The city of Fond Du Lac once used a system of Thunderbolts. The first two went up in 1955 and were purchased with Civil Defense matching funds.
By 1968, there were five sirens in use. These served well until the mid 1990s when they began to show their age. They failed for a tornado warning which led to their removal around 1995. The city subsequently purchased a batch of ASC RM-130s around 1997-1998. First we begin with two old newspaper articles: one detailing the first Thunderbolt that went up in Fond Du Lac, and the other documenting their failure. The STH-10 is North Fond Du Lac's. Big thanks to Jerry Wick for sharing these a while back!
Then we find a former Thunderbolt mounting platform: pole and blower pad. One can see a part of the blower pipe clamp was left on the pole, which itself was simply cut down. I don't know which exact siren used to be here - just that it was a Thunderbolt.
Next comes St. Peter's old Thunderbolt. This was from Fond Du Lac's old system however it was a later addition. It would have been yellow originally and was repainted gray once it went to St. Peter. One can see the mounting holes on the horn panel for the mesh screen although the screen itself was removed. The A2 blower can be seen - smaller wheel and pulleys compared to the original A1. Unfortunately this siren died at some point and failed to go off both times I tried recording it. Eventually the township decided to replace with an Allertor. It was such a surprise to see the Allertor - sadly the local practice of reusing old sirens in small towns has diminished amid the pressure to "buy new".
And here is Malone's 1000T. This was the first Thunderbolt I ever recorded, although it took three attempts to really record a decent video. Its loud, distorted, non-harmonic sound was way more intense compared to the pedestrian T-128s I was used to. Originally it was yellow but then it became beige when they painted the since-demolished grain elevator it sat on. It looked so cool, all that industrial equipment huddled together on a roof - and there's the Thunderbolt sticking out of the mess. This was one of the first Thunderbolts Fond Du Lac had, dating back to 1955. Whether or not this is the one that was on the bank building is out to debate, but it was certainly different from the later Thunderbolt found in St. Peter.
One can see a strange bar inside the horn, not a complete grille but not the mesh screen either. No mounting holes for a mesh screen were spotted - while some earlier Thunderbolts did have a screen this wasn't always the case. The A1 blower chugged along nicely - it didn't sound anything like the later A2 or B Series blowers. How much of the siren was original is out to debate although it matters little to me. I was very surprised to learn the siren was removed and presumably dumped. I suppose it will eventually be immortalized in 1/87 scale once I find more beige paint.
And here is the last video I took of Malone's 1000T. It is hosted on my archived videos account.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qr-nxE-L7HQ