Smithers Winter Test Center (formerly Raco AAF)

USA / Michigan / Sault Sainte Marie /
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Former site of Raco AAF/AFB. The airfield was originally built during WWII to provide protection for the Sault Sainte Marie Locks. No threats to the locks materialized, and the airfield fell into disuse. Later, it was used as a site for a US Army Skysweeper radar-guided anti-aircraft artillery battalion.

During the Cold War, this was a launch site for the US Air Force's long-range BOMARC anti-aircraft missiles, intended to stop incoming Soviet bombers with nuclear blasts. This mission ended in approximately 1972. No original military buildings remain, other than concrete foundations for the BOMARC launcher shelters.

At present, the airfield is used by Smithers Scientific Services as a cold weather vehicle testing site. A network of specialized automobile testing tracks have been laid along the former runways & on the adjacent land, including two large circular loops, and a serpentine track which has been built over the former BOMARC missile site.

www.wintertesting.com/

www.airfields-freeman.com/MI/Airfields_MI_N.htm#raco
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   46°21'3"N   84°48'47"W

Comments

  • yeah....shuuuuurrrree. whatever you say...It WAS a govt. site in the past
  • Anyone who thinks this is still a top scret government facility has never been to a top secret government facility.
  • The truth is out there - trust no one ...
This article was last modified 13 years ago