Fortuna Air Force Station

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Fortuna Air Force Station
west of Fortuna, North Dakota
Type	Air Force station
Coordinates	48°54′11″N, 103°52′22″W
Built
In use	April 1952–July 1979, April 1952–1984 (GATR)
Current owner	sold to civilians, subsequently forfeited to county auditors
Controlled by	United States Air Force
Garrison	780 AC&W Sqdn

Fortuna Air Force Station (Fortuna AFS) was an 33-acre Aircraft Control and Warning (AC&W) facility at approximately 2285' elevation AMSL, located west of Fortuna and north of Alkabo in north-western North Dakota. It was active from 1952 through 1979 as an AC&W facility, and from 1979 through 1984 as a Long-Range Radar (LRR) facility.

1 History and lineage
2 Buildings and facilities
3 Assigned units
4 Current use
5 References
6 External links

[edit] History and lineage

Activated c. April 1952 as Pinetree Line site P-27;
Redesignated as USAF site Fortuna Air Force Station;
Reallocated to SAGE in 1961 as site Z-27;
Reallocated as a BUIC III site;
Main site inactivated on 1 July 1979, GATR facility retained for Long-Range Radar (LRR) network operations;
GATR site inactivated c. 1984.

[edit] Buildings and facilities

The Ground to Air Transmitter-Receiver (GATR) facility was located off-station at 48°53′05″N, 103°53′03″W, roughly one mile south of the main station.

[edit] Assigned units

780th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron

[edit] Current use

The station was bought by private investors that pillaged the site and stripped the site of anything of value and sold it off. After this "salvage", the site was forfieted to Divide County over a valuation dispute, and now sits half-demolished, useless as a facility, and abandoned.

[edit] References

Winkler, David Frank (1997). Searching the skies : the legacy of the United States Cold War defense radar program, Prepared for United States Air Force Headquarters Air Combat Command, Langley AFB, VA: Headquarters Air Combat Command. LCCN 97-20912.