Gen. Patton's playground

20 Nov 2014

In preparation for the WW2 in North Africa,

the Desert Training Center was established in this part of the Mojave Desert.

General Patton was in charge, 

and trained almost a million tank corps and troops here in a short time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desert_Training_Center

Map

This is the remains of the Army Air Corps airfield at Rice, CA.

There's a big concrete slab in the background,

which I used for an airstrip.

Gen Patton flew his own light aircraft to inspect the action,

and this was his airstrip at Iron Mountain,

now used by the canal authority.

There were large tent camps for all those men,

and this is all that remains of the roadways.

Signs of another camp in the desert.

The evidence of camps is everywhere.

But the desert itself shows hardly any trace of the 38,000 tanks that rumbled around here,

and all the bombs dropped.

After the war ended, scavengers gathered up the scrap metal,

and then the desert winds blew sand over the tracks,

and the sage brush grew back.

The desert does heal itself, in time....

Parked on that giant slab.

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Boys must play with their powerful toys....

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Seen along the way.

What we in Australia would call a 'Hobby Farm',
Americans like to call it their 'Ranch'....
This 'Ranch' is all of two acres,
and couldn't feed even one cow,
hardly more than a rabbit.....