Fortuna Air Force Station | |
|---|---|
| Part ofAir Defense Command (ADC) | |
| Elkhorn Township,Divide County, west ofFortuna, North Dakota | |
 Circa 1977 historical photograph | |
| Site information | |
| Type | Air Force station |
| Code | ADC ID: P-27 NORAD ID: Z-27 |
| Owner | sold to civilians, subsequently forfeited tocounty auditors |
| Controlled by |  United States Air Force |
| Location | |
  Fortuna AFS Location of Fortuna AFS, North Dakota | |
| Coordinates | 48°54′14″N103°52′00″W / 48.90389°N 103.86667°W /48.90389; -103.86667 (Fortuna AFS P-27) |
| Site history | |
| In use | April 1952–July 1979 (main site), April 1952–1984 (GATR) |
| Garrison information | |
| Garrison | 780th Air Defense Group, 780th Aircraft Control & Warning Squadron (later 780th Radar Squadron) |
Fortuna Air Force Station is a closedUnited States Air Force General Surveillance Radar station. It is located 4.2 miles (6.8 km) west ofFortuna, North Dakota. It was closed in 1979 as a radar station, remaining as a Long-Range Radar (LRR) facility until 1984.
Fortuna Air Force Station was part of the last batch of twenty-three radar stations constructed as part of theAir Defense Command permanent network. It was activated in April, and declared completely operational in late 1952.
The 780th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron (AC&W Sq) began operations usingAN/FPS-3 search andAN/FPS-4 height-finder radars, and initially the station functioned as aGround-control intercept (GCI) and warning station. As a GCI station, thesquadron's role was to guideinterceptor aircraft toward unidentifiedintruders picked up on the unit'sradar scopes. During 1957 anAN/GPS-3 search radar made a brief appearance. Reportedly, anAN/TPS-10D was also briefly used. In 1958 the 780th began operating anAN/FPS-20A search radar that replaced the AN/GPS-3. By 1960 a pair ofAN/FPS-6, -6A handled height-finder chores.
During 1961 Fortuna AFS joined theSemi Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) system, initially feeding data to DC-20 atMalmstrom Air Force Base, Montana. After joining, the squadron was redesignated as the 780th Radar Squadron (SAGE) on 1 August 1961.[1] The radar squadron provided information 24/7 to the SAGE Direction Center where it was analyzed to determine range, direction, altitude, speed and whether or not the aircraft were friendly or hostile. Fortuna was incorporated into BUIC I, a manual back-up interceptor control system implemented in 1962. BUIC I provided limited command and control capability in the event the SAGE system was disabled.
In 1963, the AN/FPS-20A was removed, and the makeup of the radars at Fortuna consisted of anAN/FPS-35 search radar along with AN/FPS-6 andAN/FPS-90 height-finder radars. On 31 July 1963, the site was redesignated as NORAD IDZ-27. The FPS-35 tower was located 6.6 miles from the U.S./Canada border and 8.3 miles from the North Dakota/Montana border.
In 1964 anAN/FPS-26A height-finder radar was installed, and the AN/FPS-6 was retired. In the winter of 1964, a fierce wind storm blew over the AN/FPS-35 sail; the sail was not replaced until the following year (by the one formerly installed atManassas Air Force Station, Virginia, reportedly). For the interim, in 1965 anAN/FPS-64 search radar was installed in the former AN/FPS-20A tower; it was removed in 1967 after the AN/FPS-35 was again fully operational. The AN/FPS-90 height-finder radar was removed in 1969. Work proceeded on the installation of BUIC II in 1966, after the installation of a Burroughs CSA-51 computer system, In 1969 it became a BUIC III site.
Over the years, the equipment at the station was upgraded or modified to improve the efficiency and accuracy of the information gathered by the radars. The 780th Radar Sq was inactivated and replaced by the 780th Air Defense Group in March 1970.[1][2] The upgrade togroup status was done because of Fortuna AFS' status as aBackup Interceptor Control (BUIC) site. BUIC sites were alternate control sites in the event that SAGE Direction Centers became disabled and unable to control interceptor aircraft. The group was inactivated and replaced by the 780th Radar Squadron[1][2] as defenses against crewed bombers were reduced. The group was disbanded in 1984.[3] Normal operations continued until 1979 whenAerospace Defense Command was inactivated in September and the radar station was inactivated. The GATR site (R-27) was retained until theJoint Surveillance System (JSS) switchover, c. 1984. TheFederal Aviation Administration (FAA) opened an unstaffedARSR-4 radar facility about halfway betweenSidney, Montana, andWatford City, North Dakota before the Fortuna radars were finally decommissioned in 1984.
The station was bought by private investors that stripped the site of anything of value and sold it off. After this "salvage", the site was forfeited toDivide County over a valuation dispute[citation needed], and now sits half-demolished, useless as a facility, and abandoned. An environmental impact study is currently planned as a precursor to a possible land reclamation effort.
The main tower is now housing a operating cell tower.
Historical signage was erected by the county, with a turn off on Highway 5. All buildings but the main radar building have been removed.
Buildings on the station include:
|
|
|
The Ground to Air Transmitter-Receiver (GATR) facility was located off-station at48°53′05″N103°53′03″W / 48.88472°N 103.88417°W /48.88472; -103.88417, roughly one mile south of the main station.
Download coordinates as:
This article incorporatespublic domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency
Further Reading
| Leadership |  | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Structure |
| ||||||||||
| Personnel and training | |||||||||||
| Uniforms and equipment | |||||||||||
| History and traditions |
| ||||||||||
