Tonopah Air Force Station

Tonopah Air Force Station (1957-1970) - A Cold War Air Force Radar Station first established in 1957 on Brock Mountain near Tonopah in Nye County, Nevada. Named Tonopah Air Force Station after the location. The site was moved in 1961 from Brock Mountain to an unnamed peak north of Tonopah and established as a SAGE System radar site. Initially assigned a Permanent ID of SM-164, later a Sage ID of Z-164. Abandoned as U.S. Air Force Station in 1970. History of Tonopah Air Force Station Established in 1956 and became operational in February 1957 as Tonopah Air Force Station manned by the 866th AC&W Squadron. The station initially had both a Ground-Control Intercept (GCI) and early warning misssion. The early warning mission involved tracking and identifing 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. The January-June 1958 NORAD/CONAD History listed the site as operational with one MPS-7 (a mobile FPS-3) search radar and one FPS-6A height finder radar. In June 1961 the site was moved from Brock Mountain to a new location north of Tonopah. At the new location, the 866th operated a pair of FPS-6 height-finders and an FPS-7C search radar as part of the SAGE system. In 1963 the two FPS-6 height finder radars were converted to FPS-90 sets. One of the FPS-90 radars was removed in 1969. 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 Former Beale SAGE Direction Center DC-18 Tonopah SAGE Direction Centers & Sectors Assigned Direction Center Sector 1 Jul 1960 - 15 Sep 1960 Beale SAGE Direction Center DC-18 San Francisco ADS 15 Sep 1960 - 1 Apr 1966 Stead SAGE Direction Center DC-16 Reno ADS 1 Apr 1966 - 15 Sep 1969 Adair SAGE Direction Center DC-13 26th AD 15 Sep 1969 - 19 Nov 1969 Luke SAGE Direction Center DC-21 27th AD 19 Nov 1969 - 1 Jul 1970 Luke SAGE Direction Center DC-21 26th AD The site began operation as a SAGE site in June 1961 initially feeding the Stead SAGE Direction Center DC-16. On 1 Apr 1966 Tonopah was connected to the Adair SAGE Direction Center DC-13. When Adair shut down in 1969 Tonopah was connected the Luke SAGE Direction Center DC-21 on 15 Sep 1969 and remained connected to Luke until it closed. Closure Tonopah AFS and the 866th were deactivated on 1 Jul 1970. Physical Plant The physical plant of the site was divided into a 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 and the housing area were located at the edge of the town of Tonopah. When the site moved in 1961, only the main site relocated. 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 18 unit housing area for married personnel . A separate Ground to Air Transmitter/Receiver (GATR) radio site was located north of the second location and housed the radio equipment for directing aircraft intercepts. Tonopah AFS Major Equipment List Search Radar HF Radar Data Systems MPS-7 FPS-7C FPS-6 FPS-90 FST-2/A/B Unit Designations 866th Aircraft Control & Warning (AC&W) Squadron (1957-1961) 866th Radar Squadron (SAGE) (1961-1970) 866th Assignments 8 Nov 1954 - Activated at Hamilton AFB, CA, assigned to 28th AD. fall of 1956 - Moved to Tonopah AFS, NV. 1 Jul 1960 - Transferred to San Francisco ADS (Beale SAGE DC-18). 15 Sep 1960 - Transferred to Reno ADS (Stead SAGE DC-16). 1 Jul 1961 - Redesignated from AG&W Sq to 866th Radar Sq (SAGE). 1 Apr 1966 - Transferred to 26th AD (Adair SAGE DC). 15 Sep 1969 - Reassigned to 27th AD (Luke SAGE DC). 19 Nov 1969 - Reassigned to 26th AD (Luke SAGE DC). 1 Jul 1970 - Inactivated. Current Status Site #1 is now the site of a commercial transmitter site. Site # 2 houses an FAA secondary radar (FFF/SIF) in the old search-radar tower. The Cantonment area and the housing area are in civilian hands and have been repurposed for civilian use. The GATR Site became the site of a Soviet era BARLOCK radar that was used during the U.S. Air Force Red Flag exercises to simulate battlefield conditions. That radar is no longer located at the GATR site. {"selectable":false,"width":"500"} Location: Tonopah in Nye County, Nevada. Maps & Images Lat: 38.05167 Long: -117.22556 Multi Maps from ACME Maps from Bing Maps from Google Elevation: Site 1 = 7096' Site 2 = ....' See Also: SAGE System Permanent System Radar Sites US Radar Sets Beale SAGE Direction Center DC-18 Stead SAGE Direction Center DC-16 Adair SAGE Direction Center DC-13 Luke SAGE Direction Center DC-21 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 172. 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 134. USGS Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) Database Entry: 2090215 Links: Radomes - Tonopah Air Force Station Site 1 Radomes - Tonopah Air Force Station Site 2 Wikipedia - Tonopah Air Force Station Visited: No