The facade of the top section of the Fort Reno tower is painted Plexiglas that conceals the Cartwheel radar dish. A crew lived and worked in the tower 24 hours a day. A two story bunker underneath housed the electrical generators and food stocks that would supposedly see the crew through World War III.

Of course the whole thing was kind of ridiculous. Early civil defense concepts were based on outdated World War II era notions of air power, where an attack might constitute a single (relatively low yield) atomic bomb. By 1960, both the Soviet Union and the United States had developed intercontinental missiles that could carry vastly more powerful thermonuclear weapons. In the event of war several of these weapons may have been fired at Washington.

In the 1970’s Cartwheel was deemed obsolete and transferred to the Federal Aviation Administration, who found a civilian use for the communications tower. It is still in use.