View source for Curlew Air Force Station

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'''{{PAGENAME}}''' (1950-1959) - A [[Cold War]] Air Force Radar Station first established in 1950 as [[Mount Bonaparte Air Force Station]] on Mount Bonaparte, Washington. Moved in 1953 to a permanent site on Bodie Mountain near Curlew, Ferry County, Washington. Named Curlew Air Force Station after the nearby town. Initially assigned a Lashup/Permanent ID of LP-6 and later just a Permanent ID of P-6. Abandoned as a long-range radar site in 1959 and re-established as a short-range unattended gap-filler site with an ID of P-60C in 1960, serviced by [[Colville Air Force Station]]. Completely closed later in 1960.
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== History ==
First established on 5 May 1950 on Mount Bonaparte using [[Lashup System]] equipment (TPS-1B). Moved to a permanent site on Bodie Mountain that became operational
1 Dec 1953 as Curlew Air Force Station manned by the 638th AC&W Squadron. 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 at the permanent site included an [[FPS-3]] search radar and an [[FPS-5]] height-finder radar. The search radar was upgraded to an [[FPS-20]] and the height-finder was later upgraded to an [[FPS-6]]. The site and the 638th AC&W were discontinued on 1 Dec 1959 as newer SAGE-capable sites came online. The site was then retrofitted in 1960 as an unmanned gap-filler radar site, serviced by [[Colville Air Force Station]]. The gap-filler site was only operational from April 1960 to December 1960 before being completely closed down.

== 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 trailer park & housing area for married personnel. <!--A separate Ground to Air Transmitter/Receiver (GATR) radio site housed the radio equipment for directing aircraft intercepts.-->

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{| width="800px"
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{| class="wikitable"
|+ Curlew AFS Major Equipment List
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!Search Radar
!HF Radar
!Data Systems
|-
| valign="top" |
* [[FPS-3]]
* [[FPS-20]]
* [[FPS-18]]
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* [[FPS-5]]
* [[FPS-6]]
* [[FPS-6|FPS-6A]]
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* [[FST-1]]
|}
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{| class="wikitable"
|+ Unit Designations
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* 638th Aircraft Control & Warning (AC&W) Squadron (1951-1959)
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{| class="wikitable"
|+ 638th AC&W Assignments
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* 1 Jan 1951 - Assigned at Mt. Bonaparte, WA, as the 505th Group.
* 25 May 1951 - Transferred to 162nd AC&W Group.
* 6 Feb 1952 - Assigned to 25th Air Division. ([[McChord Manual Direction Center P-4]])
*   Jan 1953 - Transferred to 4702nd Defense Wing. ([[Geiger Manual Direction Center SM-172]])
* 1 Dec 1953 - Site redesignated from Mt. Bonaparte to Curlew AFS, WA. 
* 8 Oct 1954 - Transferred to 9th Air Division. ([[Geiger Manual Direction Center SM-172]])
* 15 Aug 1958 - Transferred to 25th Air Division. ([[McChord Manual Direction Center P-4]])
* 1 Sep 1958 - Transferred to 4700th Air Defense Wing. ([[Geiger Manual Direction Center SM-172]])
* 1 Dec 1959 - Inactivated.
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{{CurlewAFSCmdrs}}
== Current Status ==
The cantonment and housing area are now used as Curlew Civilian Conservation Center. The upper main site buildings are all leveled with some foundations and concrete steps remaining. The three concrete footings for the gap-filler radar antenna can still be clearly seen on the Google satellite maps.
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{|
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<googlemap version="0.9" lat="48.872468" lon="-118.965805" zoom="10"  width="-500" height="-500" scale="yes" overview="yes" controls="large" icons="http://www.fortwiki.com/mapicons/icon{label}.png">
(R) 48.78513, -119.12231, Mount Boneparte Site
(H) 48.93570, -118.76659, Curlew AFS Housing Area
(C) 48.93240, -118.76508, Curlew AFS Cantonment Area
(R) 48.87722, -118.78556, Curlew Air Force Station
(1950-1959)
</googlemap>
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'''Location:''' Near Curlew in Ferry County, Washington.

{{Mapit-US-cityscale|48.87722|-118.78556}}
* Elevation: 4,616'

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'''GPS Locations:'''
* {{GPSLinkLong|Lat=48.87722|Lon=-118.78556}} Curlew Air Force Station
* {{GPSLinkLong|Lat=48.78513|Lon=-119.12231}} Mount Boneparte Site
* {{GPSLinkLong|Lat=48.93570|Lon=-118.76659}} Curlew AFS Housing Area
* {{GPSLinkLong|Lat=48.93240|Lon=-118.76508}} Curlew AFS Cantonment Area

|}

'''See Also:'''
* [[Permanent System Radar Sites]]
* [[US Radar Sets]]
* [[Geiger Manual Direction Center SM-172]]
* [[McChord Manual Direction Center P-4]]

'''Sources:''' 
* {{Cornett}}, page 97.  <!--ADC Organization-->
* {{Winkler}}, page 165.  <!--Searching the skies-->
* {{GNIS|ID=2087519}}

'''Links:''' 
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curlew_Air_Force_Station Wikipedia - Curlew Air Force Station]
* [http://curlew.jobcorps.gov/home.aspx Curlew Job Corps]

{{FortID|ID=WA0124|Name={{PAGENAME}}}}
* WA0222 - Mount Bonaparte Air Force Station

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[[Category:All]]
[[Category:Washington All]]
[[Category:Washington Radar Sites]]
[[Category:Washington Ferry County]]
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Washington Not Visited]]
[[Category:Starter Page]]
[[Category:USAF Radar Sites]]
[[Category:FPS-3]]
[[Category:FPS-20]]
[[Category:FPS-18]]
[[Category:FPS-5]]
[[Category:FPS-6]]
[[Category:FST-1]]