Mt Whitney Zone Forums General Discussion Tunnel Meadow: Airstrip 15 miles south of Mt Whitney

Someone gave me a collection of slides from the mid-1960s that included images of Tunnel Meadows and Templeton Meadows Airstrips. Dates on slides are listed as May 1966.

I don't know any of the people but would enjoy learning more about the strips and who the people might be?

You can google the tail numbers of the planes.

N40305 Aircraft Registration
N40319 Aircraft Registration

The planes appear to be Maule M-4 -220C

It looks like they're both still in service, although I'm a bit confused because you say the photos were taken in 1966, which matches production years for the model of plane, but doesn't match dates listed in the tail number registrations, 1972 and 1975. Maybe they're actually Maule M-5-220c's

Very interesting! I'm relatively new to this forum so I missed this thread before.

I remember flying to Tunnel Meadow with my dad in his Bonanza sometime back in the '70s. From there we backpacked up to Johnson Lake and Funston Lake. It seemed very cool to buzz in and be deep in the wilderness before even starting to hike.

Thinking back, though, although I don't recall having any problems, flying up from sea level (LA) and going to 10k+ feet within a matter of hours sounds like a recipe for altitude sickness!

I think you are right about the date of the Maules. The crashed Maule looks like it has a more modern McCauley CS Prop then would have been installed back in 66'

The group of slides I posted from here are in with a bunch that were processed in May 1966, but the ones with the Maules Don't have a processing date. Could be they got tossed in with a group of older photos from a few years before.

My father was a Cessna dealer in the 60's and I recalled the paint scheme on the 182 in the background as being a 1964 or 1965, Turns out it s a 64' model. The N-number sounds familiar and I'm guessing it might be one my father sold new or used in Oregon back then.

Aircraft Registration :N3272S
Aircraft Serial Number : 18255772
Aircraft Manufacturer : CESSNA
Model : 182G
Engine Manufacturer : CONT MOTOR
Model : O-470 SERIES
Aircraft Year : 1964
Owner Address
VENTURA, CA, 930031425
Type of Owner : Individual
Registration Date : 26-Feb-2001
Airworthiness Certificate Type : Standard
Approved Operations : Normal

I also worked for Ted Sarbin at Bally Systems in Reno (in 1979, I think). I'd bet there weren't many private pilots named Ted Sarbin living in California in 1972 (his dad, same name, was a famous psych professor). Furthermore, this airport is consistent with the sorts of destinations he liked: fly to small airport in the Sierra's, eat lunch, fly back to San Jose (or in this case, lacking a restaurant at the airfield, maybe skip lunch? :-).