Arctic Tower At Walker AFB

Text and photos by Tom Page, Radomes staff.
I took these photos on Friday, 14 March 2003. All were made in the early afternoon.
The AC&W radar site at Walker AFB was on the west side of the runways. The radar tower pictured below is located south of the runways. One possibility is that the radar site was in the process of being relocated to this location when the squadron was ordered to deactivate in 1963. We are presently trying to verify if this was the case or not.
Incidentally, when I located the radar site and took the photos, I thought I was still on the west side of the former base. Using my hand-held GPS receiver, I recorded the latitude-longitude coordinates at the fence closest to the site. Later, when I located the site in the "TerraServer" aerial imagery, I was surprised to find I was actually on the south side of the base, nearer to the southeast corner than the southwest corner.

This photo (and all others showing the radar site) was taken from the fence line alongside the perimeter road. This photo was made at a point to the southwest of the site. The old search radar tower is seen near the center of the image. [Looking northeast]

This photo was taken from the same point as photo #1, except a 135-mm semi-telephoto lens was used (the first photo was made using a 55-mm normal lens). [Looking northeast]

This photo was taken from a point further to the east, also using a 135-mm semi-telephoto lens. [Looking north-northwest]

This photo is essentially the same as photo #3, except it was made using a 300-mm telephoto lens to capture a close-up of the old search radar tower. Presumably, the neighboring Quonset hut was part of the original radar station. [Looking north-northwest]

This photo (through a 135-mm lens) was taken further to the east than the previous ones. [Looking due west]