Totally Tacna

Odometer 64659 
Trip Meter  116 mi

Tacna, Arizona

Our route from Ajo to Tacna, AZ about 112 miles

Rolling stones that we are, we have been looking forward to seeing another part of the desert in this corner of Arizona.  We planned this season to move from Ajo to Tacna, AZ on the first of March.  We have reservations at Copper Mountain RV park in the big city of Tacna.

The move puts us in position to see another part of the gunnery range.  The range is divided into East and West.  The East side near Ajo is run by Luke Air Force Base, while the West side near Yuma is run by Marine Corps Air Station Yuma.

 My friend and fellow aircraft archaeologist Mark and I have some leads on several air crashes in this area.

Our spacious site at Copper Mountain RV Park  in the town of Tacna, AZ

 Copper Mountain RV Park is about 40 miles east of Yuma along Interstate 8.  It has very large spaces, paved interior roads and concrete patios.  It's also very affordable at about $250/ mo.  It is also very conveniently located for access to the Barry M Goldwater Gunnery range- less than a mile down the road.
The town of Tacna is home to about 602 full time residents and a thousand winter snowbirds.

Highway AZ 80 passes though the small town of Tacna

Tacna's commercial center consists of two restaurants, a tiny grocery store, a Chevron station and a US Post Office.  The Motel is closed.
The town of Wellton about 12 miles west of here is quite a bit bigger at a little over 3,000 full time residents and it has a more robust commercial complement.
The big shopping mecca however is Yuma, AZ which is 40 miles west, and home to more than 93,000 full time residents and an additional 85,000 winter residents.

Our first trip out into the desert, Mark and I were searching for the wreckage of an F-14 Tomcat, and although we had the wrong coordinates, we got some help from another adventurer and found this-

F-14 Tomcat fighter jet crash on the Goldwater gunnery range south of Tacna, AZ

We were flabbergasted!  The whole plane is still here on the desert floor!  It crashed and burned, after the pilot and RIO ejected safely.  We took lots of photos and peered through the wreckage.  This is the fighter jet made famous in the movie Top Gun

A wrecked F-4 Phantom crashed on the range just north of the Cabeza Prieta Wildlife Refuge

A couple days later we were given the coordinates to find this F-4, which literally had a road right up to it.  Again the whole plane was there, minus the canopy and ejection seat.  We haven't found out the story behind this one yet but the amazing thing here is that the whole crash site is just what you see in the photo.  Normally there would be pieces small and large across an acre or more.

Part of a two acre debris field and the final resting place of a 70's AV-8 Harrier jet

The site of this Harrier jet was more typical, spread out over a two acre site.  The Harrier site is a mile hike in from the nearest road, and it must have exploded on impact.  We started  seeing small parts a quarter mile from the main scene.

Mark climbs on what I believe is a mid 1945- 1950 Pershing tank

The drivers position inside the hull of a Pershing battle tank

Also placed out here on the desert are quite a few battle tanks and other pieces of armor.  This is every boys mans dream, to be able to crawl all over a real battle tank.
The hatches are open, so I clamber, not so gracefully, down through the tank commanders hatch.  I am now looking at the working end of the giant cannon.  Below the breach, I can see down into the drivers cramped cockpit.  A crew of five worked in here?  It seems impossible.

Now can I get out of here and back on the ground without hurting myself?

Saw quite a few of these 60's era MK 42 Dusters with twin 40 mm cannons in the desert near Tacna

I can't find out anything about this mobile gun carriage fitted with a pair of anti- aircraft guns.  You can crawl up and sit in the open top turret, some units have working elevating cranks and the guns still move through their vertical arc.  Ah! desert air.  Things are preserved so nicely.

Missile parts from a  training weapon

Fins from a spent missile

Out here one never wants to assume that any piece of ordinance found has been fully spent.  Give it a wide berth and live to hike another day.

Western Diamondback rattlesnake

There are a few other un-friendlies out here also.  Best to watch your step.  Luckily this one was right out in the open, allowing me to snap a photo and boogie on outta there.  In 6 years of hiking on the Goldwater range this is my first.

Hadrurus Arizonensis

Another first was this little guy shown to in the photo on the right.  I lifted a piece of fiberglass to find this critter looking up at me.  I was rather startled, but managed to gain my composure and snap this photo before it scampered away.  I was surprise by the fact that it was almost translucent in color and that it was so big!  The scorpion was about 2-1/2 inches long.

I have always known that both of these natives were out here, I'd just become a little complacent, because I hadn't seen either one.

Stay tuned as Joan and I take a drive/ hike out to the Betty Lee Mine, in the Copper Mountains on the Goldwater Range.



Your Traveling Friends,

Jeff and Joan