright". Of course, that DOESN'T make it right and I find something else wrong... and it grows and grows and grows until I'm working on a MUCH LARGER area than I ever intended and am usually way over my head as far as what I want to do.

That area keeps getting worked on until the next wild hair occurence distracts me.

The list of unfinished wild hair areas I've worked on in my sim is "legion" (HUGE, long, and distinguished).

Personally, I blame guys like Lee Swordy for making such great tools that make me think I can actually "make things right" - the fact that I've had my brains rattled in boxing rings, motorcycle accidents and elsewhere notwithstanding. It's not my fault, really! It's not!

[Ford Friendly]

Aaaaargh.... Can't seem to let this beastie go for now...
Image from McGuire looking towards Lakehurst in the center of the picture in the distance.

You can see that this is depicted as suburban/rural when, in reality, it's 90% woods with rifle ranges and exercise areas cut out of the forest. Yeah, yeah yeah. I can hear the voices in my head right now saying - "go ahead, just do a little, then youcan say you took a shot at it." Uh, huh. Riiiiight.

In actuality, I'd been quite dissatisfied with McGuire for quite a while, which, if you remember the first post in this thread, was what started me looking at Lakehurst. So, while the "green undone green that doesn't exist in FSX" should be done, I'm probably going to work on McGuire and Lakehurst as local sceneries before tackling "the forest". (unless, of course, the wild hair sprouts again)