Dauphin Island Air Force Station

Dauphin Island Air Force Station (1958-1980) - A Cold War Air Force Radar Station first established in 1958 at Pelican Point on Dauphin Island, Mobile County, Alabama. Named Dauphin Island Air Force Station after the location. Initially assigned a Permanent ID of TM-196 and later a SAGE ID of Z-196. Abandoned in 1970 and reactivated in 1972 with a new SAGE ID of Z-249. Finally abandoned in 1980. Dauphin Island AFS Repurposed Radar Tower Dauphin Island AFS Repurposed Barracks Dauphin Island Air Force Station, the Radar Tower has Become a Part of the Sea Lab's Estuarium History Established in 1958 and became operational in January 1959 as Dauphin Island Air Force Station manned by the 693rd AC&W Squadron. The station initially had both a Ground-Control Intercept (GCI) and early warning mission. The early warning mission involved tracking and identifying 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-20 search radar and two FPS-6A height-finder radars. SAGE System Transition 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. SAGE System Operation Former Gunter SAGE Direction Center DC-09 609th SAGE Direction Centers & Sectors Assigned Direction Center Sector 1 Nov 1959 - 1 Apr 1966 Gunter SAGE Direction Center DC-09 Montgomery Air Defense Sector 1 Apr 1966 - 14 Nov 1969 Gunter SAGE Direction Center DC-09 32nd Air Division 14 Nov 1969 - 19 Nov 1969 Fort Lee SAGE Direction Center DC-04 33rd Air Division 19 Nov 1969 - 30 Sep 1970 Fort Lee SAGE Direction Center DC-04 20th Air Division The site began operation as a SAGE site in 1960 initially feeding the Gunter SAGE Direction Center DC-09. The search radar was upgraded to an FPS-7. Gap Fillers Dauphin Island AFS was responsible for the maintenance of two 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 Dauphin Island AFS for regularly scheduled maintenance or when fault indicators suggested the site had problems. The two Dauphin Island gap filler sites were located in Gulfport, Mississippi and New Orleans, Louisiana. Dauphin Island AFS Gap Filler Radar Sites (edit list) ADC NORAD Location State Type From To GPS Notes TM-196A Z-196A New Orleans Louisiana FPS-14/FPS-18, FST-1 1957 1970 30.02793, -90.04906 TM-196B Z-196B Gulfport Mississippi FPS-18, FST-1 1961 1970 30.40722, -89.05944 Deactivation In August 1969 Hurricane Camille struck the Mississippi Gulf Coast and directly impacted Dauphin Island inundating 70% of the Island and damaging the Radar Station. The site was closed and declared surplus in 1970 and occupied in April 1971 by Dauphin Island Sea Lab (DISL) along with the remaining Air Force civilian caretakers. Reactivation The station was reactivated in 1972 with the establishment of the Southern Air Defense System (SADS) to counter a perceived threat from Cuba and Russia. The 635th Radar Squadron was reactivated to man the station operating an FPS-6 height finder and an FPS-93 search radar. Closure The 635th Radar Squadron was deactivated 1 Jul 1974. The radar site became an operating location of the 630th Radar Squadron, and later the 678th Air Defense Group. The site closed for good on 30 Sep 1980. Physical Plant The physical plant of the site was divided into the main site, a housing area, and a radio site. The main site housed the operations building, the radar towers, two enlisted barracks, the bachelor officer's quarters, the orderly room, the dining hall, the motor pool and the backup generators. Apart from the main site was a small housing area for married personnel. A separate radio site housed the radio equipment for directing aircraft intercepts. The radar site was located on Pelican Point immediately adjacent to the historic Third System Fort Gaines. Dauphin Island AFS Major Equipment List Search Radar HF Radar Data Systems FPS-20 FPS-7 FPS-93 FPS-14 Gap Filler FPS-18 Gap Filler FPS-6A FST-1 Gap Filler FST-2/A/B Unit Designations 693rd Aircraft Control & Warning (AC&W) Squadron (1958-1961) 693rd Radar Squadron (SAGE) (1961-1970) 635th Radar Squadron (SAGE) (1963-1974) Unit Assignments 639th AC&W Sqdn 635th Radar Sqdn Apr 1958 - Activated at Dobbins AFB as 693 AC&W Squadron assigned to 35th AD 1958 - Moved to Dauphin Island AFS, AL Apr 1958 - Assigned to 35th AD 15 Nov 1958 - Assigned to 32nd AD 1 Nov 1959 - Assigned Montgomery ADS Gunter SAGE Direction Center DC-09 1 Mar 1961 - Redesignated 693th Radar Squadron (SAGE) 1 Apr 1966 - Assigned to 32nd AD Gunter SAGE Direction Center DC-09 14 Nov 1969 - Assigned to 33rd AD Fort Lee SAGE Direction Center DC-04 19 Nov 1969 - Assigned to 20th AD Fort Lee SAGE Direction Center DC-04 30 Sep 1970 - Inactivated 1 Jan 1973 - Reactivated at Dauphin Island AFS AL 1 Jan 1973 - Assigned to 20th AD Fort Lee SAGE Direction Center DC-04 1 Jul 1974 - Inactivated Current Status Part of Dauphin Island Sea Lab on Dauphin Island, Mobile County, Alabama. Part of the search radar tower and several repurposed cantonment buildings remain. Two barracks building have been repurposed as dorm rooms for the Sea Lab. The Air Force dining hall is now a cafeteria and the one remaining radar tower is a part of the Sea Lab's Estuarium facility. {"selectable":false,"width":"500"} Location: Dauphin Island, Mobile County, Alabama. Maps & Images Lat: 30.25028 Long: -88.07833 Multi Maps from ACME Maps from Bing Maps from Google Elevation: 10' See Also: Permanent System Radar Sites Gunter SAGE Direction Center DC-09 Fort Gaines Defense Installations Portal 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 94. 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 155,165. USGS Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) Database Entry: 1699986 Links: Radomes - Dauphin Island Air Force Station Wikipedia - Dauphin Island Air Force Station 635th Radar Squadron Dauphin Island Sea Lab Dauphin Island History Visited: 23 Dec 2011, 10 Dec 2009