Air Force Radar Museum Association Inc

We are working toward the establishment of a military history museum, which will be the only one of its kind in the United States. No other U.S. museum provides insight and education on the defense of the North American continent from nuclear attack by aircraft or ballistic missile. This was a huge, complicated and expensive task, which peaked primarily during the the so-called Cold War years, between 1945 and 1991. It is our intent to show how the need for such defense was first recognized and the various attempts to solve the mission requirements were. This military mission, mostly by the U.S. Air Force, is little known, and less understood by the American public. Indeed, we believe that it was the failure of this mission which ultimately led to the 2001 attack on the twin towers in New York.

All of our current strategies for progress revolve around funding the rehab of the lower level of our radar tower museum home. Because of the permitting, zoning codes and inspections required to open a public facility, all must be strictly followed, meaning that most of the work has to be done by professionals rather than volunteers, and most tasks must be done in a certain order to avoid overlapping inspections, etc. As a result, these rehab tasks are rather expensive, and owing to the uninsulated, leaky conditions of the tower, we cannot move in and open until they have been completed.

We are searching for appropriate state of Ohio and local Bellefontaine grant opportunities, corporate sponsors and other philanthropic means to obtain such funding. We are also searching for a person or persons with the skills to properly prepare grant and other financial requests as opportunities become available.

Our board and nearly all AFRMA members are former air defense radar veterans. We have first hand knowledge of the air defense mission of the Cold War, and its capabilities. We alone have the background to tell the story of the air defense mission based on first-hand experiences and knowledge. However, we are rapidly aging, and our population is getting smaller as we age and pass on. Our experiences range from Communications and Electronics officers to radar maintenance technicians to Weapons Controllers and radar operations personnel, along with a myriad of support personnel who kept the mostly small radar stations working and livable. We also have members who were front-line weapons system support personnel who were tasked with the mission of being able to launch Alert aircraft and missiles at suspected hostile aircraft. No other group of individuals alive today have this depth of knowledge to tell the Air Defense story.

To date, we have renewed the roof of the tower, sandblasted and painted both the inside and outside of the tower, refurbished our prize AN/FPS-18 radar antenna and mounted it on a permanent tower and have it as our premier display. We have been selling commemorative bricks and begun a memorial plaza near our display radar antenna and current tower entrance. We have also built a "guard shack" simulation near out tower to mimic the security entrance to a typical radar station. We have opened a small "Welcome Center" on the grounds which now contains our offices and a number of display items. We have hired an architect who has provided engineering drawings of the first phase of the tower rehab.

Next on the list will be the removal and replacement of lower level tower siding with a good, insulated material and sealing it so that the lower level can be heated and air conditioned, along with water, sewer and gas service.