Caribou Air Force Station
Caribou Air Force Station was the first of five, United States Air Force, Air Material Command (AMC) installations that were constructed during the period of 1951 – 1953. Each of the five installations was built specifically to provide operational storage of the nuclear stockpile, and to provide a specified number of weapons to their adjacent Strategic Air Command (SAC) bases. The first four installations were built and occupied by 1953. The fifth installation, although completed in 1953, would not be utilized until 1955. The first installation, code named “Site Easy” was originally known as the “North River Depot”. It was constructed between 1951-1952, and operations began in 1952. Funds were provided in 1951 to the Armed Forces Special Weapons Project (AFSWP), for the planning and construction of an ordnance storage site in the vicinity of a new Strategic Air Command Base. The AFSWP was directed to utilize the services of the Corps of Engineers, Department of Army, for planning and construction, and was made responsible for monitoring such work, and for operational security measures during these phases. The original directive to the AFSWP stipulated that upon completion of construction the installation would be turned over to Headquarters, Air Material Command for operational responsibilities.
Caribou Air Force Station
Storage Structure ‘A’ (Building No. 260) was the first “Nuclear Capsule Storage Building”. This building was designed to withstand a direct hit in case of an attack. During its early history, it was the most defended structure at the site. A chain link fence with six strands of barbed wire on two out riggers (three strands on each side) originally surrounded the building. A gate in the fence allowed access to the structure. The structure was 10 feet thick on the sides, 10 feet thick on the bottom (some of which is buried below ground), and more than 20 feet thick above the ceiling of the vaults. Inside each vault were permanently installed steel racks of shelves. There were 16 full racks (3 shelves per rack), and 4 single racks (3 shelves per rack). The total number of shelves equaled 60. On each shelf was stored a unique device. Subsequent structural effects testing of nuclear weapons led to the determination that the design of Building No. 260 rendered it top heavy. The structure could be toppled and subsequently destroyed by the precursor wave of a weapon detonated at very low altitude or at the surface. This information led to the design of a new capsule storage structure.