Inside the Abandoned Fortuna Air Force Station

A look inside the abandoned Fortuna Air Force Station, a remote former radar base in the northwest corner of North Dakota that was closed in 1984 -- featuring photos and video from GhostsofNorthDakota.com. Music by Kevin MacLeod, Incompetech.com.
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[@steverollins8467]

I was in the FPS/26 tower in 73-75 about age 20. They called off the war and let us go home. I lived in the barracks and used to play basketball and tennis in the gym. That missing wall was similar to a gym floor, it was wood and had a tennis line on it for hitting against. They would flood the outdoor tennis court in the winter for ice skating. I remember all the parking spots had electrical outlets to plug in car heaters. My first day there they issued 3 pairs of gloves including elbow length leather mittens (over the gloves) and parkas and mickey mouse boots (inflatable). One night it was 35 below and the wind was blowing hard so the windchill was around 70 below. I used to call home by asking the base operator to connect me to NORAD then they could connect me to OKC air station who would call my parents house. The 2 or 3 barracks had about 14 rooms each. The first barracks was for the girls of which there were only 3 and they had the entire building. Used to eat midnight chow in the chow hall because all the young guys worked night shift in the towers usually alone. No mistake it was very isolated but we met people in Crosby and usually ran around there or in Plentywood, rarely in Westby it was small but that's where our mail was addressed to. The town of Fortuna was just a trailer park a few homes and a laundramat. A few of us worked our free time for local farmers during wheat harvest driving trucks or combines. I think they had these sites every 200 miles along the border, one was Finley on the east side of the state. The stars at night were amazing and the northern lights sometimes covered half the sky.

[@tinymt]

My dad took his ged in that gym probably around 59. Whe selecting assignments, he was told there's a woman behind every tree. He found one and they were married 50+ years until his death. He's hurried within 15 miles of the base.

[@guggler]

Hey just wanna say thanks for all this info I'm currently paving the road that goes past the base and I've been super interested in the history of it. Both this video and your comment did that. 👍 Thank you

[@boblevene2020]

My dad was stationed here 70-73. Such a great place to live as a kid. Road bikes around a big circle street, learned to play baseball, my parents where scout leaders for our Cub Scout troop, every took care of everybody. Best years of my life - ages 7-9 years old.

[@garygriffin4744]

Nice video. Fortuna was my last assignment in the AF from 3/75 to 3/76. Lots of fond memories of Plentywood, MT and Crosby, ND.. The people around there are extremely nice. I worked on the FPS-35 search RADAR. I still get shivers going down my spine when I think about that cold Winter I spent there.

[@CharlesWinegardnerim2nd]

I was stationed at Fortuna in '64-'65 [came from Dickinson ND when it closed]. The tower you are 'touring' at 8'45" is the FPS-26 height finder. Had an hydraulic drive for azimuth and height...hard to say just how many hydraulic fluid showers I got, but more than a few! And even though AVCO said the 'bubble' was heated, we somehow found it more than a little difficult to believe when it was -20 F ! We frequently ran up the stairs just to help with conditioning - and see who was fastest. Ah, those were the best of times, and the worst of times.

[@matthewm4325]

Charles Winegardner By youtube deleting videos. They could be deleting historical facts

[@marshallwoodworking4344]

my father was actually stationed there and I have some early memories of the place. Thank you fo posting this video.

[@uttered1]

Thanks for posting. That brought some memories back. I was stationed there 66-67. Worked in the FPS/26 tower. I believe it was spring of 67 there was some excitement with UFO sightings. We were on duty playing cards with the scope dopes. I believe it was Minot that called the operators for verification of UFO and sure enough we had it on the FPS/35. Some time later we were interrogated by security from Malmstrom AFB. We didn't know at the time but some missile silos were disabled. That's why security was so concerned.

[@mojostevo]

This place was decomm'd in 1984, it was odd to see those new'ish looking bottles in the door of that fridge. Neat to see a place that hasn't been completely thrashed by vandals.

[@MrFligemon]

+mojostevo Not many vandals roaming the Dakota plains.....the ones that do will have their throats slit by the Guardians of the Everlasting

[@mimidevaroux3217]

Fligemon who are the They? The guardians?

[@davidmeinz1095]

Was my first assignment out of Tech school. What a shocker it was. Met some great people and have many good memories of the year spent there. loved the way they looked at us when we had to get supplies or parts at Minot AFB.

[@voylerutledge5017]

It is very interesting, thank you for going there and sharing the experience with us.

[@byykkonen]

7 years ago I commented on this video and to this day, the tower still makes me feel queasy in my stomach when I see it. Nice revisit it just the same. That tower remains, to this day, the only place I have ever visited that truly scared me.

[@spartanx15]

In your B&W image it shows the AN/FPS-35 SAGE Radar Antenna. 5 Megawatts of microwave. At The brick building that held that radar was connected to a District Command Center which contained the worlds first parallel process computer system of the vacuum tube type. I forget but I think those system were built by IBM and Honeywell. The SAGE system was also the first use of the "light pen" which read from a large CRT display. The display was really sophisticated for the day. It display everything we now have in our TACON systems. And everything was fed into NORAD at Cheynne Mountain, CO and to SAC Command in Omaha, NB. There is tons of info on SAGE out there and outstanding videos here on KZbin also. A final thouight. The biggest problem with SAGE was the drive transmission on the roof. That had to move a 75 ton antenna PLUS withstand the wind loading of the local area. The drives failed quite often. There were three of them just for these events. When you went up to service the antenna or the drive there was HUGE sign at the top of the stairs warning you NOT to be exposed to an active radar, You had to be really sure that the system was shut down. Otherwise you would be cooked in no time. There is only one, remaining, AN/FPS-35 at the former Montauk AFS (773rd SAGE) on Long Island, NY. It is listed as a National Treasure and there are activities going on to restore the site. SAGE was a huge part of radar and computer development as a national defense. THANKS for keeping this site in our hearts and minds.

[@alexanderw6309]

As the "combat Air Surveillance Officer at the SAGE Direction Center to which Fortuna provided radar information, I can say the FPS 35 was an excellent radar operationally although difficult to maintain. The radar was virtually impossible to jam, and had the most advanced ECCM (Electronic Counter Counter Measures) of the time. SAC in live training exercises was never able to effectively jam the radar and prevent it from tracking aircraft

[@Racmaster1]

I was stationed at the Dickinson, ND. The 706th radron. We were closed in 1965. I remember Fortuna AFS. I heard that FPS-35 antenna broke off. Some of those airmen there lost there jobs.

[@josemoreno3334]

I visited some of AC&W sites up in Alaska back around 1981-82 just before the removed all the Air Force personal. Now the sites have a few people manning them or there automated. There were a lot of radar sites like Fortuna across the U.S. and Canada that many people never new existed. You can find a list of these sites on Wikipedia. Also you can find a list of SAGE sites as well. This is a grate video. Thank you. From a Cold War Warrior USAF.

[@Torrath7411]

Always wanted to see beyond the fence. Thank you for the vid.

[@consferacy]

Great Video Troy Amazing Stuff Like a Time Capsule.

[@louisvarre2197]

I love Urban Exploration. I have pics of a decommissioned facility in New York operates by Griffiths AFB. It was strategically important because we had several SAC bases in NY. Titans too. It was an early warning site, that tracked every piece of space and atmospheric junk. It was a space surveillance outfit. Radar domes are still erected. It’s such a look into Cold War 80’s.

[@EdenValleyAdventuresUK]

Great video well filmed & edited.

[@dieselscience]

comments? This was one of the many "SAGE" radar systems - *S* emi *A* utomatic *G* round *E* nvironment. The large one in the photo was (IIRC) 5 megawatts and the smaller 'range and altitude' were much less power output. The SAGE system formed a perimeter around the continental US and was quite sophisticated for it's day.

[@1Klooch]

Very nice. Well done. Thanks!

[@ab0ez]

Nice video! This site is on my bucket list to visit.

[@rcarraturo]

great video sir

[@MilePost106]

Had to look that up, cool to see pictures from back in the day when this was in operation.

[@KillercatRadio]

With the SAGE radar building and the radar platforms, the layout is very similar to Camp Hero in Montauk

[@whatdafuk3]

No Chem Trails! Blue sky n sun shine! Cool video thx 4 making n posting it!)

[@Femmpaws]

We had much the same station at Blaine Washington. When you went into the base housing that was a blast from the past... I had friends that lived there.

[@jardinmare]

Imagine how cold that place in the winter with wind and snow blowing.

[@lorireneefye7259]

I'll give you an example: I went to work one midnight and when I left work in the morning my car (a Jeep with a canvas roof and doors, which wasn't the best choice of vehicle) wouldn't start. The vehicle had a block heater that had been plugged into an outlet but either the outlet failed or it was just too cold. So I walked down the hill from the radar tower to the chow hall for breakfast. I was wearing mukluks, long underwear beneath my uniform, and a heavy parka. I had the parka fur pulled over my face but the wind still managed to reach my nose. My nostril hairs froze and it felt like tiny needles were pricking the inside of my nose. The temperature that morning was minus 40 F. The wind was blowing at probably 40 mph, maybe less, maybe more. At any rate, someone that morning calculated the wind chill to be minus 82 F. I'd never been that cold before, and I haven't been that cold since, and I don't care to repeat that experience. White outs are common in North Dakota and probably particularly in that part of the state. I can remember being in a car with a friend one day, driving to the town of Fortuna. We couldn't even see the end of the car's hood. Fortuna is not a place for the faint of heart or for anyone without a decent set of survival skills. You can quickly die out there during winter if you're not vigilant and prepared.

[@michaelterrell]

I was stationed in Alaska in the mid '70s. -40 was common, and the record low was -69F at Ft. Greeley. It was about a two mile walk from the barracks to the AFRTS AM radio &TV station where I was assigned as one of the engineers.

[@KarolinaLym]

I was there last summer and all that is left is the big building no houses and nothing else. Pretty cool

[@dang25272549]

Such a beautiful place 😍.

[@baysword]

Great to see one of my childhood homes. My father was the the Base commander and some were I have a picture of his name on the front gates sign. That dinning facility was were I had my first communion party. There was a cake shaped like a bible too. lol The Club outside the gate was the officers club. There was many bingo games played there i recall. My parents spent a lot of time there drinking and dancing. You always had to have a volunteer bartender. The club overlooked the ball field were we played Little League games and the base held its annual Fourth of July party. And yes it was cold there. Sometimes the front door froze shut. But it was a rare day that the bus did not make it rounds to get us to school even on the coldest days. I sledded all over those hills. CE took a fire truck and hosed down the tennis court so we could ice skate. Then on our last day it was 40 below when the movers packed us out!

[@paulcurrie7828]

As a young Canadian growing up 20 miles away, we used to frequent the bar located outside of the main gate, I thought it was a NCO club, since many of the patrons were young enlisted men. We befriended some of these guys our age and once were invited to visit their barracks. It was our first exposure to young black guys and to Jimmy Hendrix music lol. Everyone hated Fortuna , they told us they got isolation pay, same as if in Alaska. Of course the weather and lack of civilization (Williston ND was the biggest city 40 miles away and at that time maybe 10K people). Good times...thanks for the memories

[@LMTDDS]

The larger bar was the NCO Club. The smaller bar upholstered in green was the Officer's Club and inside our quarters. Leonard Tomsik, DDS, Capt. Dental Corps 1970-72 (as well as Finley AFS, ND & Opheim AFS, MT)

[@boblevene2020]

I remember it just as you did. I loved being a kid there. When were you there and what age?

[@boblevene2020]

My father was there as a lieutenant same years as you... His name is Ron LeVene.

[@SuperTN44]

My grandparents lived in Crosby growing up we used go to Fortunate for fireworks on the 4th I remember the big radar on the hill. Long time ago😊

[@Javelina_Poppers]

Never got to see any of these places when I was in the Air Force all through the 70s, but all that data from them fed into my last station which was the NORAD Cheyenne Mountain Complex outside of Colorado Springs. Cheyenne Mountain was a trip all unto itself and the videos you see of it don't do it justice.

[@kennethbailey2616]

There used to be two “golf balls” between Sidney, MT and Alexander, ND. There’s still one there but I don’t it is manned anymore. Glasgow AFB was closed in 72.

[@kennethbailey2616]

Used to chase drilling rigs in the Westby, Fortuna, Crosby area years ago.

[@brailwolf]

I would love to have all the metal stairs and walkways i got a use for all of them .

[@jaxgirl33548]

liked this video.....

[@OdySlim]

Troy, your web site will not come up today. I would like to know if you drove right in or had to obtain permission. I would like to shoot some film there as well. Thanks for the great video and good luck on your endeavors: Ody Slim

[@Smileatlife37]

The mess hall building was really a mess

[@buddyanddaisy123]

Sounds like a horrible place to spend 4 years-out in the middle of nowhere-with those 8 month N. Dakota winters

[@thedocdodge]

I think one of my uncles was stationed here... I'd have to ask around my family, but Fortuna sounds familiar for some reason...

[@khuuphotos]

This one in ND has all been torn down? Interesting structures left while you were filming it.

[@asd36f]

Looking at Google Maps, the tower is all that is left standing.

[@hadleymanmusic]

Its been abused 2 love the reflector Is any of it liveable or is there an airstrip? I love the open skyline perfect for my buddys 36" reflector It looks like texas witichta falls Yea its like, where do you work? Answer; at the AF target. Soo , all the windows are busted out? Thanks for the tour its like a time warp.

[@byykkonen]

I made it to the top of the tower when I investigated late last year. Just curious if you had any funny "vibes" specific to the tower. I had a bit of a "freak-out" in that building. I did eventually make it to the roof though.

[@GhostsofNorthDakota]

We get funny vibes everywhere we go. What kind of freakout are we talking about? :-) Saw your photo on the FB page. Thanks for posting that.

[@byykkonen]

Ghosts of North Dakota A bit hard to put into words. I hear you on the vibes, though. Usually they are there but easy enough to cope with. That tower, however, is the only time I have been scared out of my mind. I literally went in and out about 5 times. Then moved on. At the very end of my tour I went back in and made it to the roof, however, the "fight or flight" instinct was in flight overdrive. Even to this day when I look at the pictures of this place I feel a bit uneasy.

[@lorireneefye7259]

Fortuna AFS was my first permanent duty station after I finished radar maintenance school in 1977. I'd just turned 19 when I arrived at Fortuna, and I was one of the few women who were ever stationed there. (If memory serves we never had more than six women stationed there during my time; I left not long before the partial closure in 1979. There were "dependent" wives who lived there with their airman husbands but Air Force women were sort of a rare thing at Fortuna.) I was assigned to the 35 tower, which is the big concrete structure. I know the "vibes" you're talking about, Ryan. They were always there. I attribute them to the electromagnetic stuff that was going on when the site was operational and that I don't think every really dissipated. Even when the site was online the 35 tower in particular always had a creepy set of vibes. The bathroom was on the 5th floor and sometimes you could stand at that window and watch birds flying around the tower ... birds that suddenly would fly INTO the side of the tower and die. I'm sure that was due to the massive amounts of radiation coming from the antenna, but still ... kind of creepy. In fact, when I first visited the 35 tower in 2005, after being gone from Fortuna AFS for 26 years, the place was full of dead birds. They were everywhere. I thought that was odd since the radar had been offline since sometime in 1979. facebook.com/lrfye

[@byykkonen]

Lori Renee Fye VERY interesting. Having been in several abandoned locations this one really stands out to me. Nice to know more about my experiences there and the history behind it.

[@lorireneefye7259]

There were, at one time, radar stations like this all around the perimeter of the USA. (I ran across one on the island of Kaua'i in 2009 and it's still operational to some extent although I'm sure civilians are handling it.) I don't know that any of those radar stations have quite the "pull" that Fortuna AFS seems to have. Maybe they do, but I haven't heard of anyone else returning to an old radar station again and again the way some of us who were stationed at Fortuna have done. I'm not quite sure what attracts us but we keep going back.

[@MindscarIAm]

Can see my house from here ...

[@WillowWind-ss8ej]

Looks very similar to Almaden Air Force station in California. Similar technology?

[@uhadme]

Why do we pay for the metal, and someone gets permission to salvage it? That should be done to recover our costs of building. Obviously someone is making a profit, and that isn't repaying our debt. Doing this to us for generations, end the lame

[@tenminutetokyo2643]

Why have so many of our AFBs been closed?

[@gregkenefic9996]

I was stationed there from June 1971- August 1972.

[@boblevene2020]

My dad was there 70-73

[@philv3683]

Would like to see if any thing is left standing 2023

[@rosegoku1847]

for sale?

[@brianburch2457]

I love it, we are homeless how do we get permission to make one of those buildings our home? Both my wife and I are disabled ,I am a vet ,we dont want money just a place to call home .

[@twoZJs]

Brian, It gets so cold here, that may be the reason polar bears are not found in the bushes. 30 below zero at times is common. Trees even know better. Here is hoping you and wife are doing better today than you wrote a yr ago. Jan24'18.

[@mikesheppard8541]

We turned about half of the ft McClellan into a Alabama national guard training site

[@fourfortyroadrunner6701]

Please don't overstate the danger of the personnel who operated this site. They were in no more, or no less, danger, that I was in the Navy in San Diego, or any other citizen in San Diego, or anywhere else in the U.S. The FACT is an all out nuke war would NOT have been survivable in the long term, so you might as well just go out in the front yard and watch the show. The fact that we and the Chinese/ Ruskies didn't "pull the trigger" is probably one hell of a lot of luck......accidently or otherwise. USN, 1968--74, ETR-2, NAS Miramar, 70-74. I maintained GCA RADAR and TACAN

[@demeaningplebny1363]

Yeah. I know nothing about it compared to you, but this is my speculation about it as well.

[@eutimiochavez415]

Did they have any airplane ther

[@Bbendfender]

I'd like to own something like this. I wonder if it sold?

[@LMTDDS]

Sold for about 65K a number of yrs ago to a guy from Williston, ND. Heard he failed to pay the county taxes and it went into foreclosure. Not sure who owns it now. Could be a great investment since they're drilling for oil like crazy, more production than Alaska, all over that part of ND. I should have bought it. That guy just made a mess of it.

[@mazdaman1982]

Hey is this place still standing ?

[@conniepratt2039]

Mr. Trev ~ Yes, sir...

[@ravenpelfrey]

yeah there’s just a lot of druggies living there now sadly

[@bluemarshall6180]

Some guy Found Around Twenty Plus Kilos of Platinum Somewhere inside that Base Not so Long ago. He's Damn Rich.

[@MrShobar]

Those structures are full of asbestos, lead paint, mold etc. PCB's lying around from dismantled electrical equipment.

[@demeaningplebny1363]

That probably explains the dead birds one of the posters mentioned were all over the place. Very sad.

[@Shield.148]

So sad, such a waste. These bases should be repurposed into communities for the homeless. A place to live while they can be taught building trades.

[@conniepratt2039]

Mr. John ~ I like the way you think...😉

[@curttrude3754]

Great thinking....but this place is so far away from anywhere that there's not even a Indian reservation around!!

[@foxbodyblues6709]

No one, and I mean no one could live there that was homeless. They wouldn’t survive the winter.

[@blip1]

Totally needed a zombie movie

[@MarkSmith-uf6nb]

there is a whole lot of led paint and asbestos in that place.

[@johnfolger8871]

this person will give have trouths an lies there are 800 posibls sites only 30 are active

[@krystiansieminski8060]

What a superior way to waste money, we could spent the $ and the matter and the energy wasted here on like a fight with real enemy of human kind....like...CANCER.TH

[@johnfolger8871]

he is not that stupid so he must be a trader

[@oldfordcarsandtrucks]

at one point if North Dakota went it alone would have been the 3rd richest country and 3rd largest nuclear power lol

[@mesquiteguy121]

OUTSTANDING. whats a massive disappointment. is the fact that..Today...we NEED Facilities like this. And Worse Yet how the soviets sukered the crap out of us.

[@demeaningplebny1363]

Not until the satellites are knocked out. Then we are screwed.

[@franciscafazzo3460]

if russian bobmber madeit this far we would be toast. what a waste of money and scare tactics from insane planners.