Sometimes you’re lost, and use your phone to get you home. And sometimes you use a 70 foot concrete arrow.

• After World War I, there was a surplus of planes and a desire for fast postal delivery…behold air mail.
• To help guide pilots across miles of unremarkable terrain, the federal government had huge arrows made and installed, 50 or 70 foot long.
• So the mail could be moved at night, manned watchtowers were constructed next to the arrows with rotating lights, visible from altitudes of 10 miles.
• It was in the 1940’s that saw the end of our favourite pointers. A combination of the increased sophistication of radio and the need for scrap metal for the war effort meant that the beacon towers were disassembled.
• It isn’t known how many of the arrows or watchtowers still survive.

For more pictures of these long-forgotten installations, have a look over here

Source: Messy Nessy Chic