On the Abandoned Giant Arrows throughout the U.S.

"Being an airmail pilot in the 1920s was a dangerous occupation - according to Half as Interesting, the average person in that profession died after just 900 hours of flying. One of the biggest dangers had to do with navigating at night; once darkness fell, pilots often had no idea where they were going. Aviation maps didn't exist yet, and this was decades before the days of GPS. For a while, pilots had to rely on giant bonfires next to landing strips. But eventually the U.S. government hit on a solution: thousands of giant glowing arrows, known as airway beacons, showing the way across the country."

A recent Mental Floss post gave an overview of this system of giant arrows.

To access this post (and its related video), please visit:

Mental Floss: The Reason There's Over a Hundred Abandoned Giant Arrows Across the U.S. (5 MAY 18)