Site now owned by the P. Funk family - Mr. Funk is the nephew of the original landowner who bought the site back from the USAF in the 1960s. Several original buildings intact - senior admin office was enlarged & is now their home. A flower garden field next to it was apparently an admin bldg for lower level personnel. Numerous barracks were existing, but in poor shape, after housing turkeys, pigs, then hens over the years. Several of the barracks buildings were removed after they eventually collapsed, the remaining ones are full of debris & probably won`t be around too much longer. Hens have been relocated into two new henhouse buildings on the S side of the site. Woman believes she still has photos they took of property from the top of the GFA tower shortly after USAF vacated it. USAF sold land back to original property owners, leaving all structures intact, but the GFA site was given to the State of Iowa, which apparently let Iowa State Univ. use it. They wanted to put some sort of meteorological equipment on the tower (weather RADAR or just monitoring instruments). I climbed to the top of the tower/ It was quite windoy, and the upper portion was shaking in the wind. Site has been used as part of a farm, initially housing turkeys, later pigs & hens, now hens in newer hen houses, and growing vegetables on other parts of the grounds. GFA site was obtained from the state in the mid-1970s. The radome housing apparently was taken by flatbed to Colorado. Top of GFA tower has an approx. 30` tall extension, with a windmill for electricity production. GFA Ops building is supposedly the control building from the AFS days. No evidence of other RADAR platforms (concrete towers, foundations, etc.) were seen. Buildings still existing on site (descriptions are based on owner`s info, from talking with the occasional person stationed there who has come back to visit over the years:

Main Admin Bldg (addition added to it, and now home of the property owners. Flagpole in front was torched off & removed by thief in 1960s before anyone lived on the grounds! Now the pipe sticking up out of the ground is used as a flowerpot)

Pharmacy & Post Office (now used by landowners for church services. Pharmacy end of bldg has bars over the windows. Post Office side still has a mail slot)

Vehicle Maint Garage (used now to store some farm equipment, but bldg interior was gutted by fire some years ago)

Mess/Rec Hall (kitchen/bakery in one end, then dining area & space for misc. recreation, now used for misc. storage)

Maintenance Bldg (same size/style as barracks. Owner now stores small boat & misc stuff in it).

GFA Ops Bldg (apparently the original AFS operations building, it now is used for misc. storage)

Guard Shack (owners say it`d always been located where it sits now, though it seems to me it`s too close to the facilities, & should have been further back on the access. Original door decayed & was replaced. It`s not used for anything.

Barracks (two left, in poor shape. Owners removed several others after they collapsed, brought on by the rowdy pigs incarcerated within)

All buildings seemed to be built as temporary structures - wood & sheetmetal. None were cinderblock.

Sitting along the fence inside the GFA compound is a mesh & steel RADAR antenna, and then 20` away from it is a pedestal & motor mount. Pedestal has several manufacturer plates on it - the main one indicating the pedestal is for ANTENNA GROUP OA-897A/FPS-14, made by Bendix Radio for contract AF 30(635) 4224

Site owners are somewhat interested in the history of their land, though they didn`t know about the Gap Filler system or the mission of this sort of AFS. They do have an email address, I gave them the URL for the main RADOMES page, and will send them the specific URLs for Dallas Center AFS & GFA.

A relative of theirs used to deliver a newspaper to the AFS. On several occasions, the sentry in the guard shack was sound asleep, so he`d get into the habit of driving right onto the installation and deliver the newspaper(s) in the early morning. More than once the guard would meet him with weapon drawn as he was ready to leave! Access road to site from T Avenue is dirt road. There is a small dirt/gravel offshoot off the access road which might have had a guard shack, located 10 or 20` off T Avenue.