Watertown Air Force Station - Revision history

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	{{Clr}}		{{Clr}}
	-~~---~~
			==Context==

			{{Location\|23147 Swan Road, Watertown in Jefferson County, New York.\|43.92528\|-75.90917\|958}}
	{\| width="800px"		{\| width="800px"
	\|-		\|-
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	<!--{{WatertownAFSStructures}}-->		<!--{{WatertownAFSStructures}}-->
	----		----
	{{#display_map:		<!-- {{#display_map:
	43.921888,-75.909777~ Housing Area;		43.921888,-75.909777~ Housing Area;
	43.921577,-75.919733~ GATR Site;		43.921577,-75.919733~ GATR Site;
	43.923835,-75.908318~ Cantonement Area;		43.923835,-75.908318~ Cantonement Area;
	43.92528,-75.90917~ Watertown Air Force Station }}		43.92528,-75.90917~ Watertown Air Force Station }} -->
	~~{{Location\|23147 Swan Road, Watertown in Jefferson County, New York.\|43.92528\|~~-~~75.90917\|958}}~~

	'''See Also:'''		'''See Also:'''
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	* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watertown_Air_Force_Station Wikipedia - Watertown Air Force Station]		* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watertown_Air_Force_Station Wikipedia - Watertown Air Force Station]

	~~{{Visited\|19 Jun 2016}}~~

	~~<!-- [[Category:New York]] -->~~
	[[Category:New York Radar Sites]]		[[Category:New York Radar Sites]]
	~~<!-- [[Category:New York Jefferson County]] -->~~
	[[Category:2016 Research Trip]]		[[Category:2016 Research Trip]]
	[[Category:Starter Page]]		[[Category:Starter Page]]

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	[[Category:New York]]		<!-- [[Category:New York]] -->
	[[Category:New York Radar Sites]]		[[Category:New York Radar Sites]]
	[[Category:New York Jefferson County]]		<!-- [[Category:New York Jefferson County]] -->
	[[Category:2016 Research Trip]]		[[Category:2016 Research Trip]]
	[[Category:Starter Page]]		[[Category:Starter Page]]
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	[[Category:FST-2]]		[[Category:FST-2]]
	[[Category:FYQ-47]]		[[Category:FYQ-47]]
	~~[[Category:Sites]]~~
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	{{PageHeader}}		{{PageHeader\|Watertown Air Force Station}}
	'''Watertown Air Force Station''' (1952-1979) - A [[Cold War]] Air Force Radar Station first established in 1952 near Watertown, Jefferson County, New York. Named Watertown Air Force Station after the location. Initially assigned a Permanent ID of '''P-49''', later a Sage ID of '''Z-49'''. Abandoned in 1979.		'''Watertown Air Force Station''' (1952-1979) - A [[Cold War]] Air Force Radar Station first established in 1952 near Watertown, Jefferson County, New York. Named Watertown Air Force Station after the location. Initially assigned a Permanent ID of '''P-49''', later a Sage ID of '''Z-49'''. Abandoned in 1979.

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	{{Visited\|19 Jun 2016}}		{{Visited\|19 Jun 2016}}

	~~{{DEFAULTSORT:Watertown Air Force Station}}~~
	[[Category:New York]]		[[Category:New York]]
	[[Category:New York Radar Sites]]		[[Category:New York Radar Sites]]
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	[[Category:Sites]]		[[Category:Sites]]
			{{PageFooter}}

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	{{Visited\|19 Jun 2016}}		{{Visited\|19 Jun 2016}}

	~~__NOTOC__~~
	{{DEFAULTSORT:Watertown Air Force Station}}		{{DEFAULTSORT:Watertown Air Force Station}}
	~~[[Category:All]]~~		[[Category:New York]]
	[[Category:New York ~~All~~]]
	[[Category:New York Radar Sites]]		[[Category:New York Radar Sites]]
	[[Category:New York Jefferson County]]		[[Category:New York Jefferson County]]
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	[[Category:FST-2]]		[[Category:FST-2]]
	[[Category:FYQ-47]]		[[Category:FYQ-47]]
			[[Category:Sites]]

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	{{PageHeader}}		{{PageHeader}}
	~~{{SocialNetworks}}~~		'''Watertown Air Force Station''' (1952-1979) - A [[Cold War]] Air Force Radar Station first established in 1952 near Watertown, Jefferson County, New York. Named Watertown Air Force Station after the location. Initially assigned a Permanent ID of '''P-49''', later a Sage ID of '''Z-49'''. Abandoned in 1979.
	'''~~{{PAGENAME}}~~''' (1952-1979) - A [[Cold War]] Air Force Radar Station first established in 1952 near Watertown, Jefferson County, New York. Named Watertown Air Force Station after the location. Initially assigned a Permanent ID of '''P-49''', later a Sage ID of '''Z-49'''. Abandoned in 1979.

	~~{\|{{FWpicframe}}~~		<gallery>
	~~\|- valign="top"~~		File:Watertown AFS Housing Area.jpg\|Former Watertown AFS Housing Area Now Abandoned.
	~~\|width="50%"\|[[~~File:Watertown AFS Housing Area.jpg~~\|350px\|thumb\|left~~\|Former Watertown AFS Housing Area Now Abandoned.]]		File:Watertown GATR Site-2.jpg\|Former Watertown AFS GATR Site now an Emergency Services Training site.
	~~\|width="50%"\|[[~~File:Watertown GATR Site-2.jpg~~\|350px\|thumb\|right~~\|Former Watertown AFS GATR Site now an Emergency Services Training site.]]		File:Watertown AFS Empty Radar Tower.jpg\|Empty Radar Tower at the Former Watertown AFS now a Correctional Facility.
	\|-		</gallery>
	~~\|colspan="2"\|[[~~File:Watertown AFS Empty Radar Tower.jpg~~\|795px\|thumb\|center~~\|Empty Radar Tower at the Former Watertown AFS now a Correctional Facility.]]
	\|}

	== History ==		== History ==
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	{\| width="800px"		{\| width="800px"
	\|-		\|-
	~~\| valign="top" width="50%" \|~~
	{\| class="wikitable"		{\| class="wikitable"
	\|+ Watertown AFS Major Equipment List		\|+ Watertown AFS Major Equipment List
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	!Data Systems		!Data Systems
	\|-		\|-
	~~\| valign="top" \|~~
	* [[FPS-3]]		* [[FPS-3]]
	* [[FPS-5]]		* [[FPS-5]]
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	* [[FPS-14]] Gap Filler		* [[FPS-14]] Gap Filler
	* [[FPS-18]] Gap Filler		* [[FPS-18]] Gap Filler
	~~\| valign="top" \|~~
	* [[FPS-6]]		* [[FPS-6]]
	* [[FPS-26\|FPS-26A]]		* [[FPS-26\|FPS-26A]]
	~~\| valign="top" \|~~
	* [[FST-2\|FST-2/A/B]]		* [[FST-2\|FST-2/A/B]]
	* [[FYQ-47]]		* [[FYQ-47]]
	* [[FST-1]] Gap Filler		* [[FST-1]] Gap Filler
	\|}
	~~\| valign="top" width="50%" \|~~
	{\| class="wikitable"		{\| class="wikitable"
	\|+ Unit Designations		\|+ Unit Designations
	\|-		\|-
	\|
	* 655th Aircraft Control & Warning (AC&W) Squadron (1952-1959)		* 655th Aircraft Control & Warning (AC&W) Squadron (1952-1959)
	* 655th Radar Squadron (SAGE) (1959-1974)		* 655th Radar Squadron (SAGE) (1959-1974)
	* 655th Radar Squadron (1974-1979)		* 655th Radar Squadron (1974-1979)
	\|}
	\|}

	{\| class="wikitable"		{\| class="wikitable"
	\|+ 655th Assignments		\|+ 655th Assignments
	\|-		\|-
	\|
	* 1 Jan 1951 - Assigned at Pine Camp, NY, assigned to the 540th AC&W Gp.		* 1 Jan 1951 - Assigned at Pine Camp, NY, assigned to the 540th AC&W Gp.
	* 1 Feb 1951 - Moved to Watertown, NY.		* 1 Feb 1951 - Moved to Watertown, NY.
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	* 1 Feb 1974 - Redesignated 655th Radar Sq.		* 1 Feb 1974 - Redesignated 655th Radar Sq.
	* 1 Nov 1979 - Inactivated.		* 1 Nov 1979 - Inactivated.
	\|}

	{{WatertownAFSCmdrs}}		{{WatertownAFSCmdrs}}
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	<!--{{WatertownAFSStructures}}-->		<!--{{WatertownAFSStructures}}-->
	----		----
	{\|		{{#display_map:
	\|		43.921888,-75.909777~ Housing Area;
	~~<googlemap version="0.9" lat="43.922934" lon="-75.911959" zoom="15" width="-500" height="-500" scale="yes" overview="yes" controls="large" icons="http~~:~~//www.fortwiki.com/mapicons/icon{label}.png">~~		43.921577,-75.919733~ GATR Site;
	~~(H)~~ 43.921888, -75.909777, Housing Area		43.923835,-75.908318~ Cantonement Area;
	~~(G)~~ 43.921577, -75.919733, GATR Site		43.92528,-75.90917~ Watertown Air Force Station }}
	~~(C)~~ 43.923835, -75.908318, Cantonement Area		{{Location\|23147 Swan Road, Watertown in Jefferson County, New York.\|43.92528\|-75.90917\|958}}
	~~(R)~~ 43.92528, -75.90917, Watertown Air Force Station
	~~(1952-1979)~~
	~~</googlemap>~~
	~~\|valign="top"~~\|
	~~'''Location:'''~~ 23147 Swan Road, Watertown in Jefferson County, New York.

	~~{{Mapit-US-cityscale~~\|43.92528\|-75.90917}}
	* Elevation: 958'
	\|}

	'''See Also:'''		'''See Also:'''
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	__NOTOC__		__NOTOC__
	~~{{PageFooter}}~~
	{{DEFAULTSORT:Watertown Air Force Station}}		{{DEFAULTSORT:Watertown Air Force Station}}
	[[Category:All]]		[[Category:All]]
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	[[Category:New York Radar Sites]]		[[Category:New York Radar Sites]]
	[[Category:New York Jefferson County]]		[[Category:New York Jefferson County]]
	~~[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]~~
	[[Category:2016 Research Trip]]		[[Category:2016 Research Trip]]
	[[Category:Starter Page]]		[[Category:Starter Page]]

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{{PageHeader}}
{{SocialNetworks}}
'''{{PAGENAME}}''' (1952-1979) - A [[Cold War]] Air Force Radar Station first established in 1952 near Watertown, Jefferson County, New York. Named Watertown Air Force Station after the location. Initially assigned a Permanent ID of '''P-49''', later a Sage ID of '''Z-49'''. Abandoned in 1979.

{|{{FWpicframe}}
|- valign="top"
|width="50%"|[[File:Watertown AFS Housing Area.jpg|350px|thumb|left|Former Watertown AFS Housing Area Now Abandoned.]]
|width="50%"|[[File:Watertown GATR Site-2.jpg|350px|thumb|right|Former Watertown AFS GATR Site now an Emergency Services Training site.]]
|-
|colspan="2"|[[File:Watertown AFS Empty Radar Tower.jpg|795px|thumb|center|Empty Radar Tower at the Former Watertown AFS now a Correctional Facility.]]
|}

== History ==
Established in 1952 and became operational in June 1952 as Watertown Air Force Station manned by the 655th AC&W Squadron. Watertown AF then assumed coverage of the area from the [[Pine Camp Lashup Radar Site L-6]]. Watertown AFS 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]] and [[FPS-5]] radar sets.

== SAGE Transition ==
{{SageTransition}}

The site began operation as a SAGE site on 1 Jan 1959 initially feeding the Hancock SAGE Direction Center DC-03. The search radar was upgraded to an [[FPS-20]] and a pair of [[FPS-6]] height-finder radars were added. In 1961 the FPS-20 was upgraded to the [[FPS-66]] configuration and in 1963 one of the FPS-6 height-finders was replaced with an [[FPS-26|FPS-26A]], the other FPS-6 was removed in 1964. In 1964 the FPS-66 was replaced with an FPS-27 Frequency Diversity (FD) search radar. The final configuration of the site radars was one [[FPS-27]] search set and one [[FPS-26|FPS-26A]] height-finder.

The vacuum tube [[FST-2]] Coordinate Data transmitter was replaced in the early 1970s with the solid state [[FYQ-47]] Common Digitizer.

== [[BUIC System]] ==
Watertown AFS was incorporated into BUIC I in 1962. BUIC I was a manual backup interceptor control system that provided limited command and control capability in the event the [[SAGE System]] was disabled. Watertown AFS served as a backup NORAD Control Center during the BUIC I period.

== Gap Fillers ==
Watertown AFS was responsible for the maintenance of two remote unattended gap-filler radar sites. {{GapFillerCommon}} The Watertown AFS gap-filler radars were located at Suttons Corner, NY, and Oswegatchie, NY. Other sites were planned but never built.
{{WatertownAFSGFS}}

== Closure ==
Watertown AFS and the 655th Radar Squadron were deactivated on 1 Nov 1979.

== Physical Plant ==
[[File:Watertown AFS Correctional Fac.jpg|thumb|left|300px|Former Watertown Main Gate Area now Entrance to Correctional Facility.]]
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.

{{Clr}}
----
{| width="800px"
|-
| valign="top" width="50%" |
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Watertown AFS Major Equipment List
|-
!Search Radar
!HF Radar
!Data Systems
|-
| valign="top" |
* [[FPS-3]]
* [[FPS-5]]
* [[FPS-20]]
* [[FPS-66]]
* [[FPS-14]] Gap Filler
* [[FPS-18]] Gap Filler
| valign="top" |
* [[FPS-6]]
* [[FPS-26|FPS-26A]]
| valign="top" |
* [[FST-2|FST-2/A/B]]
* [[FYQ-47]]
* [[FST-1]] Gap Filler
|}
| valign="top" width="50%" |
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Unit Designations
|-
|
* 655th Aircraft Control & Warning (AC&W) Squadron (1952-1959)
* 655th Radar Squadron (SAGE) (1959-1974)
* 655th Radar Squadron (1974-1979)
|}
|}

{| class="wikitable"
|+ 655th Assignments
|-
|
* 1 Jan 1951 - Assigned at Pine Camp, NY, assigned to the 540th AC&W Gp.
* 1 Feb 1951 - Moved to Watertown, NY.
* 6 Feb 1952 - Transferred to 32nd AD.
* 16 Feb 1955 - Transferred to 4711th Def Wg.
* 1 Mar 1956 - Transferred to 32nd AD.
* ca Sep 58 - Transferred to Syracuse ADS.
* Feb 1959 - Redesignated from AC&W Sq to 655th Radar Sq (SAGE).
* 4 Sep 1965 - Transferred to Boston ADS.
* 1 Apr 1966 - Transferred to 35th AD.
* 19 Nov 1969 - Reassigned to 21st AD.
* 1 Feb 1974 - Redesignated 655th Radar Sq.
* 1 Nov 1979 - Inactivated.
|}

{{WatertownAFSCmdrs}}

== Current Status ==
The main site and the cantonment area are in use as the Watertown Correctional Facility. One of the former radar towers still exists and can be viewed from the public road. The housing area appears to be abandoned and deteriorating. The GATR site is in use by the Jefferson County Volunteer Firefighters Associations and the Watertown Correctional Facility as a Fire/Emergency Medical Services Training Center. No public access.


----
{|
|
<googlemap version="0.9" lat="43.922934" lon="-75.911959" zoom="15" width="-500" height="-500" scale="yes" overview="yes" controls="large" icons="http://www.fortwiki.com/mapicons/icon{label}.png">
(H) 43.921888, -75.909777, Housing Area
(G) 43.921577, -75.919733, GATR Site
(C) 43.923835, -75.908318, Cantonement Area
(R) 43.92528, -75.90917, Watertown Air Force Station
(1952-1979)
</googlemap>
|valign="top"|
'''Location:''' 23147 Swan Road, Watertown in Jefferson County, New York.

{{Mapit-US-cityscale|43.92528|-75.90917}}
* Elevation: 958'
|}

'''See Also:'''
* [[SAGE System]]
* [[Permanent System Radar Sites]]
* [[US Radar Sets]]
* [[Hancock SAGE Direction Center DC-03]]

'''Sources:'''
* {{Cornett}}, page 157. 
* {{Winkler}}, page 142. 
* {{GNIS|ID=2091471}}

'''Links:'''
* [[Bad Links]] Watertown+AFS%2C+NY Watertown Air Force Station]
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watertown_Air_Force_Station Wikipedia - Watertown Air Force Station]

{{Visited|19 Jun 2016}}

__NOTOC__
{{PageFooter}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Watertown Air Force Station}}
[[Category:All]]
[[Category:New York All]]
[[Category:New York Radar Sites]]
[[Category:New York Jefferson County]]
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:2016 Research Trip]]
[[Category:Starter Page]]
[[Category:USAF Radar Sites]]
[[Category:SAGE Sites]]
[[Category:FPS-3]]
[[Category:FPS-5]]
[[Category:FPS-20]]
[[Category:FPS-66]]
[[Category:FPS-27]]
[[Category:FPS-6]]
[[Category:FPS-26]]
[[Category:FPS-14]]
[[Category:FPS-18]]
[[Category:FST-1]]
[[Category:FST-2]]
[[Category:FYQ-47]]

Watertown Air Force Station - Revision history

John Bray: Bot: Automated import of articles *** existing text overwritten ***

John Bray: Bot: Automated import of articles *** existing text overwritten ***

John Bray: Bot: Automated import of articles *** existing text overwritten ***

John Bray: Bot: Automated import of articles *** existing text overwritten ***

John Bray: Bot: Automated import of articles *** existing text overwritten ***

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