Reader Dave Schubert identifies the plane as being in an engine test stand. According to Google Earth’s historical imagery feature this image was taken on the 27th of June 2010, which is interesting as Concorde was retired in 2003 – so it’s perhaps a little strange that they would be testing the engines.

Next, to Canada’s busiest airport, Toronto Pearson. However, we’re looking at a very American icon – the Blue Angels aerobatic team.

More formally known as the Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron, these planes were spotted by Kevin Hodgson. The six F/A-18 Hornets are seen parked near to a seventh plane, a two-seater F/A-18B that can be used as a backup plane if necessary. We can also see the C-130T Hercules nicknamed Fat Albert, which carries support personnel, spare parts and technical equipment.

You can read more about the Blue Angels at their official site, and at Wikipedia.

Given the recent situation in Libya, it may be a good thing that eight C-130 Hercules that were ordered by the Gaddafi regime are stuck in the southern US state of Georgia.

The desert-camouflaged planes were ordered and built at this Lockheed plant at Dobbins Air Reserve Base in the early 1970s. However before they could be delivered, the US imposed sanctions on Libya.

Because they are technically the property of the Libyan government, the planes cannot be moved, so they sit on flat tires, surrounded by weeds in the distant reaches of the base. Thanks to Cafe de Unie, SecretAgent Man and Jonathan Peterson for sending this one in.

Unused planes can be a problem for any airport, though at Hot Springs in Arkansas they park them a little more neatly and efficiently than they do at Manas Airport in Kyrgyzstan or Wilson Airport in Kenya. Thanks to ‘Me’, nga and Bryan Johnson for these.

Moving on to crashed planes (nervous flyers should probably stop reading at this point!), we start with a couple of real downed planes. This Curtis C-46F Commando crashed in November 1979, shortly after taking off from Churchill in northern Canada.

It was reported to us by Lindsay Marshall, and airliners.net has some good pictures. Apparently the inside has been setup with a picnic table, and is a local tourist attraction.

Just a few months ago, two people unfortunately lost their lives when their small plane crashed into Lake Winnebago, Wisconsin. New satellite imagery just happened to capture a crane recovering the wreckage. Thanks to milwhcky for reporting this one via Virtual Globetrotting.

Hollywood is fond of creating its own plane crashes, and the set from 2005′s War of the Worlds is now part of Universal Studio’s tour, as shown in this YouTube video. Thanks to Anthony Moore for the suggestion.

The studio spent $2million to bring an unused 747 to the lot, carefully broke it apart and then built the houses affected by the crash in the movie. Google’s 45-degree imagery allows us to see the set from different perspectives, including engines lying next to a house, seats in the ripped apart cabin, and the charred tail section.

Another apparently horrific plane crash was spotted by Bryan Johnson at the former Alameda Naval Air Station near San Francisco.

Some of the 45-degree imagery was apparently taken on a different day, and reveals crowds of people and emergency vehicles.

However, we can also see lots of technical equipment, including a camera crane, so it’s clear that this isn’t a real crash, and Geek.com reveals that it is, in fact, a set for the TV show Trauma.

We had previously featured Alameda for its role in a Matrix film, though personally I’m hoping that someday we’ll see images of the Mythbusters team who film regularly at this location.

Thanks to everyone who contributed to this post. Please use the suggestion form if you know if interesting locations that you think we should feature.

Locations: Arkansas, California, England, Georgia, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Manitoba, Ontario / Categories: Abandoned, Aircraft, Movie Locations, Shadows

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No matter how big or small your town is, every year people must apparently be made aware that there are other people there who are graduating. For example, one wonders if the residents of Major, Saskatchewan (most recent census population: 67) would have been aware of such a momentous occasion in 2009 if it hadn’t have been painted on the pavement of the main street?

One way to broadcast your cohort’s sheer awesomeness is to tag your local dilapidated tourist attraction. On the left in Creston, British Columbia, we see that Grad ’09 has successfully claimed this old grain elevator, one of just five such elevators left in the province. On the right, we see that Grad ’06 (along with many others) have laid claim to Greenwood, BC’s famous Tunnel of Flags, where the flags of every country on Earth have been painted on the side of an abandoned early 1900s road tunnel. Hey, now, just because it was covered in paint already…

Often, graffiti battles between different classes break out, such as on this water tower in Wilkie, Saskatchewan. Apparently prized for both its prominent visibility and the difficulty of getting to the top, we can see a turf war has broken out amongst the classes of 2007, 2008, and 2009. One class has even resorted to calling the ’09 grads “dumb”; presumably this brilliant quip was the knockout blow.

The natural environment for grad tags is the vaunted overpass, where thousands of vehicles each day can be reminded about graduation time. Some classes invest more time than others; rather than just spray paint on the side, each year this overpass in Sydney River, Nova Scotia is repainted in full with a new design by students from Riverview High School in neighbouring Coxheath.

You don’t have to live near a high school to find grad tags in Canada. Even along the most remote stretches of highway, one can find messages displayed in high-visibility areas for travellers to see. Deep in the northern Rocky Mountains, Pine Pass is an hour from the nearest school and even still is covered with graffiti of all sorts, such as this message from Grad ’04.

One of the densest accumulations of grad tags may be a stretch of Highway 10 just outside of Flin Flon, Manitoba. Flin Flon lies on the thinly-soiled Canadian Shield, which means many highways in the region are incised directly into the bedrock. The open rock cuts are ripe for graffiti, and the highway leading south out of Flin Flon is filled with names and messages from various graduating classes dating back decades.

The ultimate grad tag paradise, however, may be the colourful Kerrobert Graffiti Barn in western Saskatchewan, where every year since 1977 the grad class of Kerrobert Composite School have taken over an entire barn at the north entrance to town and given each student their own slice of the edifice.

What the… hey, Ken, quit hogging all the attention! This barn was supposed to be for Grad ’09, not Grad ‘41!

Locations: British Columbia, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan / Categories: Large Type, Rudeness

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Whether they’re big or small, year-round or just for a weekend, carnivals and fairs draw in people of all ages. Some fairs are positively massive, such as the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto, which takes place every August.

Many carnivals are small, travelling affairs, setting up in local parking lots or neighborhood parks for a two or three-day shot before moving on. Put it in a really small town, and it can shut whole parts of a town down for a day or two, as we see here in remote Snow Lake, Manitoba, where the main street has been completely taken over by the fair.

Carnival attractions are a popular feature along tourist boardwalks, such as the Santa Monica Pier in California. The Street View trike made its way down the pier to catch many of the sights of Pacific Park, the oceanfront amusement park located right on the pier.

Here, we get a great close-up look at some classic carny games like the ring toss, balloons and darts and the ever-infamous milk bottles. Here are some tips for you marks out there: the rings don’t fit the bottles, the balloons are underinflated, the darts are dull, and one of the bottles is often weighted down. Ha, ha, we’ve ruined the carnival industry forever!¹

A good carnival is built around rides. Of course, the ferris wheel and the bumper cars are standard attractions, like the ones at this beachfront resort in Eforie Nord, Romania, which looks pretty solid.

But then there are the sketchier carnivals, where the rusty rides may be covered in knock-off Disney and Looney Tunes characters, or showing far too much rust, or just look underwhelming. Take, for example, the world’s lamest karting track. Or this unenclosed spin-‘til-you-vomit ride. Or this delightfully rickety dragon boat. Alto, indeed.

Alas, all good things must come to end, and eventually after years of use and abuse every carnival ride is sent to the junkpile. Sometimes, they don’t even get that. Just look at this string of old rides left to rot in a Mexico City alleyway.

Oh, Daisy Duck, we feel your pain.

Locations: California, Manitoba, Mexico, New York, Ontario, Romania, Texas / Categories: Crowds, Street Views, Theme Parks

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Catastrophic flooding on the Mississippi in 1927 led to the long-term development of flood-control measures along the river. The Morganza Spillway was designed to divert water from the Mississippi into the Atchafalaya Basin in emergency situations, in order to prevent the inundation of the densely-populated cities to the south-east.

While the land on either side of the spillway is dry for much of the year, the Street View car gives us a clear view of what happens in the spring, with the entire area to the east of the highway under water.

Google’s standard satellite images give us a good idea of the extent of spring flooding, with different zoom levels showing cultivated farm land transformed to lake.

In addition to the two large sluice gates shown in the image at the top of this article, there are 125 smaller gates which allow precise management of water flow into the Spillway. In the only previous opening (in 1973), 42 of these gates were opened.

The process isn’t without controversy, as diverting water from one river to another can threaten communities in different areas – such as Morgan City in the heart of the Atchafalaya Basin, which is already surrounded by water on all sides. Generally the justification given is that smaller communities can be devastated to spare millions of people in other areas.

As with many recent crises, Google has quickly responded with updated imagery of the affected area. You can read more on the Google Earth Blog, and use the KML file provided to view updated imagery in Google Earth. The Crisis Response Team has also provided a page with marked locations of flooding, emergency shelters and more.

Activating the Morganza location on that last link reveals a low-resolution image of the water gushing through the open gates.

The Morganza Spillway is used so rarely because of an additional flood-control system further upstream which can manage flood situations in all but the worst years. While it is a newer development (it was built in 1963) it is somewhat confusingly named the Old River Control Structure.

Without this constant control, the Mississippi would gradually shift course and potentially affect the entire region.

The Wikipedia page about the Morganza Spillway has been comprehensively updated over the past couple of days, including links to videos and images on many news sites and anticipated flood scenarios from the Army Corps of Engineers who are managing the operation.

There are also many videos on YouTube showing the gates being opened, including a few that show large numbers of fish leaping from the turbulent waters.

Meanwhile in Canada, Winnipeg is again threatened by record high waters. We visited the Red River Floodway a couple of years ago. The city’s other river, the Assiniboine, is not protected in the same way so a dike has had to be cut to the west of the city.

Similar to the situation in Louisiana, this could potentially flood up to 150 homes and farms, while also saving many hundreds more downstream. The cut took place at the delightfully-named Hoop and Holler Bend.

The river looks so placid in the Street View image of the location of the cut, yet the CBC’s coverage gives you a sense of the dire situation that is unfolding.

Our thoughts are with everyone currently dealing with flood situations.

Locations: Louisiana, Manitoba / Categories: Buildings, Natural Landmarks, Shadows, Street Views, Structures

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Most of these mascots make a fair bit of sense. It’s only natural that the town of Gladstone, for example, would have a mascot named ‘Happy Rock’. Get it? ‘Glad’? ‘Stone’? Sure you do.

The northern mining city of Flin Flon has a rather whimsical name derived from a character in a turn-of-the century dime novel¹ named Josiah Flintabbatey Flonatin. A statue designed by Al Capp was erected in honour of old Flinty and greets visitors at the entrance to town:

Other name-based mascots reflect the history of settlement in the region. ‘Komarno’ is Ukrainian for mosquito, giving rise to the village of the same name; its giant mosquito doubles as a weather vane. Just to the east of Komarno is Gimli (Old Norse for ‘heaven’), home to the largest population of Icelanders outside of Iceland, which greets visitors to its massive beach with a giant Viking.

Some villages opt for displaying local pastimes, such as those in Manitoba’s Parkland region. The village of McCreary was home to of one of Manitoba’s few alpine ski resorts. To the north, Gilbert Plains is proud of its golf course. Combine those sports with the Parkland’s large percentage of residents of Scottish descent, and you get the baby-faced Alpine Archie and the Ross tartan-clad Gilbert the Golf Ball (inexplicably carrying an ice hockey stick – well, I suppose it is Manitoba…).

And then there are the more esoteric mascots, such as Glenboro’s Sara the Camel:

Or Boissevain’s Tommy the Turtle, built in honour of the city’s former annual turtle-racing derby:

The highway pullouts of Manitoba don’t just feature wacky mascots; they also feature plenty of ‘World’s Largests’. For example, the World’s Largest Coca-Cola Can, the World’s Largest Pumpkin, and the World’s (Second) Largest Fire Hydrant (which actually stores water!).

These statues and sculptures may seem quaint or even goofy at first, but ultimately they are integral and beloved parts of the landscape chosen by residents as emblems of their communities and visited by tourists from around the world. Long may they stand guard over the lone prairie.

This selection only scratches the surface; you can find more roadside monuments in Manitoba (and all of Canada) at Big Things.

Locations: Manitoba / Categories: Monuments, Street Views, Structures, Weirdness

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Travelling again from east to west, we begin in Winnipeg, location of the magnificent Fort Garry Hotel.

Constructed in 1913¹ in the now familiar Chateau style, it was the tallest building in the city at the time. The hotel was named after the nearby Upper Fort Garry, which was a prominent trading post in the 1800s.

The hotel was, for a while, totally self-sufficient – with heat, food, water and laundry all being taken care of on-site. There was even a working printing press, which was lifted into place before a room was constructed around it (it’s still there but currently unused). Unlike the majority of railway hotels which are today owned by Fairmont, the Fort Garry is independently operated.

Another non-Fairmont hotel is in Saskatoon, The Bessborough.

Named after the then-Governor General, the Bess was built in 1932 but the great depression meant it didn’t receive its first guest until 3 years later. This hotel is noted for its extensive private gardens which stretch down towards the South Saskatchewan River.

Following the route of The Canadian to the west, we get to Edmonton and the Hotel Macdonald, which brings us back into the Fairmont properties.

Named for Canada’s first prime minister, The Mac was constructed in 1915 in the Chateau style, though the use of Indiana limestone gives it a different appearance to many of the other hotels. This hotel was in poor condition and closed for a while in the 1980s. Heritage designation from the city saved it from demolition, and it reopened in 1991 after a major renovation.

Finally, we go beyond the reach of the railway, to Victoria and the unmistakable ivy-covered walls of The Empress, which opened in 1908 to serve passengers from Canadian Pacific’s steamships.

Perhaps most famous for its afternoon teas, The Empress has a storied history of Royal and celebrity visitors. Similar to The Mac, a period of decline almost saw its destruction, but local sentiment was strong enough to save the building. That same civic pride forced Fairmont to abandon plans to alter the iconic sign on the hotel’s exterior.

There are many more railway hotels across Canada, but this concludes our look at the majority of the grandest and most historic properties.

Locations: Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan / Categories: Buildings, Street Views

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The arrival of spring in the northern hemisphere leads to flood alerts in many areas as snow melts and rivers rise. The Red River is renowned for causing flooding in the US states of North Dakota and Minnesota.

It is Winnipeg, however, that is most threatened by this river. A terrible flood in 1950 led to construction of the Floodway from 1962 to 1968. At the time it was the world’s largest earth-moving project, bigger even than the Suez Canal. Since completion it has been used more then 20 times to protect the city’s almost 700,000 residents from flooding.

Control gates south of the city divert water into the Floodway when forecasts indicate that flooding could occur. The channel and dikes can contain flood water flowing at 2,550 cubic metres per second safely around the city and back to the river at Lockport.

The 1997 flood tested the Floodway and other dikes to their limit. Construction is currently underway to expand the channel to a capacity of 4,000 cubic metres per second. This would accommodate a “1 in 700 year event” in the terminology of the Floodway Authority.

The CBC Archives have good information about the 1950 flood and the construction of the Floodway.

Other flood-prevention systems previously featured on Google Sightseeing include the Thames Barrier in England and the Delta Works in the Netherlands.

Thanks to Daryl.

Locations: Manitoba / Categories: Natural Landmarks, Structures

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Thanks: Eric Veilleux

Locations: Manitoba / Categories: Watercraft

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