Finley Air Force Station - Finley, ND - Abandoned Air Force Radar Sites on Waymarking.com

Finley Air Force Station is an abandoned radar base outside Finley, North Dakota. Closed in 1979, the site now functions as a landfill. Similar to the Minot and Fortuna Air Force Stations, Finley AFS was a ground control intercept facility tasked with detecting and dispatching intercept aircraft in the event unidentified aircraft threatened to penetrate American air space. The role of facilities like this evolved with the advent of the ICBM, but eventually North Dakota’s Air Force Stations were phased out.
Just like what we’ve seen in other abandoned military bases in the state, the salvage rights to the base were sold, and the salvage crews blew holes in the walls to get the boilers and scrap metal out of the buildings. From Ghosts of North Dakota: (visit link)

Finley Air Force Station was part of the last batch of twenty-three radar stations constructed as part of the Air Defense Command permanent network. It was activated in April 1951, and declared completely operational in late 1952, and initially the station functioned as a Ground control intercept (GCI) and warning station. As a GCI station, the squadron's role was to guide interceptor aircraft toward unidentified intruders picked up on the unit's radar scopes.

The 785th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron began operations with an AN/FPS-3 search radar and AN/FPS-4 from the site in April 1952. In 1957 an AN/FPS-6 replaced the AN/FPS-4 height-finder radar, and an AN/FPS-8 search radar saw brief service. At the end of 1958 this site was operating an AN/FPS-20 radar. A second height-finder (AN/FPS-6B?) was added during 1959.

At the end of 1959 Finley AFS joined the Semi Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) system, initially feeding data to DC-20 at Malmstrom AFB, Montana. After joining, the squadron was redesignated as the 785th Radar Squadron (SAGE) on 15 January 1960. SAGE data was switched to DC-10 at Duluth AFS, Minnesota in 1963. The radar squadron provided information 24/7 the SAGE Direction Center where it was analyzed to determine range, direction altitude speed and whether or not aircraft were friendly or hostile. From Wikipedia: (visit link)

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Squadron number: 785th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron 10 April 1951 - 15 January 1960. 785th Radar Squadron 15 January 1960 - 1 January 1980 Related Web Sites: [Web Link] Served at this site :: Not listed

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