Yesterday I took the day off and visited the zoo. They only allow entry by timed tickets and the path around the property is only one way. On the pavement are painted white arrows inside of green circles to guide you through. Well, that got me thinking and searching.
How do you think an airplane pilot navigated cross country before GPS or even radio guidance? Mostly by landmarks but that became tough to do in those wide-open stretches of nothing. Hence, arrows.
In the 1920s the U.S. Post office started cross-country delivery of mail by air, cutting the delivery time for coast to coast mail down from weeks to days. But pilots needed help, especially in bad weather or nighttime. Congress funded bright yellow arrows that would stretch the continent. 50 to 70 feet concrete arrows were laid out along with a beacon tower as a navigational aid.
But by the 40s, as technology advanced, these arrows and their sidekicks were no longer needed. The steel towers were torn down for the war effort. That left hundreds of arrows scattered across America, faded and cracked. I’ve included a model of what one arrow station looked like, along with a photo one visible arrow.
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