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North Africa Topics specific to North Africa and the Sahara down to the 17th parallel (excludes Morocco)
Photo by Helmut Koch, Vivid sky with Northern Lights, Yukon, Canada

I haven't been everywhere...
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Photo by Helmut Koch,
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Trans Sahara Routes.

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  #31  
Old 2 Aug 2019
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Cleft Hill LRDG airstrip Egypt Western Desert
could this picture help ?



or the sat map ?



the tracks are really mysterious !



Last edited by ursula; 7 Aug 2019 at 13:02.
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  #32  
Old 6 Sep 2019
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Egypt - airfields from WWII
Maybe you like my album "Airfields, Wrecks and Jerrycans"

https://www.flickr.com/photos/182588...57710065267072
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  #33  
Old 25 Sep 2019
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ursula View Post
the tracks are really mysterious !
Has anyone ever crossposted this thread to an aviation forum or the like? I mean no disrespect, but I think guesswork in this forum won't lead anywhere.
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  #34  
Old 1 Oct 2019
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@Herr_Bünzli
I know there are many WWII aviation historians lurking on this forum, they are as baffled as anyone else. The tracks are unlike anything one would expect to have been made by aircraft of the day, see discussion above.
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  #35  
Old 4 Oct 2019
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I have seen high flotation,wide wheelbase,geophysical survey vehicles operating in Abu dhabi and Oman.Could it be this or,similar.They usually travel in a series of parallel straight lines so these should also be able to be seen.The circles may be corraling at the end of the day!
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  #36  
Old 9 Oct 2019
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The source of the mystery is that the tracks are quite clearly single, unlike anything one would expect from multi-wheeled craft.
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  #37  
Old 10 Oct 2019
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Interesting thread guys.
Any updates?
Or will it all be lost to history?
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  #38  
Old 17 Oct 2019
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There are two images among the Arkwright photographs that might give a clue. They show a Thornycroft lorry dragging something on a long rope in the sand. There is no caption to provide any explanation for the purpose of the exercise, but that would leave a track very similar to the ones being contemplated:





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  #39  
Old 28 Jan 2020
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Flying over Zerzura
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  #40  
Old 25 Mar 2020
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Mystery solved !
Watching the original footage of the Bagnold expeditions on youtube it became clear that these marks were left by the old tail-dragger Vickers Victorias of RAF 216 sqn. Unlike later aircraft with a tail wheel, they only had a tail skid which made a deep trough in the soft terrain, but the wheels with the rubber tires did not sink in. This explains the single tracks. The still from the video illustrates it nicely:


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Last edited by Grant Johnson; 27 Mar 2020 at 22:32. Reason: When posting photos linked from other websites please use httpS where possible, or the page shows as insecure. :(
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  #41  
Old 25 Mar 2020
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Could the single tracks be the nose or tail wheel of an aircraft? In a tight turn that single wheel might dig in more than the others.
Close but no cigar....
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  #42  
Old 26 Mar 2020
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Close but no cigar....
Certainly worth an honourable mention...
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  #43  
Old 26 Mar 2020
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Now that we know what made them, it is actually possible to see the tracks made by the main wheels on either side of the deeper tail skid mark on this photo of Ursula:

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could this picture help ?
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  #44  
Old 26 Mar 2020
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I keep having to remind myself how long those single tracks have been there. Seven decades or so and counting - with plenty of wind energy to move sediment around multiple times a month. Think of all the tracks we've driven out in the Sahara and Libyan desert over the years.
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  #45  
Old 26 Mar 2020
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These are the tracks of Prince Kemal el Din's Citroens from 1926 at Uweinat (taken in 2015):


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