Tag Archives: Monse

S-55s Waiting to Go

Just up the road from Brewster Airport is another collection of vintage helicopters.  Monse has some even older airframes.  I was a little disappointed at first because I thought that they were going to be R-5s but, when I got there, I came across a bunch of immaculate S-55s.  There may have been an R-5 in there too because I could see the tail of something different.  Most of what I could see was S-55s, though.

Each of them looked in fantastic condition.  They all had individual paint schemes that looked flawless so there was little to be disappointed about.  I could shoot what I could see from the road outside the entrance to the driveway.  Again the signage did not encourage visitors so I decided against walking up the driveway to see whether they would let me shoot the collection up close.  It certainly would be good to visit in more detail though.

Listening to Space

After leaving Brewster on my road trip, I was heading a short distance to the next town of Monse.  A short unpaved road would take me there but along this road was something I had not expected.  A bloody great deep space antenna was right next to the road.  As I pulled up alongside it, there was a sign announcing that is was part of a large array of receivers around the world.  The sign outside also asked you to turn off your cellphone if you entered since the signals could interfere with their reception.  If I had known it was there and that you might be able to visit, I might have planned a stop but I had a full schedule ahead of me so I briefly paused before moving on.

Up on the hill behind the receiver was quite an array of antennas.  A look on Google Maps suggests it is part of a cable company’s operation but it does look a little more complex than that.  Maybe it does some secret squirrel stuff or maybe I am letting my imagination run away with me!