Northern Tier Radar Coverage

The following note is from an email I received from Tom Page, who is providing me much of my background information on CONUS/Alaskan AC&W Sites. Tom also sent the photo on the opening Photo Gallery tab.

... By the way, you do know that Minot AFS -- like many sites along the northern tier -- is closed now. The 786th Radar Sq. deactivated on 1 July 1979. I expect all you will see now is a "ghost town" with domeless towers. The FAA did not want to take over any of the four original radar sites in North Dakota.
Instead, radar coverage in western ND is provided by the FAA/USAF joint-use site at Watford City, ND. Fortuna AFS and Finley AFS likewise are both closed, as of 1 July 79 and 30 December 79, respectively. Of course, the other AF radar site in ND, Dickinson AFS, closed way back in 25 June 65. There is also a new FAA/USAF joint-use site at Finley, but it is not the original AF Station. The new location is five or six (?) miles away.

Tom Page