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visiting los angeles for a weeks holiday

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Sharkyd76
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Joined: Fri Jul 15, 2011 6:51 am

visiting los angeles for a weeks holiday

Post by Sharkyd76 » Sun Jan 06, 2013 2:28 pm

hi all, im visiting los angeles from the uk for a week starting feb 6th mainly for a family members bithday. but while state side i wanted to try and get in some spotting/photography either at airfields or museums. looking at google maps, edwards isnt that far away so thats high on my list. any reccomendations for places to go/things to see? also here in the uk military police are pretty laid back on spotting at the end of the runway etc, what are they like in the states? is plane spotting/photography accepted or are rules tighter?

Sharkyd76
Posts: 5
Joined: Fri Jul 15, 2011 6:51 am

Re: visiting los angeles for a weeks holiday

Post by Sharkyd76 » Mon Jan 07, 2013 7:04 pm

anyone?

Dave Smith
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Re: visiting los angeles for a weeks holiday

Post by Dave Smith » Tue Jan 08, 2013 2:58 pm

Just seen this, suprised no one has come up with any suggestions. Edwards is well worth visit but I think you will have to try and book yourself onto the NASA tour, March AFB is worth a visit to the museum, if you have a car then drive down to San Diego and visit Miramar, North Island and the carrier. "Tail watching" as they refer to it is generally accepted, usual rules regading the application common sense apply.

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JAWS
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Location: Surrey, UK

Re: visiting los angeles for a weeks holiday

Post by JAWS » Tue Jan 08, 2013 11:09 pm

Unless you manage to get on the tour I wouldn't bother with Edwards . March AFB Museum is a must .Long Beach is the C-17 factory and usually some interesting stuff there , Palmdale is not far either . Chino for warbirds is about an hours drive of La La Land depending on traffic of course . Plenty of Interest around San Diego ( Miramar , North Island , couple of Aviation Museums ) which is around 2 hours drive away depending on traffic again . Below are some links to websites that may be able to help you decide some places to go .

http://www.warbirdsandairshows.com/cali ... guards.htm

http://www.aero-web.org/museums/ca.htm

http://www.aerofiles.com/museums.html

Hope this helps .
Regards Steve............

"If the Military had to make money, they'd be doomed !!"
Chuck Adams, Buffalo Airlines.

powerslave
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Location: Lancs.

Re: visiting los angeles for a weeks holiday

Post by powerslave » Thu Jan 10, 2013 9:42 pm

Love LAX,even if civil isn't your thing,its still great at the In n Out burger or Imperial Hill.
San Diego is bout 2 hours away,but forget Miramar for spotting you'll probably get visited by the marines.
San Diego is a great place,you can go over Coronado Bridge onto what the locals call Dog beach and be right under the approach for North island.
Shelter island is also a great place to watch going ons has NI is right opposite the island,you can get great shots of the helos flying to and fro,also you get all the US navy ships coming and going has well.Plus from there you can see all the a/c on app to San Diego.
If you had more time you could drive further east and visit El Centro which is probably another 2 hours drive east and further east than that is Yuma.
Love it round that area of California going into Arizona.

ian

Sharkyd76
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Joined: Fri Jul 15, 2011 6:51 am

Re: visiting los angeles for a weeks holiday

Post by Sharkyd76 » Wed Jan 16, 2013 6:39 am

cool thanks for the info. will definately visit march afb. looking at my sat nav (dont know how reliable it is!!) it says that castle afb is about 5 hours drive north of LA, is that right and would i be better off substituting edwards for here?

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swingy
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Re: visiting los angeles for a weeks holiday

Post by swingy » Mon Jan 21, 2013 1:58 pm

Time to Castle is about right. Nice museum for sure. Edwards is not good in fact bad . The tour at Edwards is no photography now after some folks over stepped the mark. So all you can take pictures of now are the frames at the gate, nothing on base. In theory you are not even allowed a note pad on the tour.

I would forget Edwards unless you are hell bent on seeing something in particular in which case PM me.

If you are in LA there are plenty of things to do. In addition to the Museum at March they have a stand from which you can see most of what is going on airside. At miramar the USMC Aviation Museum is nice and worth a visit as is the carrier at San Diego. Chino has two great museums and the one at Palm Springs is ok as is the one at Palmdale plus you never know what you may see floating around there. Also Mojave has some intersting stuff all much closer than the treck up to Castle. Also there is Point Mugu just remeber to park across the opposite side of the free way from the missle park if you want to take pictures of aircraft in the circuit. I never really had much success pictures wise at Long Beach however if you want to see Robinson choppers and the YF23 there is the museum at Torrence.

Hope this helps

Hellicopter44
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Re: visiting los angeles for a weeks holiday

Post by Hellicopter44 » Mon Jan 21, 2013 4:02 pm

Agree with comments re access to Edwards,If unable to get in then the nearest public road is a significant distance from the base.
Re San Diego , only thing to add is that visiting Cabrillo monument at Point Loma gives you a great view looking over NAS North Island.Not to be missed!

If you can only go to one area , I would say San Diego.It is my favourite US city with loads of military as well. A 2 hour drive on the freeway fron LA to SD also takes you pass USMC Camp Pendleton.

Alan

EF-111
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Location: Northants

Re: visiting los angeles for a weeks holiday

Post by EF-111 » Mon Jan 21, 2013 6:44 pm

Long Beach would be a definate stop for me, especially as the first Indian C-17 has already made an appearance fully painted :Wow:

Also, as others have said, the museum at March AFB is well worth the visit.

Regards, Steve

roadstar1845
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Re: visiting los angeles for a weeks holiday

Post by roadstar1845 » Tue Jan 22, 2013 5:38 pm

Apologies, only just read this. Yes San Diego is a good bet. I went in May when we were based in Hollywood for a vacation, my reward for being a good boy was my non aviation minded partner contacting Sgt. Regina Hortez in the public affirs department at Miramar.
10am Monday morning, met at the gate, all six of us crammed into her car and given 40 minutes of photographing out the pax window on the ramp.
Might be too late for you, but shows you what can be achieved,
Now if I can ever master the art of cut and paste the results will one day get posted on here.
Don't visit Monday, base museum closed that day.
Allow 2 hours, or take the Amtrac(another adventure).

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