in the late 1920s, early 1930s, before radio navigation was widely used, pilots of small planes were forced to use familiar landmarks on the ground as a way to find the runway they would hopefully land safely on. there was even a campaign started by the 99s (a women’s pilot group) in the early 1930s, the objective being to paint directions to the nearest airport on buildings and structures across the u.s., the result being thousands of enormous ‘road-signs’ for pilots scattered across the nation.

photo from skyscraperpage.com

when i first saw the photo above i imagined/hoped it would be pretty easy to find other brilliant photos of similar airmarks but it turns out that in the early 40s the u.s. war department demanded that all coastal airmarks be wiped out, all those inland to be left to deteriorate naturally. the result of that seems to be a frustrating lack of photos. if you know of any other enormous airmarks on local libraries, cinemas etc, let me know and i’ll try and get some photos together of the world’s largest directional signs. i’ve seen a few painted by the 99s on airfields themselves but i’d be more interested to find some more painted on huge structures like the tank above.

any ideas?

photo from airspacemag.com

if god was real and happened to be a sci-fi fan i reckon the cadet chapel at the air force academy in colorado would be his chapel of choice. it looks like no place of worship you’ve ever seen and from the outside resembles a row of 17 angular spacecraft sitting on their back-ends, ready to shoot off at any minute. the chapel and its surrounding complex was designed by walter netsch of architectural firm skidmore, owings & merrill and construction was completed in 1963. no sooner had the 150ft high spire-fest been announced than the public outcry began: as the chapel was a government-funded religious building, members of congress were opposed to the fact that more than $3m was to be spent on a chapel with so many spires when, ’surely’, only 1 was needed. they ultimately lost the battle but succeeded in cutting the amount of spires from the originally planned 19 to the still extravagant 17 you see today.

all things considered, this chapel is nuts, brilliant and ridiculously dramatic. the fact that it also sits amongst jets, helicopters and soldiers on a daily basis makes it all the more likeable and surreal. if you don’t feel the drama yet, watch the clip below: the soundtrack is an inspired choice that, at one point near the start, caused me to believe the building was about to launch. it also shows off the interior which wouldn’t look out of place on the starship enterprise.

incredible.

all photos from the united states air force academy’s official site.