Olathe Air Force Station

Olathe Air Force Station (1951-1968) - A Cold War Air Force Radar Station first established in 1951 near Olathe, Johnson County, Kansas. Named Olathe Air Force Station after the location. Initially assigned a Permanent ID of P-72 and later a Sage ID of Z-72. Abandoned in 1968. Former Olathe Air Force Station Operations Site now Repurposed as a Communications Site. History of Olathe Air Force Station Established in 1951 and became operational 1 Jun 1951 manned by the 130th AC&W Squadron. The 130th AC&W was a Utah Air National Guard unit activated for 21 months during the Korean War. Operated as a tenant unit on Olathe Naval Air Station (NAS) near Olathe, Kansas. The station initially had both a Ground-Control Intercept (GCI) and an 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 a CPS-4 height-finder radar. On 1 Feb 1953, the 130th AC&W was relieved from active duty and replaced by regular Air Force personnel with the 738th AC&W Squadron. SAGE System Transition The transition of the manual GCI system to the automated SAGE system began with the installation of the FST-2 coordinate data transmitter and search radar upgrades. The FST-2 equipment digitized the radar returns and transmitted the digital returns to the SAGE direction center. Under the SAGE System, interceptor aircraft were directed to their targets by the direction center computers and controllers, greatly reducing the need for local controllers and equipment at every radar station. The FST-2 was a very large digital system using vacuum tube technology. Over 6900 vacuum tubes were used in each FST-2 requiring 21 air-conditioned cabinets, 40 tons of air conditioning, 43.5 kva of prime power, and usually a large new addition to the operations building. The FST-2B modification added two more cabinets but with newer solid-state (transistor) technology to process coded responses from aircraft transponders. SAGE System Operation Olathe Direction Centers & Sectors Assigned Direction Center Sector 1 Feb 1953 - 1 Mar 1956 Tinker Air Force Base, OK 33rd Air Division 1 Mar 1956 - 1 Jan 1960 Richards-Gebaur Manual Direction Center SM-169 20th Air Division 1 Jan 1960 - 1 Jul 1961 Richards-Gebaur SAGE Direction Center DC-08 Kansas City Air Defense Sector 1 Jul 1961 - 1 Apr 1966 Sioux City SAGE Direction Center DC-22 Sioux City Air Defense Sector 1 Apr 1966 - 8 Sep 1968 Sioux City SAGE Direction Center DC-22 30th Air Division The site began operation as a SAGE site in December 1961 initially feeding the Sioux City SAGE Direction Center DC-22. The search radar was upgraded to an FPS-20 and later to an FPS-66. The height-finders transitioned to an FPS-4 and then to a pair of FPS-6As. The radar site was shared with U.S. Army for the Nike missile-defense system, Kansas City (KC-65DC). The Nike operations site was equipped with the GSG-5(V) BIRDIE solid-state computer system. The Army radars were fully integrated with the Air Force network. Gap Fillers Olathe AFS was responsible for the maintenance of one remote unattended gap-filler radar site. The gap-filler sites were placed in locations where the main search radar lacked coverage. These sites sent digitized radar target data directly to a direction center. Maintenance teams were dispatched from Olathe AFS for regularly scheduled maintenance or when fault indicators suggested the site had problems. The Olathe AFS gap-filler radar was located at Garland, Kansas. Olathe AFS Gap Filler Radar Sites (edit list) ADC NORAD Location State Type From To GPS Notes P-72A Z-72A Garland KS FPS-18, FST-1 1959 1960 37.761189, -94.647652 Buildings still show on Google 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 housing area for critical married personnel. A separate Ground to Air Transmitter/Receiver (GATR) radio site housed the radio equipment for directing aircraft intercepts. Olathe AFS Major Equipment List Search Radar HF Radar Data Systems FPS-3 FPS-20 FPS-66 FPS-18 Gap Filler CPS-4 FPS-4 FPS-6A (2) FST-2/A/B FST-1 Gap Filler Unit Designations 738th Aircraft Control & Warning (AC&W) Squadron (1953-1962) 738th Radar Squadron (SAGE) (1962-1968) 130th Assignments 1 Jun 1951 - Assigned at Olathe NAS, KS, as the 159th AC&W Group (ANG unit called to active duty for 21 months). 6 Feb 1952 - Transferred to 33rd Air Division. 1 Feb 1953 - Relieved from active duty and returned to control of the State of Utah. 23 Oct 1968 - Relieved from assignment with Hq ADC. 738th Assignments 1 Feb 1953 - Activated at Olathe AFS, KS, assigned to 33rd AD Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma 1 Mar 1956 - Transferred to 20th AD Richards-Gebaur Manual Direction Center SM-169 1 Jan 1960 - Transferred to Kansas City ADS Richards-Gebaur SAGE Direction Center DC-08 1 Jul 1961 - Transferred to Sioux City ADS Sioux City SAGE Direction Center DC-22 1 Jan 1962 - Redesignated from AC&W Sq to 738th Radar Sq (SAGE) 1 Apr 1966 - Transferred to 30th AD Sioux City SAGE Direction Center DC-22 8 Sep 1968 - Discontinued. Current Status The operations area became an FAA radar site for a time after the Air Force Station closed but is now repurposed as a communications site. One radar tower and several buildings remain at the site. The radar tower has a small dome on it. The whole area surrounding the old Air Force Station seems to have a growing law enforcement presence with several correctional facilities and administrative buildings making it difficult to know what areas are accessible to the public. {"selectable":false,"height":"-500","width":"-500"} Location: Olathe in Johnson County, Kansas. Maps & Images Lat: 38.835 Long: -94.90444 Multi Maps from ACME Maps from Bing Maps from Google Elevation: 1063' GPS Locations: 38.81560, -94.90402 Housing Area 38.84083, -94.90528 GATR Radio Site 38.83450, -94.90195 Cantonment Area 38.83500, -94.90444 Olathe Air Force Station See Also: SAGE System BUIC System JSS System Permanent System Radar Sites US Radar Sets Richards-Gebaur Manual Direction Center SM-169 Sioux City SAGE Direction Center DC-22 Richards-Gebaur SAGE Direction Center DC-08 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 163. 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 116. USGS Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) Database Entry: 2089739 Links: Wikipedia - Olathe Air Force Station Visited: 17 Aug 2020