Searching for a VLA Site, February 1966
The search for a site for the VLA began in the mid-1960s with visits by members of the VLA Project team to a number of potential locations in the southwestern U.S. This photo was taken in February 1966 on the Plains of St. Augustin, in the general area of the future intersection of the array arms. On the left is Cam Wade, and on the right is Max Small, both from NRAO. In the center is Robert Weber, a geologist with the NM Bureau of Mines in Socorro, who was very knowledgeable about the geology of the Plains of San Augustin, and was hugely helpful to the VLA project. Around his neck, Wade has the Finnish forester's compass that he used to check out all the potential VLA sites, and to do the initial layout for the array. Caption information was provided by Cam Wade, who says the photo was probably taken by George Swenson using Max Small's camera. (GB66-02826_vla-site-search-feb1966.jpg)
