Secret Airfield at Harper [dry] Lake, California

[syscom3]

"Stories about a secret airfield and underground factory still circulate among folks living in our Barstow outpost. It had to do with Harper Lake and the elusive Howard Hughes during World War II. The men who worked at the factory, it is told, were sworn to not divulge anything about what was going on there. A secret that some took to their grave. "

DESERT EXPLORER: November 2012

 

[GrauGeist]

When I was a kid, we used to spend alot of time out in the desert...seems like everyone had a homestead as a second home and some had imprompteau airstrips to fly-in on...and man were there stories galore around the bonfires!

I miss those times

 

[FLYBOYJ]

I had the opportunity to overfly Harper a few times and heard stories about Hughes operating out of there. Harper is mentioned on histoires about the D-2. Good article though!!!

"Final assembly was done at the Hughes Harper Dry Lake facility in the Mojave Desert. The fighter that emerged from the Hughes experimental shop looked like a scaled-up P-38 Lightning and, on paper, sported similar performance potential."

Hughes D-2 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia