Coldwar-Ct.com
 
 

WILI Bomb Shelter

    See "Radio Station Shelters" Link above for more CT shelters.

    During the early sixties the federal government built bomb shelters and provided back-up generators at key broadcast stations around the country.  After completing a survey The Department of the Navy  WILI (AM 1400 khz) in Willimantic, CT.  Normally the shelters were built underground but at the WILI AM transmitter site the water table was so high the decision was made to simply fortify the existing cinder block transmitter building.  Manager Colin Rice provided the following account:
    "The building walls were reinforced and are now about 18 inches thick, two walls of cider blocks with sand in between.  Same with the roof.  We actually broadcast down there several times, the most notable being Nov. 9th 1965 East Coast black out  and a time in the 70's when a car accident took out a telephone pole.  No Nuke problems though.
The facility also had a buried diesel tank and Peterbuilt diesel generator.  It was designed for several weeks of continuous operation."

This building was built by the Department of the Navy for WILI AM in Willimantic to
serve as a bomb shelter. Since the water table was so high an underground
shelter was ruled impractical so it was built above ground.  The walls consist of
two parallel rows of cinder blocks with sand in between and are about 18" think.
The ceiling is poured concrete . . . double thick with sand inbetween as well.










Website Builder