White Sands Missile Range Museum

[Joe Copalman]

Being a bit of an ordnance/weapons geek, I've wanted to check this museum out for a while.  Finally had a chance on the way back from a family vacation out to Alamogordo and the White Sands National Monument (well worth checking out on its own).  Not a whole lot aircraft-wise - there's an F-4E from Holloman, an old Army Queen Air that was apparently Von Braun's personal transport, and this old range support Huey.  The rest of the outdoor 'petting zoo' is mostly missile and ordnance systems that have been tested at WSMR over the years - everything from TOW anti-tank missiles to Redstone rockets.  There's also a museum with several good displays about the history of the area and the range itself (including some older target-drone control stations from the PQM-102 days, which were cool).  There's also a separate building housing a V-2 missile with several panels cut away so you can see the 'guts' of it.  All in all a cool little museum, well worth the price of admission (free), though going through the security check to be allowed on base can take a while if the Pass & ID shack is busy.

[John B.]

It is a cool little place.  They can be or used to be sticklers about the photography thing from time to time.  I have heard that from others and it has happened to me.  When I was there the guys at the gate advised me to not point my lens towards the base interior--as a consequence everything I wanted to shoot was backlit!  Having said that, I have also heard of no shortage of persons having no issues at all.  So, it is a cool little place worth the stop and I am glad they didn't give you any ridiculous restrictions.

[Joe Copalman]

Yeah, I had heard the same stories, but received no such guidance from the guys at the gate. 

That said, I basically just used common sense - didn't bring a long lens with me and framed shots to where there really wasn't any base infrastructure visible in the background.  Never bothered at all.

[tajmahal250]

Digging through my old files, and I found some of my old photos from when I used to work at White Sands. A little work in Google Nik, and this was the result:

[/url]REACH FOR THE SKY by Thomas  Backus, on Flickr[/img]

[Tower Guy]

Cool shot Thomas.