Burns Air Force Station

Burns Air Force Station (1955-1970) - A Cold War Air Force Radar Station first established in 1955 near Burns, Harney County, Oregon. Named Burns Air Force Station after the location. Initially assigned a Permanent ID of M-118 and later a Sage ID of Z-118. Abandoned in 1970.

History of Burns Air Force Station

Established in 1955 and became operational on 8 Jun 1955 as Burns Air Force Station manned by the 634th AC&W Squadron. The station initially had both a Ground-Control Intercept (GCI) and early warning misssion. The early warnng 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 the MPS-7 mobile search radar.

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.

The site began operation as a SAGE site on 15 Sep 1960 initially feeding the direction center DC-16 at Stead AFB. With the closure of Stead AFB and DC-16 in 1966 Burns was connected to the DC-12 direction center at McChord AFB. The search radar was upgraded to an FPS-66A and the height finder radar became an FPS-90.

Burns AFS was responsible for the maintenance of a single remote unattended gap filler radar site. 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 Burns AFS for regularly scheduled maintenance or when fault indicators suggested the site had problems. The Burns AFS gap filler site was located at Burns Junction and operated with an FPS-18 and FST-1 between 1958 and 1960.

The physical plant of the site was divided into an upper main site, a lower housing area and a radio site. The upper main site housed the operations building, the radar towers, the enlisted barracks, the bachelor officer's quarters, the orderly room, the chow hall, the motor pool and the backup generators. Apart from the main site just outside the town of Burns was a small housing area for critical married personnel. A separate radio site housed the radio equipment for directing aircraft intercepts.

Burns AFS and the 634th Radar Squadron were deactivated on 30 Sep 1970.

Burns AFS Major Equipment List Search Radar HF Radar Data Systems MPS-7 FPS-7B FPS-66A FPS-6 FPS-6A FPS-90 FST-2/A/B

Unit Designations 634th Aircraft Control & Warning (AC&W) Squadron (1955-1961) 634th Radar Squadron (SAGE) (1961-1970)

Burns AFS Gap Filler Radar Sites (edit list)

ADC	NORAD	Location	State	Type	From	To	GPS	Notes
M-118A	Z-118A	Burns Junction	Oregon	FPS-18, FST-1	1958	1960	42.71667, -117.87056

Current Status

Abandoned in Burns, Harney County, Oregon.

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Location: Burns Butte about 5 miles south of Burns, Harney County, Oregon. Maps & Images Lat: 43.5625 Long: -119.15139 Multi Maps from ACME Maps from Bing Maps from Google Elevation: .....'

See Also:

• USAF Radar Sites

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.
• 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.

Links:

• North American Forts - Burns Air Force Station
• Radomes - Burns Air Force Station
• Wikipedia - Burns Air Force Station

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