Trip Report: Meander to Madison
First published in 2003. Reformatted 2025. I went to Madison, Wisconsin, for a training seminar on historic preservation (Introduction to Section 106, conducted by the National Preservation Institute). Naturally, I managed to visit a few interesting places on the drive up and back from Texas. 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.Sunday, 9 November 2003
Air Force Plant No. 35 IL, PIN 2524, 38-38-35, 90-05-11. First stop of the trip was in Washington Park, Illinois (just a few miles east of St. Louis). From about 1949 to 1965, Emerson Electric Manufacturing Co. manufactured gun turrets and electronic fire control systems at this plant, on behalf of the Air Force. The plant was inactivated and sold on 29 November 1966. Currently, most of the plant is abandoned and in disrepair. The east end of the property is used for open storage. On a wall of the plant, "PLANT No. 2 EMERSON ELECTRIC MFG CO&" is still visible in faded letters. This plant had Navy use during WWII. It was acquired by condemnation and declaration of taking in early 1942, and used until 1945 by the Walworth Company for foundry and forging of heavy armaments for the Navy.General view
General view
General view
General view
General view Nike CM-55R IL, 41-03-22, 89-02-55. My next visits were farther north in Illinois. In Wenona, I found the former one of ten radar sites in the Chicago-Milwaukee Radar Defense Ring. This radar ring was part of the Nike program, and was unique among the many Nike defense areas. CM-55R was built on a small hill (actually a mine tailings dump). The dirt road to the top of the wooded hill is still useable, and the concrete support for the radar remains in place (it is square, about 11 feet on each side). Some other broken-up concrete is nearby. This radar site was active in the Nike system for some period of time between 1955 and 1974.
General view
Radar support structure
Radar support structure
Concrete remnants
Radar support structure Domestic Main Site IL, 41-04-11, 88-53-52. From Wenona, I took local roads east to the former USAF Distant Early Warning Line Training Center, near Streator. This unusual installation--looking out of place in the cornfields--was a government facility from about 1952 to about 1984; radar training took place here from about 1956 to about 1975. When operational, it sported a large white radome and two tropospheric scatter (or troposcatter) antennas among its improvements. The radome is gone, but the tower remains in place. One of the troposcatter antennas remains, inside the fenced compound. A second troposcatter antenna, outside the fence, has been removed leaving the concrete supports. Large high frequency radio antennas were once strung from poles in the field to the east of the facility. The property was leased by the U.S. Government, and operated by different contractors over its career. Most of the Air Force buildings remain in place, as do a couple of no trespassing signs.
General view
General view
General view
Radar tower
Troposcatter antenna
Troposcatter antenna
Location of former troposcatter antenna
Location of former troposcatter antenna
Radar tower (L) and troposcatter antenna (R)
Troposcatter antenna (L) and radar tower (R)
Historic no trespassing sign Domestic Auxiliary Site IL, 42-14-43, 89-21-13. Next, I headed back to the interstate highway and drove north to find another component in the DEW line training setup, the troposcatter link near Seward. I was pleased to see a matching troposcatter antenna, still pointing back toward Streator.
General view
General view
General view
General view
Troposcatter antenna
Monday, 10 November 2003
North Central Wisconsin Communications Site GWEN 936 WI, ILC NPAU. I don't mind going a few miles out of my way for a GWEN site, and I certainly added some mileage to the trip by visiting this site near Medford, Wisconsin. This relay node site was among the final wave of GWEN relay node sites, built in approximately 1991. It has the standard 299-foot tower and typical equipment shelters, and was disposed of by the Air Force on 9 November 2000.General view
General view
Equipment shelters
Equipment shelters
Gate Truax Family Housing Annex WI, 43-11-35, 89-13-47. From Medford I headed south to Sun Prairie, Wisconsin. This 110-unit housing area was built in 1961, transferred to the Army (who called it Family Housing Sun Prairie) in the 1970s, and closed in 1988. It is now called Vandenburg Heights.
General view
Non-historic sign Truax BOMARC Missile Site WI, 43-11-27, 89-09-13. A few miles east of Sun Prairie, I sought out a piece of farmland that was once intended to be a missile site. The U.S. Government purchased the property in 1959 and drilled a single water well before reporting the property excess in 1960.
General view
General view Truax Field WI. The present Dane County Regional Airport-Truax Field (MSN) was home to an AAF technical school (Radio School No. 3) from 1942 to 1945. It was transferred to the Corps of Engineers in 1946, but by 1952, it was back in use by the Air Defense Command, who flew here until the 1960s. The airfield had an unusual configuration of eight alert hangars on the south end of the main runway; a central group of four prefabricated alert hangars has two additional alert hangars, of a different design, on each side. The Air National Guard has operated from Truax Field since 1946. Since the 1980s, the Air Force has variously referred to the airport as Dane County Regional Airport or Truax Field. The manual Air Defense Control Center (ADCC) (SM-168) sits at 43-07-28, 89-20-03, and is a modified Type 4 Operations Building. Just north of the ADCC, sit the adjoining SAGE Combat Direction Center (DC-7), 43-07-32, 89-20-03; and SAGE Combat Control Center (CC-2), 43-07-34, 89-20-03. (The south end of the control center abuts the north end of the direction center.) All three of these buildings have been heavily modified. SM-168 started operation in spring 1956, and was a temporary measure until the SAGE facilities were up and running. Both the SAGE facilities started operations in the late 1950s; CC-2 shut down in 1963, and DC-7 operated until 1967.
Alert hangars
Manual Air Defense Control Center
Manual Air Defense Control Center
Manual Air Defense Control Center
Manual Air Defense Control Center
SAGE Combat Direction Center
SAGE Combat Direction Center (L) and Combat Control Center (C) and new construction (R) Truax Field Civilian War Worker Housing WI. A 1952 layout plan of Truax Field shows an area of Civilian Housing at the southeast corner of Truax Field. This housing was likely built under the Lanham Act in the early 1940s. Ten identical buildings currently on this site match the building footprint on the 1952 plan. I don't know if these are the original buildings (heavily modified), or if the old buildings were removed and new ones built in their place.
Building
Friday, 14 November 2003
Williams Bay Air Force Station WI, 42-37-02, 88-32-17. Known as site P-31 in the air defense system, this long-range radar site operated from about 1951 to 1960. In 1960, the main radar site shut down. A gap filler radar building and radar tower were constructed in the southwest corner of the site, becoming Williams Bay Gap Filler Annex. The footers for the gap filler radar tower are visible from the public road, and the gap filler building has been modified into a residence. It is not clear how long this gap filler was operational, if it was operational at all.General view
General view
General view
General view
Building
Building
Building
Building
Building
Gap filler building
Gap filler building
Gap filler building Richard Bong Air Force Base WI, PIN 3347, 42-37-45, 88-09-15. East of Williams Bay, near Kansasville, I visited this short-lived Air Force base. It is now Richard Bong State Recreation Area. Originally known to the Air Force as the Kansasville Area, it was redesignated Richard Bong Air Force Base on 1 December 1955. Corps of Engineers documents indicate the land was acquired in fee during 1957 and 1958. On 5 June 1957, jurisdiction, control and accountability of the installation were assigned, on an inactive status, to Strategic Air Command. The base was declared excess by the Air Force on 23 August 1960. By that time, the runway and taxiways had been graded and the subsurface prepared--they were within weeks of being paved. A few other buildings had been constructed. I was pleased to see that the state describes the base and its namesake in their visitor pamphlet. In fact, the signs refer to the runway area as--the runway! I was able to drive the length of the park road that now sits on the planned parallel taxiway. On a different day I might have walked on the planned runway, but I had arrived during a special pheasant hunt. I had to stay on the paved road and out of the runway area.
General view
General view
General view
General view
Saturday, 15 November 2003
Vichy Army Air Field MO, 38-07-30, 91-46-30. The present Rolla National Airport (VIH) supported Fort Leonard Wood early in WWII. By 1943, it was listed as a sub-base of Godman AAFld or Sedalia AAFld. It was transferred to the Corps of Engineers in 1946. A nice 184-foot Demountable Type DH-1 hangar (my favorite type) is a prominent feature on the flightline, and I enjoyed seeing a vintage C-47 parked on the ramp.General view
General view
Hangar
Hangar
Hangar
Hangar
General view Vichy Gap Filler Annex MO, 38-08-08, 91-46-24. In about 1959, a small piece of the former Vichy AAFld was reacquired for use as an unmanned radar site. Also known as site P-70C, it was controlled by Belleville AFS, Illinois, until about 1962. This was the first gap filler I've seen with the radome still in place.
General view
Building
Building
Building
Building
Radar tower detail
Radar tower detail
Radar tower detail
Radar tower detail Updated March 29, 2025
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