Roslyn Air Force Station

Roslyn Air Force Station (1948-1960) - A Cold War Air Force Station first established in 1948 near East Hills, Nassau County, New York. Named Roslyn Air Force Station after the location. Became the headquarters of the U.S. Air Force (USAF) 26th Air Division (AD) and the site of the 26th AD Manual Air Defense Control Center (ADCC). As a part of the Permanent radar system it was assigned a Permanent ID of P-3. Deactivated in 1960. Roslyn Air Force Station The mission of the 26th AD was the air defense of much of the northeast United States including, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Jersey, and parts of New York, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. To accomplish this mission potential enemy aircraft had to be detected, tracked and intercepted. The 26th AD was transferred to Roslyn AFS on 18 Apr 1949. Initially enemy aircraft detection was accomplished by early Lashup Radar sites and the Ground Observer Corps. Potential targets were called into the direction center and tracked on plexiglass plotting boards. As the system evolved into Permanent System Radar Sites, the radar sites assumed the detection, tracking and interception roles under the command of the direction center. The Lashup radar sites at Twin Lights, New Jersey (L-12, LP-9, P-9) and Camp Hero, New York (L-10, LP-45) fed this primitive control center before the Permanent Radar System came into use. In the late 1950s the SAGE System was deployed to automate the whole process. The radar sites automated the detection process while the SAGE Direction Center computers handled the tracking and interception processes. The SAGE system reduced the need for weapons controllers at each of the radar sites and eliminated the need for the manual direction centers Closure Roslyn AFS was deactivated in 1960. Unit Designations 26th Air Division (1948-1959) 503rd Aircraft Control & Warning (AC&W) Group (1948-1952) 645th Aircraft Control & Warning (AC&W) Squadron (1949-1952) 646th Aircraft Control & Warning (AC&W) Squadron (1949) 672nd Aircraft Control & Warning (AC&W) Squadron (1949-1958) 4670th Ground Observer Squadron (1951-1959) Current Status Overbuilt by civilian development and a park in East Hills, Nassau County, New York. {"selectable":false,"width":"500"} Location: East Hills in Nassau County, New York. The map point is the former location of the operations building. The yellow outline is the approximate perimeter of Air Force Station. Maps & Images Lat: 40.79647 Long: -73.62698 Multi Maps from ACME Maps from Bing Maps from Google Elevation: 194' See Also: Lashup System Permanent System Radar Sites US Radar Sets 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 19, 29, 54, 81, 97, 131, 156. 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 137, 141. USGS Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) Database Entry: 2091468 Links: Radomes - Roslyn Air Force Station Wikipedia - Roslyn Air Force Station New York State Military Museum - Roslyn Air Force Station Visited: No