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Competition results It's taken our photo interpretation bureau the best part of two weeks to sift through the hundred of entries we had for our "Spot the Black Helicopter" competition - giving readers a chance to win one of our lovely Black Helicopter t-shirts.

Well, the results are in, but before announcing the winners, we thought it would be a lovely idea to have a look at some of the other entries which prove just why Google Earth will eventually provoke the complete collapse of Western civilisation. If your stuff isn't included, don't take it too hard: we had so much material that it would have taken us another month simply to knock it into shape for publication.

Some interesting pictures there. Page 2 is almost entierly pictures of black helicoptors. Page 4 has one picture of Cheyenne Mountain.

Gotta love Google: Giving Cold-War-level satellite photo-reconnaissance to anyone with a browser and a net connection. I use it all the time for logistics and intel support for my buddies when they're out on a raid!

I like the one who got the snapshot of two Blackbirds. Nifty.

If someone with Google Earth wants to try...

Look around Westbury in Tasmania. Somewhere in a field (IIRC to the west of the town), there is a Russian space shuttle, just sitting in a paddock in the Tasmanian farmland.

If anyone can find it, I'll tell you the whole story of how it came to be.

weemadando wrote:If someone with Google Earth wants to try...

Look around Westbury in Tasmania. Somewhere in a field (IIRC to the west of the town), there is a Russian space shuttle, just sitting in a paddock in the Tasmanian farmland.

If anyone can find it, I'll tell you the whole story of how it came to be.

No can do on my copy. The area around Westbury has a resolution that's good for objects visible from 9000 feet up, but not much else.

The picture of the B-17 turned gas station is nice. (page 9)

I like the first two on this page, linky , You can see a star very clearly in the second one.

And once you know where to look, you can see it in the first one

I ran across a couple of these while a friend and I were playing around with Google Earth:



What are they? I never could quite figure it out.

Erik von Nein wrote:I ran across a couple of these while a friend and I were playing around with Google Earth:



What are they? I never could quite figure it out.

Bombing targets, IIRC, at high resolution.

Erik von Nein wrote:What are they? I never could quite figure it out.

Happen to have coordinates for that? I'd like to have a look.

Zadius wrote:

Erik von Nein wrote:What are they? I never could quite figure it out.

Happen to have coordinates for that? I'd like to have a look.

Nevermind, I found one at 37°39'54.46" N 166°01'32.12" W

Elheru Aran wrote:Bombing targets, IIRC, at high resolution.

Ah. Makes sense, then, that they all seem to have roads leading to one another. Thanks for the info.

Why is one of them shaped like a Star of David on Page 10, though?

MRDOD wrote:Why is one of them shaped like a Star of David on Page 10, though?

I imagine it's a on-base joke or something. On another of that website's Google Earth efforts, there's a peace sign on another airbase's range as well.

MRDOD wrote:Why is one of them shaped like a Star of David on Page 10, though?

It used to be that in the days of the SA-2 etc, Warsaw Pact SAM sites were set up in a Star of David pattern with a launcher at each point and the radar and CCC in the centre. That was probably a regulation size eastern bloc Star of David for practice purposes.

weemadando wrote:

MRDOD wrote:Why is one of them shaped like a Star of David on Page 10, though?

It used to be that in the days of the SA-2 etc, Warsaw Pact SAM sites were set up in a Star of David pattern with a launcher at each point and the radar and CCC in the centre. That was probably a regulation size eastern bloc Star of David for practice purposes.

That's just fucked up.

Singular Quartet wrote:

weemadando wrote:

MRDOD wrote:Why is one of them shaped like a Star of David on Page 10, though?

It used to be that in the days of the SA-2 etc, Warsaw Pact SAM sites were set up in a Star of David pattern with a launcher at each point and the radar and CCC in the centre. That was probably a regulation size eastern bloc Star of David for practice purposes.

That's just fucked up.

Fucked up, but effective.

weemadando wrote:If someone with Google Earth wants to try...

Look around Westbury in Tasmania. Somewhere in a field (IIRC to the west of the town), there is a Russian space shuttle, just sitting in a paddock in the Tasmanian farmland.

If anyone can find it, I'll tell you the whole story of how it came to be.

Fuck, so that poor thing never got to leave Oz, did it? IIRC, it was on a tour of Oz back in 2000, on exhibit at one of the museums in Sydney.

I saw it briefly while I was on contract in Sydney, just before the Olympics. It was either still due to appear at the exhibit, or had already left it. But anyway, when I saw it, it was parked in the open outside a large museum or something in Circular Quay.

My wife and I sneaked into the yard where it was parked, just to touch it. An angry Russion promptly appeared to order us out, muttering something about insurance coverage. It was so cool! It would have been cooler if it was on proper display at the time, then we might have even been able to go inside.

Since it's still there (there was only ever one, wasn't there?) I guess they just ran out of money half-way through their little tour.

No - its actually an old sideshow attraction that my dad did the hydrolics for... Its a 1/2 or 1/3 scale Russian Shuttle in American livery (last I checked), sitting on a flatbed trailer. Freaks people out when they drive past. Almost as much as the giant disembodied teddy bear head with no eyes...