Main site - looking North
Main site - looking East
Main site - looking East
Main site - looking South
Main site - looking West
Ops & Radar - looking North
Ops & Radar - looking East
Ops & Radar - looking South
Ops & Radar - looking West
Cantonment area - looking North
Cantonment area - looking East
Cantonment area - looking South
Cantonment area - looking West
GATR site & ARSR-4 - looking North
GATR site & ARSR-4 - looking North
GATR site & ARSR-4 - looking East
GATR site & ARSR-4 - looking East
GATR site & ARSR-4 - looking South
GATR site & ARSR-4 - looking South
GATR site & ARSR-4 - looking West
GATR site & ARSR-4 - looking West
Housing area - looking North
Housing area - looking East
Housing area - looking South
Housing area - looking West
Commissary, Bowling lanes, Ballfield - looking East
Former NCO barracks, now "Old Hickory Hall", vacation rental units.
Photo source: http://www.ftfishermilrec.com/lodge.html
Fort Fisher AFS is now a military recreational area. The housing units pictured below are all vacation rental units.
Photo source: http://www.alisonvogtcartwright.com/fortfisher.html
contributed by Bob Godsey
The following three photos document the demolition of the FPS-26/FSS-7 (Fuzzy-7)/FPS-91 tower on 26 June, 2000.
The above photo contributed by Bob Silverio
Photos and notes by Tom Page
Email: tepage@hotmail.com
Tom writes:
"Early the next morning (Friday now), it was on to Fort Fisher AFS, NC (via US
Route 17 north to Wilmington, NC, then south on US Route 421 to Kure Beach). When
I arrived, I saw that the old station still looked pretty much the way it did on
my last visit, which was 4 or 5 years ago. The main part of Fort Fisher AFS is
still in use as a military recreation facility (under the command of Seymore-Johnson
AFB, NC). The National Guard uses some of the buildings, notably the old LRR
Operations blockhouse; they have a small museum on site now, too. The one remaining
radar tower was still there. It most recently housed the AN/FPS-91A search radar,
which replaced the AN/FPS-107 search radar for the JSS program. Previously, that
tower housed the AN/FSS-7 SLBM radar (operated by Det 5, 14th MWS), and, before that,
the AN/FPS-26A heightfinder (operated by the 701st Radar Sq.). The old AN/FPS-107
and AN/MPS-14 (AN/FPS-116) towers had been removed several years ago. The AN/FPS-107
tower had briefly housed the relocated AN/FPS-116 before its removal. I was told
that the AN/FPS-91A tower had recently been gutted, and was due for demolition soon.
When I said I thought an ARSR-4 was now used by the FAA there (for JSS), I was
informed that the FAA had built a new radar tower — on Davis Road. Davis Road
(now renamed to Davis Beach Road) is where the GATR site was located (about 1 mile
north of the main site). So I drove over to the old GATR site, and — sure enough —
there stood the new ARSR-4 tower! That tower stands on the "east forty" of the
former antenna farm, near where one of the old AN/FRT-49 antennas used to stand.
The GATR building itself is fenced-off separately, and appears to be abandoned.
[My new photos of Fort Fisher AFS will be forthcoming, probably tomorrow, as I have
to send those from my computer at work.]"
View of the AN/FPS-91A search-radar tower and the Operations
area from near the site entrance off US Rte 421 (housing area). The
AN/FPS-91A, installed for the JSS program and now removed, sat in the
tower formerly housing the AN/FSS-7 SLBM radar, which had once been an
AN/FPS-26A heightfinder radar. The AN/FPS-91A tower reportedly is now
gutted and scheduled for demolition.
View of the Airman / NCO barracks.
View of the BOQ (my room was the second window from the
left).
View of the family-housing area, which straddles the base
entrance from US Rte 421.
Another view of the AN/FPS-91A search-radar tower and
Operations area, from the barracks area; civil-engineering building was
to the extreme right.
Another view of the Operations area, from the southeast side.
The Materičl Control building was the small building to the extreme
left, the LRR Operations (and former BUIC-III) blockhouse was in the
left-center, and the power plant building was in the right center. A
corner of the AN/FPS-91A radar tower is visible on the far right.
View of the cantonment area, looking south. In the
foreground formerly sat the old BX, followed by the
Admin/Personnel/Commander's/medical-aid/dental building (both former
wooden Army buildings, now removed). In the background is the swimming
pool and the Recreation building.
View of the new National Guard static displays in front of
the newer BX building, now a National Guard museum.
View of the GATR building, now abandoned (looking northwest).
The GATR site was located about a mile north of the main site, off Davis
Road (now renamed Davis Beach Road).
View of the new ARSR-4 radar tower, which sites inside the
old GATR site antenna farm, east side.
View of the new ARSR-4 radar tower with the old GATR
building in the foreground.
Another view of the new ARSR-4 radar tower with the old GATR
building in the foreground.
View of the Air Force station's namesake: Civil War Fort
Fisher, located about 1.5 miles south of the base (looking
west-northwest from US Rte 421).