Oakdale Air Force Station: Difference between revisions
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Revision as of 10:44, 3 November 2016
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Oakdale Air Force Station (1959-1969) - A Cold War Air Force Station moved from Brookfield Air Force Station, Ohio. Co-Located with U.S. Army radar site for Nike missile-defense system & Missile Master Direction Center PI-70DC at Oakdale, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. Initially assigned a Permanent ID of RP-62, later a Sage ID of Z-62. Turned over to the FAA in 1969. History of Oakdale Air Force StationEstablished in 1959 and became operational in 1959 as Oakdale Air Force Station manned by the 662nd Radar Squadron (SAGE). Radar data was shared between the FAA for Air Traffic Control purposes, with the adjacent U.S. Army NIKE Missile Master site PI-70DC for the NIKE Pittsburgh Defense Area and with the U.S. Air Force for the SAGE System air defense system. Initial equipment included the ARSR-1 FAA search radar and two FPS-6B height finder radars. This configuration met the requirements for the transition to the SAGE System operation. SAGE System TransitionThe 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
The site began operation as a SAGE site in 1961 initially feeding the Hancock SAGE Direction Center DC-03. The search radar was upgraded to one FPS-20 in 1962. In 1963, a FPS-24 search radar was installed along with one FPS-26A height finder and one FPS-90 height finder. Also in place during part of this time were two U.S. Army FPS-6 height finders. The FAA maintained the search radars with Air Force personnel maintaining the two USAF height finders and U.S. Army personnel maintained the Army height finders. ClosureOakdale AFS and the 662nd were deactivated on 31 Dec 1969. The operations area of the radar site was transferred to the FAA. Oakdale FAA Radar SiteThe FAA assumed control of the operations area of the former Air Force radar site in December 1969. The FPS-24 was replaced with a FPS-67B search radar and a backup FPS-8 provided coverage during outages and for the transition. The FPS-67B was installed on the same four story concrete tower built for the FPS-24 and it was covered with a radome. At some point the FST-2B would have been replaced with a FYQ-47 or FYQ-48. The U.S. Army, Army Air-Defense Command Post (AADCP) PI-70DC was inactivated on 1 Sep 1974. Gap FillersOakdale AFS was responsible for the maintenance of four remote unattended gap filler radar sites. The unattended gap filler sites were placed in locations where the main search radar lacked coverage. These sites were equipped with short range FPS-14 or FPS-18 search radars and FST-1 Coordinate Data transmitters that sent digitized radar target data to a SAGE direction center and to the main radar site. Both the radar set and the FST-1 were dual channel to increase site up time. Maintenance teams were dispatched for regularly scheduled maintenance or when fault indicators on the FSW-1 remote monitoring equipment suggested the site had problems. The FSW-1 also allowed remote operation of specific functions such as channel changes for the radar and for the FST-1, it also allowed remote operation of the diesel generators at the gap filler site. The Oakdale AFS gap filler radars were located at Thompson, Lewisville, and Brookfield, Ohio. The fourth site was located at Thomas, West Virginia.
Current StatusNow on USAR Charles E. Kelly Support Center, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. The radar towers still exist along with the Missile Master Building (repurposed). The FAA compound remains around the old FPS-24 tower now equipped with a FAA CARSR radar on top. The USAF radar site operations building still exists.
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