American Sand Association

Ok guys, been wanting to ask about this since I came back from Prez wknd. We took off from Pad 2, were out in the middle of the dunes and came across this dumpster down in a valley with a flagpole flying a fresh American Flag. If memory serves me correct the dumpster had Idaho spray painted on it.

If I am not mistaken, there should also be a plaque attached to it honoring Chuck Boardman.

Hearsay:
Not a dumpster but was dropped out of and airplane for target pratice during WWII.

One of the 5 "Boxes"

All have:
Some damage where it hit ground

The one with the flag is the Chuck B Memorial
It used to be the "Duncan Idaho" Box

Check them out, they all have
"I (heart) U" on them (with a red heart)

Some say some other stuff...

All in the open area...

Steve

Some refer to that area as "Box Canyon". The area is due west of Hill 4. The flag and memorial to Chuck Boardman were added to the box in the last couple of years, after the BLM removed the memorial that was erected north of Hill 3 (memorial to a young man, not Chuck Boardman).

--Mike

Interesting guys. I've worked specifically with the bombing range community within the Air Force for over 10 years. I've seen a lot of WWII era practice bombs and targets on ranges from the east coast to west, up to and including MCAS Yuma's range. These are not consistent with the stuff I've put hands on.

I'm not an expert but these look much more recent than the late 30's to the mid 40s. Don't forget that Iron/Steel was in VERY limited quantity during the war and the munitions they were dropping for practice back then were made out of paper thin tin and were very small, i.e. 25-50 lbs. not to mention the fact that the bombers back then didn't have a bomb bay big enough to house those suckers.

I don't doubt however, that these were/are affililated with military activities of the past. Does anyone know if they are aligned running toward the Choclate Mountain Bombing Range property? If so, they may have been put there as a visual aide for pilots to use as a "run-in" as they got ready to enter the bombing range proper. Another possibility although probably not as viable was they might have been used as "targets" for folks parachuting out of aircraft. Although that's a pretty harsh/remote area to pick folks up from after they landed. At any rate, I just don't see them dating back to WWII. Maybe Korea/Vietnam though.

Very interesting stuff though. It was kind of cool to see a fresh old-glory flying proudly out in the dunes. Next time I'm out there I'll make it a point to check them out closer and read the memorials.

Rich,
I am no expert on bombing practices of our military; they were "Landed" where they are from the sky. They all have damage where they "Bounced".
The boxes may not predate WWII, h-e-l-l they may have been dropped by alien space craft to check the atmosphere.
Yea, that's it they are alien!
Steve

Here's some trivia:


Who's Duncan Idaho



Rob

I remember a character in the Dune books written by Frank Herbert. I read them years ago. Duncan Idaho was a military man, maybe a general. I don't know if this is the same reference whoever painted the box was thinking off. I have always thought the name on the box was from the Dune books.

Yep


That's my guess too. The Sci Fi channel is going to have a made for TV mini series starting Sunday night based on the books Dune Messiah & Children of Dune.


Rob

RichB
that was no dumpster that was my buggy.......

I don't know...
I saw your rail in the last issue of SandSports and it looked pretty good!

SB

OBSESSED
thanks to a little help from my friends and the hard work of R & R Duners and one Steve Brooks

HA! That is one sleeper buggy!

RichB
That it is! Right now it's snoozing in the shop w/o trans or engine, waiting for the tranny to get done.....zzzzzzzzzzzz.......**** thing'll get rusty, sittin around like that.....wanted to go out this weekend.....Marty says he's going to Gordon's Well with Scott to try out Scott's buggy......well, maybe we needed a back-up trans the way it takes so long to get things out of the shop.......season's slippin away.....Just like Simon and Garfunkel said, "slip, slippin away" Oops, make that slip, sliding away......either way, it's gettin late......March, April, May........closin out the available time left...

And for those of you are are DVD inclined you can already pre-order the multi-disk release for the miniseries here:
http://www.deepdiscountdvd.com/dvd.cfm?itemID=LVD013872

Does anyone have the GPS coordinates for the "Duncan Idaho" Box , as well as the other boxes?

KP

Look HERE

We went out there last trip too...

http://www.americansandassociation.org/ ... stance.jpg

Where did the flag come from? On Friday 3/21 while on the way to the Duncan Idaho box, riding from Brawley Slide toward Lizard Hill I noticed a gray military helicopter flying low over the dunes. It was just north of Brawley Slide flying east to NE. On Sat. 3/22 while at the box we meet 3 others who had also seen the helicopter the day before. these guys said they were closer and said that they saw the copter rising out of the dunes. The flag on the bow seemed to be very fresh, folds were still visible in the fabic. Our thoughts were that the flag had be placed/replaced by the military. Has anyone seen this sort of thing before? Does anyone know where the flags come from? Just curious!

THIS IS VERY COOL IF IT IS TRUE...

The Flag & Pole was originally installed several years ago by a group called "the Sand Buggy Club".

This club meets every year for what we call the "Boys Trip" and this year it took place from March 12th to 16th.

We had about 40 rigs @ cement flats and over a hundred guys attend.

On Saturday the 15th we installed a new & much taller pole with larger flag.

As far as the memorial aspect, some believe it was for Chuck Boardman, others for a kid that died in the dunes along time ago. I don't think anyone really knows so it must for both.

[/b]

It's amazing, all the years we've been riding those dunes and we have never ran across these items.

There was a second flag in the dunes. It had a solar-powered light so it would be illuminated at night, and a plaque dedicating it to that boy (although, IIRC, the plaque didn't say whether he died in the dunes). It was pretty classy, cost someone some $$. It disappeared a couple years ago.

_dennis

I'll bet you camp at Wash 3-11 am I close?

If you camped at Pad 4/Keyhole/Roadrunner you would see these boxes on most of your rides.

From RR go Straight east to China Wall (Hill 5)or Lizard Hill (4) and you go through "BOX Canyon" They are 1/2 way from RR to these Walls.

I will be seeing them this weekend, The dunes will be perfect, I am duning to the Wall (China Wall that is)

Steve

Well Rich,,

Maybe it's time to start the annual Duncan Idaho run from pad 2.

When I was in the Marines we used to connect boxes together, raise old glory, fire up the Sansui, hire a local girl as a bartender and call it a club.

Looking at these pictures makes me want a Bangpow beer and a taxi dance..