Calumet Air Force Station: Difference between revisions
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'''{{PAGENAME}}''' (1951-1988) - A [[Cold War]] Air Force Radar Station first established in 1951 near Calumet, Keweenaw County, Michigan. Named Calumet Air Force Station after the location. Initially assigned a Permanent ID of P-16, later a Sage ID of Z-16 and a JSS ID of J-59. Abandoned by the Air Force in 1988. | '''{{PAGENAME}}''' (1951-1988) - A [[Cold War]] Air Force Radar Station first established in 1951 near Calumet, Keweenaw County, Michigan. Named Calumet Air Force Station after the location. Initially assigned a Permanent ID of P-16, later a Sage ID of Z-16 and a JSS ID of J-59. Abandoned by the Air Force in 1988. | ||
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Revision as of 21:19, 26 November 2015
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Calumet Air Force Station (1951-1988) - A Cold War Air Force Radar Station first established in 1951 near Calumet, Keweenaw County, Michigan. Named Calumet Air Force Station after the location. Initially assigned a Permanent ID of P-16, later a Sage ID of Z-16 and a JSS ID of J-59. Abandoned by the Air Force in 1988. History of Calumet Air Force StationEstablished in 1951 and became operational 1 May 1951 as Keweenaw Radar Site manned by the 665th 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 the FPS-5 and FPS-3 search radar. The FPS-3 was upgraded to an FPS-20. On 1 Dec 1953 the site was renamed Calumet Air Force Station. 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. The site began operation as a SAGE site in April 1960 initially feeding the K.I. Sawyer SAGE Direction Center DC-14. The search radar was upgraded to an FPS-64 in 1961. By 1963 the site had a FPS-27 search radar, an FPS-26FPS-26A height finder and a FPS-90 height finder. With the closure of DC-14 in 1963 Calumet came under the control of Duluth SAGE Direction Center DC-10 in October 1963. Gap Filler RadarsCalumet AFS was responsible for the maintenance of two remote unattended gap filler radar sites.Template:GapFiller Common The Calumet AFS gap filler radars were located at Painesdale, MI and Upson, WI.
BUIC SystemCalumet AFS became a BUIC I NORAD Control Center site in 1962 and went operational as a BUIC II site in 1965. It was selected as a BUIC III site and in 1970 the 665th Radar Squadron (SAGE) became the 665th Air Defense Group (BUIC). The BUIC III system provided a backup for a SAGE direction center and provided the ability to display sector wide radar data on consoles for local weapons controllers. The system duplicated the functionality of the vacuum tube direction center computers with more up-to-date computers and replaced the FST-2 with a more up-to-date coordinate data transmitter, the FYQ-47. As the threat from a soviet bomber fleet lessened the decision came to mothball the BUIC system in 1974. Calumet became a surveillance radar site again still feeding data to the SAGE System. In 1979 the Air Defense Command (ADC) was deactivate with the Tactical Air Command (TAC) assuming air defense responsibilities. TAC began the process of deactivating Calumet AFS. Height finder operations ceased on 1 Oct 1979 and search operations ceased on 18 Oct 1983. For some reason the closure decision was reversed and a mobile MPS-11 search radar operated at the site between 1 Dec 1983 and 1 Oct 1984. New fixed search FPS-91A and FPS-116 height finder radars were commissioned on 5 Apr 1985. ClosureCalumet AFS and the 665th were finally deactivated on 30 Sep 1988. Physical PlantThe 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 were three small housing areas for married personnel totaling 45 units. A separate Ground to Air Transmitter/Receiver (GATR) radio site housed the radio equipment for directing aircraft intercepts.
Current StatusAbandoned in Calumet, Keweenaw County, Michigan.
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