Lewistown Air Force Station
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Lewistown Air Force Station (1958-1971) - A Cold War Air Force Radar Station first established in 1958 on Judith Peak near Hilger, Fergus County, Montana. Named Lewistown Air Force Station after the location. Initially assigned a Permanent ID of TM-178 and later a Sage ID of Z-178. Abandoned in 1971. HistoryEstablished in 1958 as Lewistown Air Force Station manned by the 694th AC&W Squadron. Construction was completed in April 1959 and the site went operational on 15 Feb 1960 as a manual AC&W site. 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 FPS-3A search radar, one FPS-6A and one FPS-90 height finder radar. 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. SAGE System OperationThe site began operation as a SAGE site on 1 Mar 1961 initially feeding the Malmstrom SAGE Direction Center DC-20 at Malmstrom AFB. The search radar was upgraded to an FPS-66A. Physical PlantThe physical plant of the site was divided into a radar/operations site on Judith Peak, a cantonment area below and a radio site. The radar/operations site housed the operations building, the radar towers and the backup generators. The cantonment area housed the enlisted barracks, the bachelor officer's quarters, the orderly room, the chow hall, the motor pool. Apart from the cantonment area was a small housing area for critical married personnel. A separate radio site housed the radio equipment for directing aircraft intercepts. ClosureLewistown AFS and the 694th were deactivated on 30 Jun 1971.
Current StatusPrivate property. Some buildings remain in the cantonment area and the family housing area. The radar/operations site and the radio site buildings have been demolished.
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