Trip Report: Bases, Buses, and Boats
First published in 2004. Reformatted 2025. The purpose of this trip was to attend the annual Council on America's Military Past (CAMP) conference in Portland, Maine. One fun aspect of the annual CAMP get-together is bus trips to historic military sites in the area. This year, in addition to bus rides, the festivities included boat rides to coast defense forts in Portland Harbor and Casco Bay. 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.Saturday, 1 May 2004
We flew from Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) to Bradley International Airport (BDL) and rented a car for the week. Today was intended as a scenic drive--starting in Connecticut, through Massachusetts, briefly into Vermont, across New Hampshire, and then to Maine. Augusta was our destination for the night, and the hotel was comfortable.Sunday, 2 May 2004
Moscow Radar Site ME, ILC QVXP, 45-10, 69-51. We started our drive at 0715. Taking I-95 north to Fairfield, we then headed north to Bingham and found the transmitter component of the east coast over-the-horizon backscatter (OTH-B) radar system. This is a huge site, covering 1,274 acres. The Air Force accepted the facility in 1990, inactivated it in 1997, and conducted an environmental baseline study in 2003, intending to dispose of the site. The site has three sectors. Each sector holds an antenna array 3,630 feet long, with 67 towers up to 135 feet tall supporting the antenna elements. Unfortunately, we could only see sector 3 from the public road.General view
General view
General view Penobscot Communications Site GWEN 895 ME, ILC TAWQ. From Moscow, we backtracked to I-95 and went north again, before heading south to Winterport and points south. We found the 299-foot tower and equipment shelters looking much like they did when it was operational. It was disposed of by the Air Force in 1999, having served as a Ground Wave Emergency Network relay node tower since either the late 1980s or early 1990s.
Equipment shelters
Tower base and shelter Dow Air Force Base ME, 44-48, 68-49. The Bangor Municipal Airport was leased by the U.S. government in 1940, and served as Dow Field--a 1AF bomber base--during WWII. At the end of the war, it reverted to the city and resumed operations as the municipal airport. Air National Guard units were stationed here as early as 1947, and on 13 January 1948 the airport became It closed in 1968 as an active-duty base, but Air National Guard use continues to the present time. A community college occupies much of the former air base. We could see maintenance hangars, the rear side of former ADC fighter alert hangars (heavily modified), and caught a distant glimpse of the 70-man SAC alert facility.
Hangars
Hangars
ADC alert hangar
SAC alert facility Bangor Ammunition Storage Annex ME, PIN 2305, ILC FKNR, 44-46-35, 68-49-20. From the airport, we drove south on a small road that led over the interstate highway. This annex dates to WWII, and has several distinct sections, reflecting the changing munitions needs of Dow AFB. It has also been known as Dow Ammunition Storage Annex. When SAC moved out of Dow in 1968, this annex transferred to the Air National Guard; it was finally disposed of in 1981 and is currently an industrial park.
General view
Elevated water storage tank Dow Air Force Missile Site ME, 44-51-11, 68-47-11. A couple miles northeast of the base, I was pleased to find open access to this complex that was Air Force property from 1959 to 1965. We browsed inside two of the 28 renovated missile shelters that now house retail shops. The heat and power building, a water tank, communications antenna, and other facilities still stand.
General view
General view
General view
General view
Missile shelter
Missile shelter
Missile shelter
Missile shelter
Missile shelters
Heat and power building
Water tank and communications antenna
Building
Building Dow BOMARC Ground-Air Transmitter Site ME, 44-54-47, 68-49-32. Thanks to information from Dave Larsen, of the New England District, Army Corps of Engineers, I was able to find this facility a few miles north-northwest of the missile site. Two towers, with sturdy supports, formerly held radio antennas. Each of the BOMARC sites had this type of companion GAT site. Acquired in 1958, the property was transferred to the Town of Glenburn in 1967.
General view
General view
Building and tower
Building and tower
Tower base Houlton Army Air Field ME. The former AAF airfield abuts the international border--the only Army Air Forces or USAF facility I know of that abuts the border with Canada. (A couple of Texas forts, used by the Air Force, border on Mexico.) Constructed in 1941, this was a transport base during the war. It was declared surplus in 1945, and had a POW camp on the grounds at that time. The high point of visiting this airfield, now Houlton International Airport (HUL) was seeing the WWII-era control tower. Several other buildings and hangars also remain, some a bit dilapidated but some in nice condition.
General view
Hangar and control tower
Hangar and control tower
Hangar
Building
Building We chose a motel in Houlton for the night, dined at a local mom-and-pop restaurant, and got some sleep. We drove 416 miles on this day, in 11.25 hours.
Monday, 3 May 2004
Presque Isle Air Force Base ME, PIN 1481, 46-41-30, 68-02-45. This was going to be the busy day of this trip, so we made an early start at 0515. Taking US 1 north, our first destination was Northern Maine Regional Airport (PQI) at Presque Isle. This airfield was known as Presque Isle Army Air Field during WWII, and was a transport base. Construction began in 1941, and the base inactivated after the war. It was redesignated an Air Force Base on 13 January 1948, activated sometime soon after that, and closed in 1961. We observed the rear of the four-bay fighter alert hangar, including the central command booth and crew quarters. I was pleased to see these fighter alert hangars but I was delighted to see what lay just to the east. Presque Isle AFB was home to the only operational Snark missile site. The Snark mission was brief--the first missile went on alert 18 March 1960, and the missile wing was inactivated on 25 June 1961. Key parts of the complex were six large missile buildings (hangars, essentially) and twelve circular concrete pads for the missile launchers one pad had a fire department trainer on it. We were able to drive right on to a couple of the pads, and noticed a system of low berms constructed around them. From one of the pads we observed different missile buildings, as well as the fighter alert hangar. The missile buildings all seemed to be in beneficial use, most by Columbia Forest Products. The WWII chapel was still standing.General view
General view
General view
ADC alert hangars
ADC alert hangars
ADC alert hangars
ADC alert hangars
Snark missile building
Snark missile buildings
Snark missile building
Snark missile building
Snark missile building
Snark launcher pad
Snark launcher pad
Snark launcher pad
Snark launcher pad
Snark launcher pad
Chapel Loring Family Housing Annex ME, ILC NRCV. The 200-unit Wherry housing on Presque Isle AFB had a continued life as an annex of Loring AFB starting in 1961, It served Loring AFB until 1994, when it was declared excess. It was disposed of in 1999, and on our visit the units were occupied and seemed in good repair.
General view Loring Laundry Annex ME, ILC NRPL. Loring also gained use of Presque Isle AFB's laundry steam plant and dry-cleaning building. It became an off-base installation of Loring AFB in 1962 and was disposed of sometime in the late 1970s. The buildings have been removed, and only an empty field was visible on our visit.
General view Unnamed off-base housing annex, 46-41-29, 68-01-16. We also visited what I think was the site of housing for Presque Isle AFB. In 1961, an 80-unit off-base housing development was assigned to the base. A 1957 base plan shows a 20-building housing complex off and adjacent to the base; the buildings appear large enough to have been fourplex units. The location and building size are typical of Lanham act defense housing constructed during WWII. It was not uncommon for a base to acquire adjacent Lanham housing after the war, and service into the early 1960s would be feasible. Based on these clues, I believe that this area of road remnants (the buildings have been demolished) is a former Lanham act housing development that was later an Air Force housing annex.
General view Nike L-58 Housing ME, 46-52-21, 67-59-40. Now it was time to head even farther north on US 1. In Caribou, we looked for the first of four Nike sites in the Loring Defense Area. L-58 was the first Nike battery we sought, and the housing area was the first component we found. After supporting Nike site L-58 from about 1958 to 1966, the 16-unit housing area was transferred from the Army to the Air Force, and assigned to Loring AFB as Loring Family Housing Annex No. 2, ILC NRCW. It was inactivated in January 1980, excessed in February 1980, and then changed back to active status in May 1981. It was again declared excess in 1994, and disposed of in 1997. I noted the units were occupied and in nice condition.
General view Nike L-58C ME, 46-53-10, 67-58-16. Nearby, we observed the former Integrated Fire Control (IFC) site. After serving the Nike program from about 1957 to 1966, the Army transferred this site to the Air Force. It became Caribou Communications Annex, ILC DCTE, an off-base installation to Loring AFB. It was declared excess in 1994.
General view
General view
General view Nike L-58L ME, 46-53-02, 68-00-33. The pointy end of the L-58 spear was the launcher site. This property was acquired by the Army in about 1956, served as a Nike launcher site until 1966, and was then disposed of. We could not access the site, but could see a couple of the buildings from beyond the no trespassing signs.
View from public road Louis Blotner Satellite Tracking Site No. 2 ME, ILC NSNF, 44-56-10, 67-59-40. Our next stop was a communications annex in the woods a few miles north of Caribou. Louis Blotner Communications Facility Annex was assigned to Loring AFB in 1968 and in 1983 it was redesignated Louis Blotner Communications Facility Annex No. 2. At some point between 1975 and 1983, this communications annex was transferred from SAC to Air Force Space Command. In 1987 the installation was redesignated Louis Blotner Satellite Tracking Site No. 2. It was inactivated in 1990 and disposed of in 1992. We found the access road and followed it to the former building area, at the center of the site. Some foundation remnants were visible, in an area disturbed by logging operations. (I'm not sure why this site was named after Louis Blotner, but more about that later.)
General view
General view Nike L-85 Housing ME, 47-00-41, 68-01-11. Okay, time for another Nike site, L-85. After Army service from about 1955 to 1966, the 16-unit housing area at was transferred to the Air Force and became Loring Family Housing Annex No. 3, ILC NRCX. It was inactivated and declared excess in 1980; but SAC returned it to active status in 1981. It was again declared excess in 1994, and then disposed of in 1997. We found the units to be unoccupied and boarded-up, or pickled.
General view
General view Nike L-85L ME, 47-00-30, 68-01-07. Directly across the road from the housing annex, we found the launcher site. After serving the Army Nike program from 1955 to 1961, this property was excessed to the General Services Administration (GSA) in 1961. GSA conveyed it to a private owner, Blotner Trailer Sales, in 1962 (there's that name again). Recognizing the gate and sentry house from the highway, we found open access to the launcher site, and noted that the missile magazines were capped with concrete.
General view
Gate and sentry house
Building
Launcher area
Concrete cap over magazine doors Nike L-85C ME, 47-00-06, 68-00-10. This IFC site served the Army from 1955 to 1961. It was excessed to GSA, who conveyed it to Blotner Trailer Sales in 1962. Soon after, the Air Force decided it needed this land, and in 1963 the U.S. government repurchased this property. Louis Blotner Radar Bomb Scoring Site was assigned as a detached installation to Loring AFB in 1963. According to Corps of Engineers documents, when the property was repurchased, a promise was made to name the site after Louis R. Blotner. It was common in WWII to name leased auxiliary fields for the landowner, but this practice was uncommon after the war. And it is very unusual to find two separate Air Force installations named for the same person. Mr. Blotner clearly had some clout! (Actually, it was Louis Blotner's son Sam who negotiated the naming.) In 1983, the site was redesignated Louis Blotner Communications Facility Site No. 1, NSNK, after being transferred from SAC to AFSPC. In 1987 it was redesignated Louis Blotner Satellite Tracking Site 1. This site was disposed of in 1993. We found it gated and locked; one building was marked "DET 2, 1000 TH SOG," and that stood for Detachment 2, 1000th Satellite Operations Group.
General view
Gate and sentry house
Building Nike L-13C ME, 47-02-08, 67-49-06. Our next stop would be the farthest north we would venture on this trip. This Nike IFC site was Army property from 1955 until about 1967. The property was gated, but we observed two radar towers from a distance.
View from public road Nike L-13L ME, 47-01-43, 67-48-36. At the launcher site, we had a look at two buildings by the road, and glanced at the launcher area beyond a locked gate.
General view
General view Nike L-13 Housing ME, 47-01-25, 67-48-24. We found the housing for L-13 unoccupied and boarded-up. Acquisition began in 1955, and in 1966 the Army transferred the 16 units to the Air Force. The property continued as Loring Family Housing Annex No. 4, ILC NRCY, until 1994, when it was declared excess. It was disposed of in 1999.
House
House Skysweeper Site L-11 ME, 46-58-30, 67-49-25. Driving south on US 1A, we looked at an example of an Army 75mm Skysweeper anti-aircraft gun site. Thanks again to Dave Larsen, I learned the Loring Defense Area had 15 Skysweeper sites (4 on base, 11 off base). These were used for a few years in the 1950s, as an interim defense until the Nike sites became operational. The gun emplacement and magazines of are no longer extant, but two buildings still stand, next to Cross Road. The larger building was the barracks, and the smaller building was the generator shed. From this location, we could see a radar site to the southwest. Yup, that would be our next stop.
Barracks
Generator shed
Barracks
Generator shed
Barracks Caswell Air Force Station ME, PIN 2202, ILC DFJT, 46-58-15, 67-50-00. Construction of this site began in 1950, and it operated until 1980, when it was excessed. At the time of our visit, the housing units were occupied, and the main part of the site was in use by a business.
View from Skysweeper Site L-11
General view
General view
General view
General view Nike L-31C ME, 46-55-37, 67-47-47. Next, we motored down US-1A to Limestone, then drove east toward Canada. The IFC and launcher sites of L-31 are closer to Canada than to each other! The IFC site served the Army from 1956 to 1962. It appeared heavily modified and used for residential purposes. A radar tower was visible, surrounded by trees.
View from public road
Radar tower Nike L-31L ME, 46-55-04, 67-47-32. Backtracking on the access road, we went south to the launcher site, that also served the Army from 1956 to 1962.
General view
General view Nike L-31 Housing ME, 46-54-31, 67-49-49. The housing area for was interesting. Housing at the other three Loring Nike sites was laid out in a neat line of 16 houses, very easy to identify in an aerial photo. For some reason, L-31 was different. The 16 houses are in the town of Limestone, grouped around the T-intersection of Trafton and Lane. Acquired in 1956, this housing area was transferred from the Army to the Air Force in 1966. It became Loring Family Housing Annex No. 5, ILC NRCZ. SAC declared this annex excess in 1980, but changed it back to active status the following year. It was again declared excess in 1994, and disposed of in 1999. The homes were occupied and in a good state of repair.
General view Loring Air Force Base ME, PIN 2283, ILC NRCH, 46-58, 67-53. Construction on Limestone Air Force Base began in 1947. It was activated in 1950, and redesignated Loring AFB on 1 October 1954. The base closed in 1994. Access to the former 70-man SAC alert facility was gated and locked, so we caught only a distant glimpse. We had a better view of the former ADC fighter alert hangars and nearby readiness crew dormitory, ordnance building, and maintenance hangar. The "arch hangar," a thin-shell concrete hangar built to house two B-36 bombers, fascinated me. The USAF built two hangars of this design, and I saw the other one at Ellsworth AFB a few years ago. Also interesting was the huge double-cantilever maintenance hangar, a steel structure built to house six B-36 aircraft! This thing is huge--It makes the arch hangar look tiny.
General view
General view
SAC alert facility
ADC area
ADC alert hangar
ADC alert hangar
ADC alert hangar
ADC crew readiness building
ADC crew readiness building
ADC rocket storage building
ADC maintenance hangar
SAC arch hangar
SAC arch hangar
SAC arch hangar
SAC arch hangar
SAC arch hangar
SAC double-cantilever hangar
SAC double-cantilever hangar
SAC double-cantilever hangar
SAC maintenance dock
Control tower
Elevated water storage tank
Parachute and dinghy building
Indoor swimming pool
Dormitories
Locomotive snowplow Loring Receiver Site ME, 46-54-53, 67-55-11. By this time of day, our heads were spinning from all the sights we had seen. But I wanted to document one more communications site for my friend Tim. It's barely a quarter-mile from the boundary of the main base. My only reference for this site is a 1951 base plan, so I wasn't sure if it had been built or was just a planned facility. Well, it was built and the building still stands. A residence is built along the access road.
Building
View from public road Time to head south--back to the same motel in Houlton. We made better time than I expected, covering 243 miles in 10.5 hours. We saw 22 sites, and I think that's my personal record for one day of research.
Tuesday, 4 May 2004
We only had a few places to visit today, but plenty of driving to get to them. Starting at 0700, after our third meal at the Elm Tree Diner, we took US-1 south. This route too us through Robbinston, and I do believe we've now seen the northern-most point of the east coast of the United States. Columbia Falls Radar Site ME, ILC EEFK, 44-47-24, 67-47-24. This was the receiver site in the East Coast OTH-B setup--the companion to the Moscow site seen two days ago. A road sign, as well as USGS maps, calls this Columbia Falls Air Force Station--but official orders call it Columbia Falls Radar Site. Each of the three sectors has a 4,980-foot-long antenna array, supported on 84 towers, each 65 feet tall. Sector 1 had the largest building, a garage, and two large communications towers. Next, we saw sector 3, complete with sign and large fire protection water tank. The last stop in our counterclockwise tour was sector 2, and we went around the edge of the array.Signage
General view
Sector 1 building
Sector 1 garage
Sector 1 communications towers
Sector 1 water tank and communications towers
Sector 1
Sector 1
Sector 1
Sector 1
Sector 1
Sector 1
Sector 3 building and sign
Sector 3
Sector 3
Sector 3
Sector 2
Sector 2 building and sign
Sector 2
Sector 2
Sector 2
Sector 2 Deblois Air Force Range ME, 44-45-44, 67-49-35. Sector 2 of Columbia Falls Radar Site is superimposed on the eastern part of an earlier Air Force range. It served as a bombing range for SAC aircrews from 1951 until 1964. The range covered 2,560 acres of leased land. We could observe the range area from the road, but due to muddy conditions I didn't attempt to drive to the range center.
General view Deblois Flight Strip ME, 44-43-30, 67-59. This airport had its start in the early 1940s under the Flight Strip program. During WWII it served as an auxiliary field under First Air Force. It was intended for emergency use, and was not assigned to any specific base.
General view
General view From Deblois, we weaved our way back to Bangor and took I-95 south to Portland. We easily found the Eastland Park Hotel, and settled in for the next four nights. The day's drive covered 440 miles in 10.75 hours.
Wednesday, 5 May 2004
We spent the day in the local area, doing some shopping and enjoying the scenery. In the afternoon, I registered for the CAMP conference, and in the evening, I attended the orientation session.Thursday, 6 May 2004
Fort Allen ME, 43-39-56, 70-14-28. The conference started with papers sessions at the hotel. at 1000, we boarded two buses for the day's road trip. Our tour guides were Dr. Joel Eastman, local arrangements chairman for the conference and outgoing president of Coast Defense Study Group, and Mr. Kenneth Thompson, historian and author. Our first stop was Fort Allen Park, site of the 1814 earthen fort. Five guns were originally emplaced here; now two Civil War cannon and one Naval cannon (from the U.S.S. Maine) are displayed here. The U.S.S. Portland's main mast with navigational shield is a fascinating feature of the park. From the park, we could see Fort Gorges out in the harbor. We had a brief opening ceremony for the conference before reboarding the buses.General view
Cannon
Mast Fort Preble ME. The fort dates to 1808 and served until approximately 1960. From 1901 to 1946 it served as a seacoast defense. Air National Guard units also called Fort Preble home; the 104th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron from 1950 to 1951, and the 243rd Airways and Air Communications Service Squadron (later, 243rd Ground Electronics Engineering Installations Agency Squadron) and 265th Communications Squadron from 1953 to 1960. In 1953, 1.45 acres of the fort transferred to the Air Force as Fort Preble Annex, used for classroom space. We observed the central building and 6-inch gun emplacements of Battery Rivardi, as well as the chapel and other vintage buildings and features on the fort. An interesting feature is the concrete fire control tower that held a depression position finder in the coast defense era. From Fort Preble we could look out over the water and see Fort Gorges and Fort Scammell.
Central building
Central building
Central building
Battery Rivardi
Chapel
Building
Fort
Building
Buildings
Fire control tower Fort Williams ME, 43-37-25, 70-12-45. This is now Fort Williams Park. The fort dates to 1872 and served until approximately 1960. The Air Force operated Lashup site L-2 here in 1950 and 1951. During the 1950s, this installation may have been informally referred to as Fort Williams Air Force Station. In 1960, the 243rd Ground Electronics Engineering Installations Agency Squadron and 265th Radio Relay Squadron (former 265th Communications Squadron) moved here from Fort Preble. The photogenic Portland Head Light is adjacent to the fort, and dates to 1791. Battery Blair had been partially buried and now serves as an interpretive center. From the fort, we could see Fort Scammell in the distance across the water.
General view
Portland Head Light
Portland Head Light
Battery Blair Cape Elizabeth Military Reservation ME, 43-33-34, 70-12-18. The bus then took us to Cape Elizabeth. Our destination was Battery 201, now state park property. This was a WWII six-inch gun battery housing two gun positions with an earth-covered concrete facility between them. By prior arrangement, we were allowed to go inside. The battery had two nearby fire control towers; one was purpose-built and disguised as a grain silo, the other was a modification of an unused lighthouse. The towers were not open to us, so we only observed them from the bus.
Battery 201
Battery 201
Battery 201
Battery 201
Battery 201 interior
Battery 201 interior
Battery 201 interior
Fire control tower (purpose-built)
Fire control tower (converted lighthouse)
Friday, 7 May 2004
Fort Scammell ME, 43-39-01, 70-12-47. We had more informative presentations in the morning, and then we loaded back on the buses. The bus took us to the dock where we boarded the Chippewa. The boat took us to House Island. The fort is private property and our tour was courtesy of the owner. The stone seacoast fort dates to 1808 and was still listed as an inactive fort as late as WWI, although it was no longer armed at that time. We toured the casemates, magazines, and passageways inside the fort, as well as gun positions and the sally port. From this island, we could once again see Fort Gorges out in the water. After lunch--a Maine Lobster Bake--we boarded a smaller boat to visit our choice of Fort Gorges or Fort Levett.View from Fort Preble
View from Fort Williams
Fort
Fort
Casemate
Casemate
Magazine
Magazine
Passageway
Passageway
Gun position
Sally port Fort Gorges ME, 43-38-47, 70-13-19. I chose Fort Gorges (pronounced gorgeous) and after a short ride in the Polly Lynn, climbed a stepladder from the swaying boat up onto the concrete wharf at the fort. That was entertaining! The fort itself was fascinating. It was built in the 1860s and used until after the Spanish-American War. Now, the city of Portland owns the fort. We roamed through the numerous casemates, cautiously explored powder magazines, and walked through former officers' quarters. After touring the fort, we returned to House Island on the Polly Lynn.
View from Fort Preble
View from the water
Fort
Fort
Fort
Fort
Fort
Fort
Fort
Fort
Fort Fort McKinley ME, 43-40-47, 70-11-50. Rejoining the Fort Levett explorers, we reboarded the Chippewa for the ride to Great Diamond Island. This former fort dates back to 1873. It is now McKinley Estates, and we were allowed to visit by special arrangement. We saw one of the gun batteries from a distance, focusing our tour on housing, the parade ground, and nearby buildings. Many of the buildings on the fort are newly renovated.
General view
Building
Building
Building
Building
Building From Great Diamond Island, the Chippewa took us back to Portland, and the buses shuttled us back to the hotel. Shortly after our return, we attended CAMP's annual Yount-Windsor Book Auction, where I placed winning bids on a couple of books. Then it was time to say goodbyes and pack for an early departure. CAMP activities would continue on Saturday and Sunday, but we needed to get home on Saturday.
Saturday, 8 May 2004
We climbed into the rental car at an early hour and drove to Windsor Locks, Connecticut, via New Hampshire and Massachusetts. We had time for lunch and a visit to the New England Air Museum before turning in the rental car (1,760 miles in 7 days) and checking in at the airport. Bradley Field CT, 41-56, 72-40-40. The present Bradley International Airport (BDL) served as a First Air Force fighter base, during WWII. In the 1950s, Continental Air Command, the Air Force Reserves, and the Connecticut Air National Guard all used the airfield. In 1966, the military portion of Bradley Field was redesignated Bradley Air National Guard Station, and it was redesignated Bradley International Airport in 1973. The current ANG location was built for AFRES in the late 1950s; the ANG moved during the late 1960s from their former location on the northeast side of the airport. Bradley Field hosted a unit of the Rhode Island Air National Guard in the mid 1950s, due to runway length issues at home base in Providence, Rhode Island.General view
General view The flight back to Texas was smooth, and the only snag in our travel was the inter-terminal shuttle bus at DFW airport. We waited nearly 45 minutes for a ride--but that was a minor inconvenience after a fun week. All in all, this was a great trip. Updated March 29, 2025
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