April, 2004 Site Visit Trip Report

Contributed by Bernie Radigan

Andes, NY GFA (P50B) Site visit report.
Bernie Radigan
April 2004

On Saturday April 24, 2004, I visited the Andes, NY GFA. I had previously made 2 scouting trips to the location of this site. The first trip put me on the access road only to find it blocked by a locked gate. I did see the original tower sticking up above the trees as I approached. I went to the nearest house and inquired about who owned the property and how I could get in to take pictures. I spoke to a gentleman named Fran Herr (the access road is Herr Rd). Mr. Herr has lived there about 65 years. He told me that during the years the site was in operation he was contracted to keep the access road cleared of snow during the winter. He told me that the current owners live in New York City and he was able to give me the name of another local resident who acts as caretaker for the owners. I contacted the caretaker and explained what I wanted to do. He said that there was no problem with that; however he said that I would have to time my visit to one of the weekends when the owners would be there or arrange with him to meet at the gate. I chose to try to catch the owners on site. I made a second trip on the Friday after Thanksgiving Day 2003. By the time that I got there the weather was miserable, but the gate was open. I drove in to the owner’s residence, but there was nobody there. I hung around for about an hour and a half before they returned. Unfortunately they were in a bit of a situation, because of a fire in the house during the overnight. So, between that and the weather I told them that I would come back in the spring once the weather improved. I gave them what information I could about Radomes Inc. and the on-line museum including a copy of the vintage picture of the site from the webpage. They told me that I was welcome to come back again. It is about 85 miles from my residence, in Herkimer, NY, to the site.

Data:
Current owners – David Bartlem and John Manzi of New York City
Caretaker – Bruce Soules of Margaretville, NY

The Andes site is fairly complete.


The access road still has some of the original pavement and guardrails.

The main building, original tower and outhouse are still standing. The tower is mounted on individual concrete supports.

The original security fence is intact and the above ground fuel tank is still present. Also, the antenna sail, the fiberglass radome panels and one of the original diesel generators are extant.

The antenna is setting between the fence and the fuel tank.

The radome panels are stacked near the outhouse like Pringles potato chips.

Except for several missing gauges in the control panel, the generator is complete, including the air duct from the wall vent to the radiator.

There is an electrical distribution panel in the generator room that most likely controlled the switching from commercial to backup power. The roof shows no evidence of the cooling exhaust stacks typically found on these GFA buildings. The west-facing wall of the equipment wing exhibits substantial deterioration of the concrete blocks. This is most likely due to the fact that the prevailing wind and weather is constantly assaulting that side. Mr. Herr has a sign over the door of his house that reads “Breezy Acres” and the wind was quite strong at the top of the hill while I was there. I climbed around the gate at the bottom of the tower ladder and went up half way to the antenna platform and I could feel some slight movement/vibration of the tower structure. The original radar equipment room is closed and locked. The Delaware County, NY 911-dispatch system currently uses the site on a rental basis. Their communication antennas are mounted to the top of the original radar tower, the 911 transmit and receive equipment is located inside the original radar equipment wing. The site sits on top of the second highest point in the immediate vicinity. The property owners own approximately 133 acres surrounding the site. The property was an active farm at the time the site was built. The current owners use the property as a getaway retreat from New York City. The only other structures on the property are a 19th century house and barn. The site is accessible from Delaware County Route 2, which runs north south between the villages of De Lancey, on New York Route 10, and Andes on New York Route 28. The nearest sizable community with accommodations, services and national chain eateries is Delhi, NY.

As I was preparing this report, I received an email message from David Bartlem. The following is an excerpt from that message.

Bernie:

Thanks so much for spending the time to provide such a detailed history of the tower on our property. It is really fascinating to understand the history of the program and the role of this particular tower within the fabric of the overall defense shield. I really appreciate the photos, especially the one dated 1966 -- Now I understand what the installation really looked like when it was functioning. The sphere must have been very strong because it gets awfully windy up on top of that hill (even on the ground; forget about 10 stories up).

I will definitely check out the web site. I think your photos turned out really well.

Bernie, please feel free to stop by again if you need to visit the tower.

I appreciate your efforts to document the history of the program, and I plan on sharing this information with my Dad (who was in the Korean War) and my friend who is an archivist. I am sure that they will find it fascinating.

Thank you for being so generous with your knowledge of the history of the site.

Best regards,
David Bartlem