Former DYE-2 Ice Cap DEW Line Radar Site
Greenland /
Nuuk /
Kapisillit /
World
/ Greenland
/ Nuuk
/ Kapisillit
World
airport, Cold War 1947-1991, closed / former military, weather / meteorological station, early warning radar
Call Sign: Sea Bass
Constructed atop the Greenland Ice Cap at an altitude of 7,600ft above sea level over a multi-year period, the DYE-2 station was a manned long-range radar site in the DYE Sector of the Distant Early Warning (DEW) Line operated by the US Air Force. Declared operational in 1961 and equipped with a single AN/FPS-30 radar, the site and the near-mirror DYE-3 site built roughly 100 miles to the Southeast provided airspace coverage over the featureless expanse of the Greenland against Soviet air attack. Linked by tropospheric communications to DYE-3 and DYE-1 Radar site 180 miles to the West, the site operated on a 24/7/365 basis and was manned by 15 crew who were housed in a central "Composite" building that housed the majority of the stations radar, communication, power generation and life support systems.
The site's extremely isolated location meant that resupply could only be done by air, and only when weather conditions permitted crews a chance to compact an approximately 6,000ft by 220ft snow runway located alongside the station. As this was often impossible during the Winter, the majority of resupply and repair flights to the station took place primarily during the Summer, carried out almost exclusively by ski-equipped C-130D & H Hercules of the 109th Airlift Wing, New York Air National Guard, which were forward deployed to the Søndre Strømfjord airfield.
Remaining operational for nearly 30 years, the site was shut down in October 1988 as a result of fears that the stations wood and steel foundation had begun to sink into the ice cap and threatened to topple the station. As a result, the facility was left in an essentially in-use condition when closed and has since been largely abandoned as-is. Transferred to the operational control of the 109th Airlift Wing of the New York Air National Guard thereafter, the site is now frequently visited by C-130's of the wing as they practice ice field takeoffs & landings in preparation for their Antarctic deployments. While the majority of the "Composite" building remains unused, several of the sites outbuildings have also been repurposed for the Crawford Point automated weather station in addition to supporting the transient training crews on the 109th Wing.
lswilson.dewlineadventures.com/dye2pics.htm
Constructed atop the Greenland Ice Cap at an altitude of 7,600ft above sea level over a multi-year period, the DYE-2 station was a manned long-range radar site in the DYE Sector of the Distant Early Warning (DEW) Line operated by the US Air Force. Declared operational in 1961 and equipped with a single AN/FPS-30 radar, the site and the near-mirror DYE-3 site built roughly 100 miles to the Southeast provided airspace coverage over the featureless expanse of the Greenland against Soviet air attack. Linked by tropospheric communications to DYE-3 and DYE-1 Radar site 180 miles to the West, the site operated on a 24/7/365 basis and was manned by 15 crew who were housed in a central "Composite" building that housed the majority of the stations radar, communication, power generation and life support systems.
The site's extremely isolated location meant that resupply could only be done by air, and only when weather conditions permitted crews a chance to compact an approximately 6,000ft by 220ft snow runway located alongside the station. As this was often impossible during the Winter, the majority of resupply and repair flights to the station took place primarily during the Summer, carried out almost exclusively by ski-equipped C-130D & H Hercules of the 109th Airlift Wing, New York Air National Guard, which were forward deployed to the Søndre Strømfjord airfield.
Remaining operational for nearly 30 years, the site was shut down in October 1988 as a result of fears that the stations wood and steel foundation had begun to sink into the ice cap and threatened to topple the station. As a result, the facility was left in an essentially in-use condition when closed and has since been largely abandoned as-is. Transferred to the operational control of the 109th Airlift Wing of the New York Air National Guard thereafter, the site is now frequently visited by C-130's of the wing as they practice ice field takeoffs & landings in preparation for their Antarctic deployments. While the majority of the "Composite" building remains unused, several of the sites outbuildings have also been repurposed for the Crawford Point automated weather station in addition to supporting the transient training crews on the 109th Wing.
lswilson.dewlineadventures.com/dye2pics.htm
Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DYE_Stations
Nearby cities:
Coordinates: 66°29'30"N 46°18'19"W
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