Ralph Mailloux, the previous owner of N6PL - now VH-EXS came down to Torrance Airport to see us before we departed and probably to have a last look at his Saratoga on American soil. Ralph plans to visit Australia - maybe next year - and we hope to catch up again.
While waiting for the winds, we had a trip to the Mojave Desert to visit a friend of Ray who is an avionics specialist and HF radio expert. Wayne has his hangar and factory at the Mojave airport which is adjacent to Bakersfield Air Force Base, where many of the space shuttles returned.
It is also a graveyard for many of the airliners which have been retired from the various airlines and which end their days being disassembled and cut up for spare parts.
When the Mexican Government grounded the entire Air California fleet, many of them - maybe all of them - ended up at Mojave. A remnant of the once proud Ansett fleet remains in the graveyard.
The site operates just like a car scrap yard. You want a door from a Boeing 747 they don't even bother to remove the hinges. They just cut out the whole door with about 200 mm of the surrounding fuselage and ship it to you. You then remove the door, seals etc and get what you want. If anyone wants a door from a Boeing 747, just let me know and I will organise it for you.
Probably the most interesting history relates to two aircraft which (I think) are C-130 Hercules. These were apparently purchased new about 20 years ago by an intermediary for one of the Middle East countries - said to be Lebanon. The US Government refused to issue Certificates of Export and these brand new aircraft were flown from the factory to Mojave and have remained in the same spot for the last 20 years.
Click on images to enlarge
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