Colville Air Force Station

Colville Air Force Station (1951-1961) - A Cold War Air Force Radar Station first established in 1951 near Colville, Stevens County, Washington. Named Colville Air Force Station after the location. Initially assigned a site ID of LP-60 and using surplussed Lashup System equipment (TPS-6B/C). A Permanent ID of P-60 was assigned when permanent system equipment was installed in 1952. The site was abandoned in 1960. History of Colville Air Force Station Began operation at the Colville site in March 1951 with a site ID of LP-60 using Lashup System surplussed equipment, first a TPS-1B and later a TPS-1C in November 1951. The permanent site P-60 became operational in February 1952 manned by the 760th 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 P-60 equipment included the FPS-3 search radar and the FPS-5 height finder 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 FST-2 was installed at Colville in the fall of 1959. The site began operation as a SAGE site in 1960 initially feeding the Larson SAGE Direction Center DC-15. In preparation for SAGE implementation the search radar was upgraded from the FPS-3 to an FPS-20. In 1956 the FPS-5 height finder was replaced with one FPS-6 height finder and a second FPS-6A was added later. Colville AFS was responsible for the maintenance of 5 remote unattended gap filler radar sites. The 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 Colville AFS for regularly scheduled maintenance or when fault indicators suggested the site had problems. The Colville AFS gap filler radars were located at Iona, WA; Northport, WA; Curlew, WA; Okanogon, WA; and Mazama, WA. 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 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 housing area for critical married personnel. A separate Ground to Air Transmitter/Receiver (GATR) radio site housed the radio equipment for directing aircraft intercepts. Colville AFS Major Equipment List Search Radar HF Radar Data Systems TPS-6B TPS-6C FPS-3 FPS-20 FPS-5 FPS-6 FPS-6A FST-2/A/B 4 Sep 1959 Unit Designations 760th Aircraft Control & Warning (AC&W) Squadron (1951-1960) 760th Radar Squadron (SAGE) (1960-1961) 760th Assignments 1 Jan 1951 - Assigned at Colville AFS, WA, assigned to 505th Gp. 25 May 1951 - Transferred to 162nd Gp. 6 Feb 1952 - Transferred to 25th AD. Jan 1953 - Transferred to 4702nd Def Wg. 8 Oct 1954 - Transferred to 9th AD. 15 Aug 1958 - Transferred to 25th AD. 1 Sep 1958 - Transferred to 4700th AD Wg. 15 Mar 1960 - Transferred to Spokane ADS. 1 Sep 1960 - Redesignated from AC&W Sq to 760th Radar Sq (SAGE). 1 Jun 1961 - Discontinued. Colville AFS Gap Filler Radar Sites (edit list) ADC NORAD Location State Type From To GPS Notes P-60A Iona WA FPS-14, FST-1 1958 1960 48.54542, -117.15571 Building foundation only Tower gone North Baldy Mtn. P-60C Curlew WA FPS-18, FST-1 1960 1960 48.87709, -118.78549 Building gone Tower pads only Former Curlew AFS P-60D Okanogan WA FPS-18, FST-1 1960 1967 48.52809, -119.94256 Building foundation only Tower pads only Starvation Mtn Transferred to Othello AFS at closure Colville Air Force Station Partial Commanders List (edit list) Assumed Relieved Rank Name Cullum Notes 1951~ Major Singer, John A. N/A First Commander 1951-06 1952-06 Major Jones, Donald E. N/A 1952-07 Major Steele, Wendell A. N/A Major Crozier, Leslie T. N/A 15 May 1959 1954~ Major Eggington, Jack H. N/A 1954~ Major McCune, John A. N/A 1959~ Major Stagg, Herbert W. N/A Dates are formatted in yyyy-mm-dd to sort correctly. The Cullum Number is the graduation order from the United States Military Academy by year and class rank and links to a page for the officer on the website version of the Cullum Register. Listings without a Cullum Number indicate that the person was not a graduate of the United States Military Academy. Current Status Abandoned in Colville, Stevens County, Washington. {"selectable":false,"width":"500"} Location: Colville in Stevens County, Washington. Maps & Images Lat: 48.590887 Long: -117.58862 Multi Maps from ACME Maps from Bing Maps from Google Elevation: 4,445' See Also: SAGE System Permanent System Radar Sites US Radar Sets Larson SAGE Direction Center DC-15 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 165. 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 166. USGS Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) Database Entry: 2087473 Links: Radomes - Colville Air Force Station P-60 Radomes - Colville Air Force Station LP-60 Wikipedia - Colville Air Force Station Visited: No