Caribou Air Force Station

Caribou Air Force Station, also known as North River Depot and East Loring, is a defunct Air Force Station that operated from 1951 until some time when it was absorbed into Loring Air Force Base in 1962. It was located in Limestone, Maine, adjacent to Loring. Between 1951 and 1962 Caribou was an Operational Storage Site for Air Materiel Command (AMC-OSS), one of five in the United States, and the weapons storage and maintenance facility for Loring alert aircraft.

Caribou Air Force Station
Part of Air Force Logistics Command
Strategic Air Command
Limestone, Maine
The station in 1967
Coordinates46°58′9.80″N 67°52′19.77″W
Site history
Built1951
Built byU.S. Air Force
In use1951-1962
Garrison information
GarrisonLimestone, Maine

Background

The Nuclear Weapons Storage Area at Loring once operated as a separate, top secret facility. Originally called the North River Depot, the remote area to the northeast of Loring’s property was the first U.S. Operational site allegedly constructed for the storage, assembly, and testing of atomic weapons.[1]

A parallel series of four fences, one of which was electrified, surrounded the heart of the storage area. This area was nicknamed the “Q” Area, which denoted the Department of Energy’s Q clearance a classified security clearance required to have access to Restricted Data.

In June 1962, the United States Atomic Energy Commission released its custody and ownership of the weapons to the Air Force, and the personnel and property were absorbed into the adjacent Loring Air Force Base.

Units Based There
Northwest corner of Building 216 (Ammunition Maintenance Shop) in assembly area showing shape of earthen mound covering and retaining wall.
  • 3080th Aviation Depot Group

References
  1. Historic American Engineering Record. Loring Air Force Base, Weapons Storage Area, Northeastern corner of base at northern end of Maine Road, Limestone vicinity, Aroostook County, ME. On file with The Library of Congress.
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