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jjmaccrimmonAntelope Valley Tour Trip Report – Liberty Field / US Tire Track
27 Aug 05
Road Trip!!! A beautiful, sunny (hot) Saturday in late August, and nothing to do just cried out for a road trip. So, on the road we went. This time we didn’t have to go far for the amazing and the missing. The Antelope Valley still seems to be a rich treasure trove of faded glories and hidden wonders.
We made our way to Sierra Highway and turned north. Sierra was once the main road from northern Los Angeles to Mojave and points further on. Now it’s a back way and now relegated to local traffic and adventurous people like me. Before getting to our first stop, I spied a huge field completely overgrown with sunflowers. Although it was 107 that day and we haven’t seen rain in months, the flowers didn’t care. They were 6 to 8 feet in height and stretched hundreds of yards into the desert.
One of my daughter Brenna’s shots
OK, the first planned stop was Liberty Field, an abandoned, reused and re abandoned site north of Lancaster. I happened to notice Liberty Field (and several other abandoned airfields) due to my previous flying career and it seemed to be a great site for a possible visit. I happened to find outstanding background information at Paul Freeman’s Abandoned and Little Known Airfields website.
Short History
After the airfield closed in the late 1940’s, the site was purchased by US Tire for a tire test track. The test track is 3500 in diameter and completely surmounted the old airfield environment. For approximately 15 years, US Tire and subsequently Uniroyal Tire Company tested various tires at the site. In fact, much of the paved areas and foundations remaining at the Liberty Field location are left over from that era. According to old-timers from the area, US Tire/Uniroyal would bring tires up from the Los Angeles factory to perform quality control checks and test new designs. The factory has an amazing history all its own
When the Uniroyal Company began reducing operations at the LA plant in the late 1960’s, the test track was sold to the Dodge Motor Company for auto testing, but this appeared to have been a short-lived use. By the early 1970’s the track was completely abandoned. Now the site sits mostly unused and forgotten.
Trackside - The test track is actually inclined to about a 40 degree angle and is surmounted by a highly decayed paved service road.
Looking north on the service road.
Service road as shot by Brenna (looking south)
While driving across the desert to the track, we found this very intact, 1966-67 era Coke can.
The bright paved area is not a runway. It’s actually the remains of a skid and brake test area. During the tire era, dry and wet braking would be done here at various speeds to check on grip and wear.
Radio Control (R/C) airplane enthusiasts have or had made the area their own.
They are a clean bunch, as there were breems beside every “table.”
Brenna
Chris
Close to the main entrance to the site are the ruins and foundations of various buildings used by US Tire and Uniroyal. Now all that remains are the brackets and bracing points used to hold up the walls, and steel tracks used for the sliding doors at the front of the garage.
One of Brenna’s
One of the sadder aspects of the site was the number of transients and swatters making the area home. Across one road nearby, one individual had a camper. Further away, we saw one person living in the back of their car (no picture). The one that caught our attention and actually gave me the creeps was a lean-to.
To think that someone lived under that pallet and used that for cover astounded me.
More to come – Tropico Mine Rd
27 Aug 05
Road Trip!!! A beautiful, sunny (hot) Saturday in late August, and nothing to do just cried out for a road trip. So, on the road we went. This time we didn’t have to go far for the amazing and the missing. The Antelope Valley still seems to be a rich treasure trove of faded glories and hidden wonders.
We made our way to Sierra Highway and turned north. Sierra was once the main road from northern Los Angeles to Mojave and points further on. Now it’s a back way and now relegated to local traffic and adventurous people like me. Before getting to our first stop, I spied a huge field completely overgrown with sunflowers. Although it was 107 that day and we haven’t seen rain in months, the flowers didn’t care. They were 6 to 8 feet in height and stretched hundreds of yards into the desert.
One of my daughter Brenna’s shots
OK, the first planned stop was Liberty Field, an abandoned, reused and re abandoned site north of Lancaster. I happened to notice Liberty Field (and several other abandoned airfields) due to my previous flying career and it seemed to be a great site for a possible visit. I happened to find outstanding background information at Paul Freeman’s Abandoned and Little Known Airfields website.
Short History
After the airfield closed in the late 1940’s, the site was purchased by US Tire for a tire test track. The test track is 3500 in diameter and completely surmounted the old airfield environment. For approximately 15 years, US Tire and subsequently Uniroyal Tire Company tested various tires at the site. In fact, much of the paved areas and foundations remaining at the Liberty Field location are left over from that era. According to old-timers from the area, US Tire/Uniroyal would bring tires up from the Los Angeles factory to perform quality control checks and test new designs. The factory has an amazing history all its own
When the Uniroyal Company began reducing operations at the LA plant in the late 1960’s, the test track was sold to the Dodge Motor Company for auto testing, but this appeared to have been a short-lived use. By the early 1970’s the track was completely abandoned. Now the site sits mostly unused and forgotten.
Trackside - The test track is actually inclined to about a 40 degree angle and is surmounted by a highly decayed paved service road.
Looking north on the service road.
Service road as shot by Brenna (looking south)
While driving across the desert to the track, we found this very intact, 1966-67 era Coke can.
The bright paved area is not a runway. It’s actually the remains of a skid and brake test area. During the tire era, dry and wet braking would be done here at various speeds to check on grip and wear.
Radio Control (R/C) airplane enthusiasts have or had made the area their own.
They are a clean bunch, as there were breems beside every “table.”
Brenna
Chris
Close to the main entrance to the site are the ruins and foundations of various buildings used by US Tire and Uniroyal. Now all that remains are the brackets and bracing points used to hold up the walls, and steel tracks used for the sliding doors at the front of the garage.
One of Brenna’s
One of the sadder aspects of the site was the number of transients and swatters making the area home. Across one road nearby, one individual had a camper. Further away, we saw one person living in the back of their car (no picture). The one that caught our attention and actually gave me the creeps was a lean-to.
To think that someone lived under that pallet and used that for cover astounded me.
More to come – Tropico Mine Rd
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Date: 2005-09-19 02:32 am (UTC)