Recent Photos of Fort Loudon, PA

Ed. Note: Fort Loudon was the site of an Army early-warning radar (AN/TPS-1D) in the 1958-1960 time frame for the Nike missile air-defense system. Reportedly, the Air Force originally planned to construct a gap-filler annex (P-63A) also at this site, but plans were cancelled, and the gap-filler annex was never built. In fact, neither planned GFA for site P-63 (Claysburg AFS, PA) was built; in fact, that long-range radar site was deactivated 1 May 1961 when the 772nd AC&W Squadron was relocated to Gibbsboro, NJ (RP-63). The Army reportedly deactivated all its Nike early-warning radars such as this one at Fort Loudon when the respective integrated fire control (IFC) sites received high-power (HIPAR) radars in 1960.

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June 1999 photos contributed by Tim Tyler

Tim notes: Several locals knew the old site as having been a "secret Army base" for a short period of time in the early 1960s, and was manned 24/7, per a park ranger that used to date one of the "Army" guys that was stationed there.