Benton AFS pics
Sun Aug 19, 2007 8:13 pm
Hi all,
Yesterday I took a trip to the old Benton AFS located in Ricketts Glenn State Park. I guess they use this place now for part of a currection facility for troubled teens. Also there is some sort of job center office there too. Turning into the gate I stopped for a minute and wondered if I should go in or not. Haha, not sure I drove in anyway and found there was an open road that led right up to the radar dome and a few other "old" buildings.
View from the road:
The large dome that can be seen from miles!
This building here used to be a radar platform too. There used to be three buildings that held up a radar dish(from an old picture the thing was HUGE!). Actually I think the white dome used to be on this building. But then they moved it to the square house. There is another building like this one on the other side but I did not go that far.
So there you have it. A cold war relic that still survives.
This place is in the middle of nowhere and you have to drive up a pretty steep 3 mile road to get there. The place is actually on top of a mountain. I know some of you might be wondering why I get so excited about this thing. Well, for one its cool! Second, it protected us from Russian bombers and missiles. Third, old fighter jets used to fly over this thing so it is hollowed ground for me and I can't help but think that probably F-104's, B-52's and F-102's used to fly over it during mock air attacks.
Enjoy,
Nathan 
Yesterday I took a trip to the old Benton AFS located in Ricketts Glenn State Park. I guess they use this place now for part of a currection facility for troubled teens. Also there is some sort of job center office there too. Turning into the gate I stopped for a minute and wondered if I should go in or not. Haha, not sure I drove in anyway and found there was an open road that led right up to the radar dome and a few other "old" buildings.
View from the road:
The large dome that can be seen from miles!
This building here used to be a radar platform too. There used to be three buildings that held up a radar dish(from an old picture the thing was HUGE!). Actually I think the white dome used to be on this building. But then they moved it to the square house. There is another building like this one on the other side but I did not go that far.
So there you have it. A cold war relic that still survives.
This place is in the middle of nowhere and you have to drive up a pretty steep 3 mile road to get there. The place is actually on top of a mountain. I know some of you might be wondering why I get so excited about this thing. Well, for one its cool! Second, it protected us from Russian bombers and missiles. Third, old fighter jets used to fly over this thing so it is hollowed ground for me and I can't help but think that probably F-104's, B-52's and F-102's used to fly over it during mock air attacks.
Enjoy,
Nathan
Sun Aug 19, 2007 8:19 pm
P.S. This place would make a great spot for an air museum!