Yaak Air Force Station: Difference between revisions
John Stanton (talk | contribs) No edit summary |
John Stanton (talk | contribs) No edit summary |
||
| Line 13: | Line 13: | ||
Established 1 Mar 1951 and operational in April 1952 as Yaak Air Force Station manned by the 680th 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. | Established 1 Mar 1951 and operational in April 1952 as Yaak Air Force Station manned by the 680th 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. | ||
Initial equipment included | Initial equipment included an FPS-3 search radar and an FPS-4 height finder radar. An FPS-6 height finder was installed in 1956. The FPS-4 was replaced by a GPS-3 in 1957. | ||
Yaak AFS was responsible for the maintenance of three remote unattended gap filler radar sites. The gap filler sites were place 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 Yaak AFS for regularly scheduled maintenance or when fault indicators suggested the site had problems. The three gap filler sites were located at Porthill Idaho, Eureka Montana and Moyie Springs Idaho. | Yaak AFS was responsible for the maintenance of three remote unattended gap filler radar sites. The gap filler sites were place 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 Yaak AFS for regularly scheduled maintenance or when fault indicators suggested the site had problems. The three gap filler sites were located at Porthill Idaho, Eureka Montana and Moyie Springs Idaho. | ||
| Line 38: | Line 38: | ||
* FPS-4 | * FPS-4 | ||
* GPS-3 | * GPS-3 | ||
* FPS- | * FPS-6 | ||
| | | | ||
|} | |} | ||
Revision as of 11:44, 16 August 2014
Yaak Air Force Station (1951-1960) - A Cold War Air Force Radar Station first established in 1951 near Yaak, Lincoln County, Montana. Named Yaak Air Force Station after the location. Initially assigned a Permanent ID of P-11. Briefly became an unmanned gap filler site in 1960 with an ID of SM-151E and closed in 1960.
History of Yaak Air Force Station
Established 1 Mar 1951 and operational in April 1952 as Yaak Air Force Station manned by the 680th 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.
Initial equipment included an FPS-3 search radar and an FPS-4 height finder radar. An FPS-6 height finder was installed in 1956. The FPS-4 was replaced by a GPS-3 in 1957.
Yaak AFS was responsible for the maintenance of three remote unattended gap filler radar sites. The gap filler sites were place 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 Yaak AFS for regularly scheduled maintenance or when fault indicators suggested the site had problems. The three gap filler sites were located at Porthill Idaho, Eureka Montana and Moyie Springs Idaho.
The physical plant of the site was divided into a upper site, a cantonment area and a radio site. The upper site housed the operations building, the radar towers and backup generators. The cantonment site included three enlisted barracks, two bachelor officer's quarters, orderly room, dining hall, motor pool, base exchange (BX), emergency power plant and a steam plant. Apart from the cantonment site was a small housing area with 24 trailer pads for married personnel. A separate radio site housed the radio equipment for directing aircraft intercepts.
Yaak AFS and the 680th AC&W Squadron were deactivated on 1 Jul 1960.
|
|
Current Status
Abandoned and demolished.
USGS Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) Database Entry: 2090231
|
{"selectable":false,"width":"500"} |
Location: Yaak, Lincoln County, Montana. Maps & Images Lat: 48.86222 Long: -115.72167 |
See Also:
Sources:
- 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 160
- 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 130
Links:
Visited: No