Scott's USAF Installations Page

Trip Report: Under the Big Sky

First published in 2014. Reformatted 2025.

Montana and Wyoming are among my favorite states to explore. I enjoy the wide-open spaces. The sky really does seem bigger in this part of the country. For this report, I visited two locations of WWII significance in Wyoming, then ten locations of Cold War significance in Montana. Just a reminder PIN means Permanent Installation Number and ILC means Installation Location Code; I include these for Air Force properties when I know them.

Saturday, 7 June 2014

The Outback took me north from Denver into Wyoming. My first stop was the Wyoming Veterans Memorial Museum, to attend the opening day of their D-Day exhibit and say hello to Curator Doug Cubbison. It pleases me that the museum is located on the former Casper AFB.

Casper Air Force Base WY, 42-54-25, 106-27-55. Casper Army Airfield was a bomber crew training base during WWII. After the war, the large 3,313.8-acre base lingered on the books in an inactive status. On 13 January 1948 it was redesignated Casper Air Force Base. The base was assigned to Strategic Air Command at that time. It retained this designation when it was transferred from SAC to Air Materiel Command on 15 January 1952. The final listing I have found for Casper AFB is in the December 1952 USAF Installations Directory. For this visit I made arrangements with airport authorities to access the flightline, so I could photograph the front of the hangars.
Hangar No. 1
Hangar No. 1
Hangar No. 2
Hangar No. 3
Hangar No. 4
Civilian hangar
Hangar No. 5
Hangar No. 5
Hangar No. 5
Hangar No. 5
Sub-depot shops
Firing-in butt

Casper Ground Gunnery Range WY, 42-55-20, 106-24-55. The range, covering 2,924 acres, was acquired in 1943 and declared surplus in 1949. It contained a rifle range, submachine gun range, and a ground gunnery range. The ground gunnery range was the Poorman type, designed in November 1943 by Major Fred S. Poorman of the Chief of Engineers Office for the Army Air Forces. This range used aircraft turrets mounted on the firing line, giving aerial gunners realistic practice on the ground before they took to the air. Casper's Poorman Range Trainer was planned for 21 or possibly even 32 turret positions, but only eight Martin upper turret positions were built before construction was stopped. After he locked up the museum for the day, Doug was kind enough to take me to the range! This was the first Poorman range I've visited. I counted six groups of firing positions, and they are shown here moving from north-northwest to south-southeast, with the observation tower between groups three and four.
General view of firing positions and range tower
First group
First group
First group
Second group
Second group
Second group
Third group
Third group
Third group
Range tower
Range tower
Range tower
Range tower
Fourth group
Fourth group
Fourth group
Fifth group
Fifth group
Fifth group
Sixth group
Sixth group
Sixth group
Building foundation
Building foundation
Latrine foundation
Latrine foundation
Debris with range tower in background

I stopped for the night in Casper, Wyoming, after a 336-mile day.

Wednesday, 11 June 2014

By this time, I was staying in Shelby, Montana. I headed east to Havre, then north to within a few miles of Canada.

Havre Training Site MT, ILC HAAV, 48-55-40, 110-14-19. This radar bomb scoring site was supported by Malmstrom AFB. It was activated 1 October 1986, inactivated 30 June 1993, and disposed of 11 June 1998. The former Havre Air Force Station was brought back to active service in conjunction with this site. Havre Training Site was referred to as the technical-operations area, while the older Havre AFS was referred to as the administration/support area.
Building
Building
Building
Building

Havre Family Housing Annex MT. ILC KHEN, 48-52-58, 109-56-41. Adjacent to the north side of Havre AFS, this property provided 18 additional homes for assigned personnel. These relocatable homes were added in 1974 (27 homes were built on the Air Force Station proper in 1959).
View from the housing annex
Housing annex showing foundation posts and electrical transformers
View from the housing annex showing sidewalk and fire hydrant

Havre Communications Facility Annex MT, PIN 7170, ILC KHEH, 48-52-47, 109-56-28. This Air Defense Command communications annex, a ground-to-air transmit-receive facility, was south-southeast of Havre AFS. It was first used about 1961 and disposed of 2 October 1989.
Building and Gate
Building
Building
Building
Building

Long Range Navigation Station Havre MT, 48-44-38, 109-58-55. This U.S. Coast Guard Long Range Navigation (LORAN) site with 700-foot mast radiator antenna was established in 1990 and closed 8 February 2010.
General view from gate
Cable anchor
Antenna
Buildings
Building
Antenna detail
Power pole

I returned to Shelby for the night, after 402 miles driven.

Thursday, 12 June 2014

From Shelby I headed out to a remote area of Montana.

Malmstrom SAFEGUARD Water Booster Station No. 1 MT, 48-16-38, 111-25-59. Since I was in the area, I revisited this site. One of two water pump stations supporting the component installations of the SAFEGUARD system, this one was built adjacent to the access road of Malmstrom AF Missile Site Q-12. The Army acquired the property in 1970, and it was declared excess 15 February 1974.
General view
General view
General view
General view
Closeup inside fence
Closeup inside fence
Closeup inside fence

Malmstrom SAFEGUARD Missile Site Radar Site MT, 48-08-30, 111-45-30. The missile site radar, if completed, would have looked like the one at Nekoma, North Dakota. Construction was halted in May 1972, to comply with the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. The Army had acquired the property in 1970, and declared it excess 15 February 1974.
H-shaped building
H-shaped building
H-shaped building
Vehicle heater outlets at H-shaped building
Large building
Medium building
Medium building
Small building
Small building
Small building
Loading dock
Water reservoir
Water reservoir
Water reservoir
Water reservoir
View of H-shaped building from water reservoir
Sewage lagoon
Sewage lagoon sign
Electrical equipment
Commercial electric substation

Conrad Radar Bomb Scoring Site MT, ILC CPBS, 48-02-44, 111-28-29. The 1.38-acre property was leased November 1983 and the installation activated 1 June 1986. A .87-acre portion of this property was set apart as the Conrad Strategic Training Range Complex, Fixed Technical Site on 8 May 1985. It was inactivated 30 June 1993, and disposed of 17 August 1998. The remaining .51 acre of the original lease was terminated in 1988 or 1990. Malmstrom AFB provided support. I observed no trace of the Air Force operation, shown on a map as located just north and west of the Community House seen in the photos. It's not clear to me if the building itself was used by the Air Force.
Community House in front of leased area
Community House

Pendroy Mini-MUTE Radar Site (20MM3) MT, ILC TAKL, 48-05-48, 112-17-56. This unmanned facility supported Conrad RBSS. It was activated 8 September 1988 and disposed of 3 October 1994.
General view from outer gate
View from inner gate
View from inner gate
Light and phone box
Phone box
Electrical boxes
Light detail

I returned to Shelby for one final night, after covering 266 miles.

Friday, 13 June 2014

From Shelby I headed south.

Agawan Radar Bomb Scoring Site MT, 48-04-17, 112-11-15. The Air Force leased 11.25 acres inside the fenced compound of a gas compressor station to park mobile radar bomb scoring vans. The land was leased March 1974 and the lease was terminated 14 March 1976.
General view of compound
Leased property was behind these garages

I wrapped up this day with 490 miles driven. Total miles were 3,093 for this eight-day adventure.

Updated May 10, 2025

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