Ozona Air Force Station

Ozona Air Force Station (1957-1963) - A Cold War Air Force Radar Station first established in 1957 near Ozona, Crockett County, Texas. Named Ozona Air Force Station after the location. Initially assigned a Permanent ID of TM-187. Abandoned in 1963.

Ozona Air Force Station Dining Hall.
Ozona Air Force Station GATR Site.
Ozona Air Force Station Recreation Hall. Housed a Basketball Court, BX/Snack Bar and a Two Lane Bowling Alley.

History

Established in 1957 and became operational in 1959 as Ozona Air Force Station manned by the 732nd AC&W Squadron.

This station was one of eight stations established in the final phase of the Permanent AC&W Radar Program for the 33rd Air Division. The 33rd Air Division would remain a manual operation throughout the transition of the rest of the Air Defense System to the semi-automatic SAGE System. The Oklahoma City Manual Direction Center P-86 remained connected to these sites until they closed down one by one. Because the sites were never destined to become SAGE sites they received older less capable equipment and facilities and they were among the first to be closed when budgets constricted. The eight sites were:

33rd AD Mobile Phase III Radar Sites

1. TM-187 Ozona Air Force Station TX

5. TM-191 Rockport Air Force Station TX

2. TM-188 Eagle Pass Air Force Station TX

6. TM-192 Killeen Air Force Station TX

3. TM-189 Zapata Air Force Station TX

7. TM-193 Lufkin Air Force Station TX

4. TM-190 Port Isabel Air Force Station TX

8. TM-194 Lake Charles Air Force Station LA

The station initially had both a Ground-Control Intercept (GCI) and early warning mission. The early warning mission involved tracking and identifying all aircraft entering their airspace while the GCI mission involved guiding Air Force interceptors to any identified enemy aircraft. Controllers at the station vectored fighter aircraft at the correct course and speed to intercept enemy aircraft using voice commands via ground-to-air radio.

Initial equipment included the FPS-3 search radar and an FPS-6 height-finder radar.

Gap Fillers

Ozona AFS was responsible for the maintenance of two remote unattended gap-filler radar sites. The unattended gap filler sites were placed in locations where the main search radar lacked coverage. These sites were equipped with short range FPS-14 or FPS-18 search radars and FST-1 Coordinate Data transmitters that sent digitized radar target data to a SAGE direction center and to the main radar site. Both the radar set and the FST-1 were dual channel to increase site up time. Maintenance teams were dispatched for regularly scheduled maintenance or when fault indicators on the FSW-1 remote monitoring equipment suggested the site had problems. The FSW-1 also allowed remote operation of specific functions such as channel changes for the radar and for the FST-1, it also allowed remote operation of the diesel generators at the gap filler site. The Ozona AFS gap-filler radars were located at McCamey and Comstock, Texas.

Ozona AFS Gap Filler Radar Sites (edit list)

ADC

NORAD

Location

State

Type

From

To

GPS

Notes

TM-187A

McCamey

TX

FPS-18, FST-1

1961-10

1963-06

30.90247,
-102.07823

Building still exists

TM-187B

Comstock

TX

FPS-18, FST-1

1960-02

1963-06

29.85823,
-101.16195

Building still exists

Closure

Ozona AFS and the 732nd were deactivated on 1 Aug 1963. The equipment was removed and the property was sold at public auction by the GSA in January 1965.

Physical Plant

The physical plant of the site was divided into the main site, a cantonment area, a housing area and a radio site. The main site housed the operations buildings, the radar towers, and the backup generators. The cantonment area housed the enlisted barracks, the bachelor officer's quarters, the orderly room, the dining hall, the motor pool and other support buildings. Apart from the main site was a small 27 unit housing area for married personnel.

A separate Ground to Air Transmitter/Receiver (GATR) radio site housed the radio equipment for directing aircraft intercepts.

Context

Location: Along Interstate 10, 6 miles east of Ozona
in Crockett County, Texas.
Lat: 30.704° Long: -101.117° Elevation: 2' Bing, Google, OldMapsOnline, USGS, OHM

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Ozona AFS Major Equipment List
Search Radar	HF Radar	Data Systems	IFF/SIF/Beacon

732nd Aircraft Control & Warning (AC&W) Squadron (1956-1963)

8 Nov 1956 - Activated at Oklahoma City AFS, OK, as the 33rd Air Division.
25 Jul 1957 - Moved to Ozona AFS, TX.
1 Jan 1960 - Transferred to Albuquerque ADS.
15 Sep 1960 - Transferred to Oklahoma - City ADS.
1 Sep 1961 - Transferred to 4752nd Air Defense Wing.
25 Jun 1963 - Transferred to Oklahoma City ADS.
1 Aug 1963 - Discontinued.

Current Status

The operations area buildings were demolished circa 2005 and replaced with industrial buildings. The front portion of the cantonment area is in private hands and access is restricted. The rear portion of the cantonment area (including the barracks, dining hall, supply, rec hall and radio site) is owned by the Boy Scouts of America but is unoccupied and deteriorating. The housing area is in private hands and is now known as Crockett Heights.

See Also:

Sources:

Cornett, Lloyd H. & Johnson, Mildred W., A Handbook of Aerospace Defense Organization (1946-1980), Office of History ADC, Peterson AFB, Colorado, 31 Dec 1980, 179 pages, Pdf, page 100.
Winkler, David F., Searching the Skies: the Legacy of the United States Cold War Defense Radar Program, USAF Hq Air Combat Command, 1997, 192 pages, Pdf, page 157.
USGS Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) Database Entry: 2089745

Links:

Wikipedia - Ozona Air Force Station