Sault Sainte Marie Air Force Station

Sault Sainte Marie Air Force Station
Part of Air Defense Command (ADC)
Sault Sainte Marie AFS Location of Sault Sainte Marie AFS, Michigan
Coordinates	46°27′26″N 084°23′14″W / 46.45722°N 84.38722°W / 46.45722; -84.38722 (Sault Ste. Marie AFS P-66)
Type	Air Force Station
Site information
Controlled by	United States Air Force
Site history
Built	1951
In use	1951-1979
Garrison information
Garrison	753d Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron

Emblem of the 753d Radar Squadron

Sault Sainte Marie Air Force Station (ADC ID: P-66, NORAD ID: Z-66) is a closed United States Air Force General Surveillance Radar station. It is located 3.0 miles (4.8 km) south-southwest of Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan. It was closed in 1979.

History

In November 1950, the 753d Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron was activated by Air Defense Command at a temporary "Lashup" radar site located at Sault Sainte Marie Airport, to provide radar defense coverage for the area. It was equipped with AN/TPS-1B and 1C radars, the site being designated by ADC as L-21.

In late 1951 Air Defense Command selected Sault Sainte Marie as one of twenty-eight radar stations built as part of the second segment of the permanent radar surveillance network. Prompted by the start of the Korean War, on July 11, 1950, the Secretary of the Air Force asked the Secretary of Defense for approval to expedite construction of the second segment of the permanent network. Receiving the Defense Secretary’s approval on July 21, the Air Force directed the Corps of Engineers to proceed with construction.

On 1 January 1952 the 753d AC&W Squadron began operating AN/FPS-3 and AN/FPS-5 radars at the permanent site, being designated as "P-66" by ADC, and initially the station functioned as a Ground-Control Intercept (GCI) and warning station. As a GCI station, the squadron's role was to guide interceptor aircraft toward unidentified intruders picked up on the unit's radar scopes. During 1956 the Air Force replaced the AN/FPS-5 with an AN/FPS-6 unit. In 1958 the AN/FPS-3 was replaced by an AN/FPS-20 search radar, and soon received a second height-finder radar, an AN/FPS-6B.

During 1960 Sault Sainte Marie AFS joined the Semi Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) system, initially feeding data to DC-14 at K. I. Sawyer AFB, Michigan. After joining, the squadron was re-designated as the 753d Radar Squadron (SAGE) on 15 July 1960. The radar squadron provided information 24/7 the SAGE Direction Center where it was analyzed to determine range, direction altitude speed and whether or not aircraft were friendly or hostile. In 1963, the station was switched to the SAGE Data Center DC-06 at Custer AFS, Michigan. In 1963 an AN/FPS-35 search radar replaced the AN/FPS-20A. The AN/FPS-6 was removed in 1963, and the AN/FPS-6B was modified to an AN/FPS-90. On 31 July 1963, the site was redesignated as NORAD ID Z-66. In 1964 an AN/FPS-26A height-finder radar was installed.

In addition to the main facility, Sault Sainte Marie operated the following AN/FPS-18 Gap Filler sites:

Over the years, the equipment at the station was upgraded or modified to improve the efficiency and accuracy of the information gathered by the radars. Sault Sainte Marie AFS came under Tactical Air Command jurisdiction in October 1979 with the inactivation of Aerospace Defense Command and the formation of ADTAC. The 753rd Radar Squadron was inactivated on 30 October 1979 and Sault Sainte Marie Air Force Station was closed. After the station's closure, sections of the AN/FPS-35 radar antenna were sent to Montauk AFS in 1980 to replace corroded sections of the antenna there.

Today the former Air Force Housing site is occupied as private homes. The operational area used as an auto junkyard and other small businesses in the former USAF buildings. The radar towers remain, and the remains of the center section of the large FPS-35 sail lies on the ground where it was apparently dropped when it was removed, the base of the antenna remains on top of the large tower.

Air Force units and assignments

Units

Constituted as the 753d Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron on 14 November 1950

Activated at Sault Sainte Marie Airport on 27 November 1950

Site renamed Sault Sainte Marie Air Force Station

Redesignated 753d Radar Squadron (SAGE) on 15 July 1960

Redesignated 753d Radar Squadron on 1 February 1974

Inactivated on 30 October 1979

Assignments:

541st Aircraft Control and Warning Group, 27 November 1950
30th Air Division, 6 February 1952
4706th Defense Wing, 16 February 1953
37th Air Division, 8 July 1956
30th Air Division, 1 April 1959
Sault Sainte Marie Air Defense Sector, 1 April 1960
Duluth Air Defense Sector, 1 October 1963
29th Air Division, 1 April 1966
34th Air Division, 15 September 1969
29th Air Division, 14 November 1969
23d Air Division, 19 November 1969 - 30 October 1979

References

This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Air Force Historical Research Agency.

Winkler, David F. & Webster, Julie L., Searching the Skies, The Legacy of the United States Cold War Defense Radar Program, US Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratories, Champaign, IL (1997).
Winkler, David F. & Webster, Julie L., Searching the Skies, The Legacy of the United States Cold War Defense Radar Program, US Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratories, Champaign, IL (1997).
Information for Sault Ste. Marie AFS, MI

External links

Aerospace Defense Command (ADC)

Bases

CONUS	Amarillo Beale Charleston Davis-Monthan Dobbins Dover Dow Duluth Eglin Edwards Ellington Ellsworth England Ent Ethan Allen Fairfax Fallon Fort Heath Fort Lee Geiger George Glasgow Grand Forks Grenier Griffiss Gunter Hamilton Hancock Homestead Hurlburt Hunter Imeson Key West Kincheloe Kingsley Kirtland Lackland Laredo Larson Luke MacDill March Malmstrom McCoy McChord McClellan McGhee Tyson McGuire Minneapolis-St. Paul Minot Mitchel New Castle Niagara Falls Norton O'Hare Otis Oxnard Paine Perrin Peterson Pittsburgh Portland Presque Isle R.I. Bong Richards-Gebaur Robins K.I. Sawyer Selfridge Seymour Johnson Sioux City Stead Stewart Suffolk County Tinker Travis Truax Tyndall Vandenburg Vincent Walker Webb Westover Wright-Patterson Wurtsmith Youngstown

Overseas	Ernest Harmon Frobisher Bay Goose Bay Keflavik McAndrew Pepperrell Thule

Stations

CONUS	Adair Aiken Almaden Alpena Antigo Arlington Heights Baker Bedford Bellefontaine Belleville Benton Blaine Brookfield Brunswick Bucks Harbor Burns Calumet Cambria Cape Charles Cape Cod Carmi Caswell Chandler Charleston Cheyenne Mountain Claysburg Clear Colville Condon Continental Divide Cottonwood Cross City Crystal Springs Curlew Custer Cut Bank Dallas Center Dauphin Island Dickinson Duncanville Eldorado Empire Finland Finley Flintstone Fordland Fort Fisher Fort Lee Fortuna Gettysburg Grand Marais Grand Rapids Guthrie Hanna City Havre Highlands Houma Hutchinson Joelton Keno Killeen Kingman Kirksville Klamath Lake Charles Lake City Las Cruces Las Vegas Lewistown Lockport Lufkin Lyndonville Madera Makah Mica Peak Miles City Mill Valley Minot Montauk Moriarty Mount Hebo Mount Laguna Mount Lemmon Naselle North Bend North Charleston North Truro Oklahoma City Olathe Omaha Opheim Osceola Othello Owingsville Ozona Palermo Point Arena Port Austin Port Isabel Pyote Red Bluff Rochester Rockport Rockville (Indiana) Roslyn Rye Saint Albans San Clemente Island Santa Rosa Island Saratoga Springs Sault Ste Marie Shemya Snelling Snow Mountain Sweetwater Texarkana Tierra Amarilla Thomasville Tonopah Topsham Two Creeks Wadena Walnut Ridge Watertown Waverly West Mesa Willow Run Winnemucca Winslow Winston-Salem Woomera Yaak Zapata

Overseas	Armstrong Baldy Hughes Beausejour Cape Makkovik Cartwright Cut Throat Island Elliston Ridge Fox Harbour Hofn Hopedale Kamloops La Scie Langanes Latrar Melville Puntzi Mountain Ramore Red Cliff Rockville Saglek St. Anthony Saskatoon Mountain Sioux Lookout Spotted Island Stephenville

Air
Defense
units

Forces	Central Air Defense Eastern Air Defense Iceland Western Air Defense First Fourth Tenth Fourteenth

Air Divisions	8th 9th 20th 21st 23d 24th 25th 26th 27th 28th 29th 30th 31st 32d 33d 34th 35th 36th 37th 58th 64th 73d 85th

Sectors	Albuquerque Bangor Boston Chicago Detroit Duluth Goose Grand Forks Great Falls Kansas City Los Angeles Minot Montgomery New York Oklahoma City Phoenix Portland Reno Sault Sainte Marie San Francisco Seattle Sioux City Spokane Stewart Syracuse Washington

Wings	Fighter 1st 4th 23d 32d 33d 50th 52d 56th 78th 81st 325th 328th 507th Detection and Control 71st 73d 551st 552d Air Defense 46th 4620th 4621st 4622d 4624th 4625th 4627th 4628th 4683d 4700th 4702d 4703d 4704th 4705th 4706th 4707th 4708th 4709th 4710th 4711th 4750th 4751st 4752d 4756th 4780th

Groups	Fighter 1st 4th 14th 15th 23d 32d 33d 50th 52d 53d 54th 56th 57th 78th 79th 81st 82d 84th 325th 326th 327th 328th 329th 337th 343d 355th 408th 412th 414th 473d 475th 476th 478th 507th Air Defense 10th 500th 501st 502d 503d 514th 515th 516th 517th 518th 519th 520th 521st 525th 527th 528th 529th 530th 533d 534th 564th 566th 567th 568th 575th 637th 665th 678th 692d 701st 751st 762d 765th 778th 780th 827th 858th 4606th 4620th 4676th 4700th 4721st 4722d 4727th 4728th 4729th 4730th 4731st 4732d 4733d 4734th 4735th 4750th 4756th Aircraft Control & Warning 503d 505th 540th 541st 542d 543d 544th 545th 546th 563d 564th 565th 566th

Squadrons	Aerospace Defense Command Fighter Squadrons Aircraft Control and Warning Squadrons

Major
weapon
systems

Electronic	TB-29 EB-57 EC-121

Fighters	Propellor: F-47 F-51 P-61 F-82 Subsonic Jet: P-80 F-84 F-86 F-89 F-94 Supersonic Jet: F-101 F-102 F-104 F-106

Missiles	AIM-4 AIM-26 AIR-2 CIM-10

Ships	Guardian Interceptor Interdictor Interpreter Investigator Locator Lookout Outpost Pickett Protector Scanner Searcher Skywatcher Tracer Watchman Vigil

Texas Towers	Texas Tower 2 Texas Tower 3 Texas Tower 4

Miscellaneous

Air Defense Command Emblem Gallery (on Wikimedia Commons)
General Surveillance Radar Stations

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