Benton Air Force Station
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Benton Air Force Station (1951-1975) - A Cold War Air Force Radar Station first established in 1951 at Mud Pond, Sullivan County, Pennsylvania. Moved to Ricketts Glen State Park, PA on 1 Feb 1952 and named Benton Air Force Station on 1 Dec 1953 after the nearby town. Initially assigned a Permanent ID of P-30, later a Sage ID of Z-30. Site turned over to the FAA in 1975 now listed as Benton FAA Radar Site. History of Benton Air Force StationEstablished in 1951 and became operational in October 1951 at Mud Pond in Sullivan County, Pennsylvania, manned by the 648th AC&W Squadron. The site was moved to Ricketts Glen State Park, PA and named Benton Air Force Station after the nearby town. 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 two CPS-6B V beam search radars. Two FPS-6B height finder radars were added in 1958 replacing one of the CPS-6Bs. This configuration established the requirements for the transition to the SAGE System operation, one long range search radar and two height finders. The CPS-6B would prove to be inadequate for SAGE operations and plans were made to replace it with a more modern set. 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. Benton AFS received FST-2 serial No. 1 circa 1958. SAGE System Operation
The site began operation as a SAGE site in late 1958, initially feeding the Hancock SAGE Direction Center DC-03. The search radar was upgraded to a FPS-35 in 1961 but it was not operational until 1962. In 1963 a FPS-26A replaced one of the FPS-6B height finders. The FPS-35 at Benton AFS and the FPS-35 at Manassas AFS in Virginia, were used in 1962 as part of missile detection tests. The results revealed that the FPS-35s had limited value for detecting submarine-launched ballistic missiles. Benton AFS became a USAF/FAA Joint Use site in 1963 and the FAA personnel became responsible for maintaining the FPS-35 search Radar and a FPS-8 search backup radar. The FST-2 was replaced in the early 1970s with a FYQ-47 or FYQ-48 Common Digitizer. In 1974 the FPS-35 was replaced with a FPS-67B in the same tower but with a radome over it. ClosureThe 648th Radar Squadron was deactivated on 30 Jun 1975 and the radar site was transferred to the FAA. Benton FAA Radar SiteNow operating a CARSR FAA minimally attended radar from a small compound on the former radar site. Gap FillersBenton AFS was responsible for the maintenance of two remote unattended gap filler radar sites. The unattended gap filler sites were placed in locations where the main search radar lacked coverage. These sites were equipped with short range FPS-14 or FPS-18 search radars and FST-1 Coordinate Data transmitters that sent digitized radar target data to a SAGE direction center and to the main radar site. Both the radar set and the FST-1 were dual channel to increase site up time. Maintenance teams were dispatched for regularly scheduled maintenance or when fault indicators on the FSW-1 remote monitoring equipment suggested the site had problems. The FSW-1 also allowed remote operation of specific functions such as channel changes for the radar and for the FST-1, it also allowed remote operation of the diesel generators at the gap filler site. The Benton AFS gap filler radars were located at Ulysses and Joliett, Pennsylvania. Several other sites were planned but were never built or were never activated.
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 was a small 27 unit housing area for married personnel. A separate radio site housed the radio equipment for directing aircraft intercepts. Like most early radar stations, Benton originally had a radio transmitter site and a separate radio receiver site used by local controllers for voice direction of fighter interceptors to their targets. With the SAGE System, the SAGE Direction centers had the primary task of directing intercepts and the local radio sites were reconfigured, usually into a single site that was known as the Ground to Air Transmitter Receiver (GATR) site. The GATR site communicated with the interceptors from either the local site or the SAGE direction center via voice commands and/or a digital data link.
Current StatusNow Benton FAA Radar Site near Red Rock, Sullivan County, Pennsylvania.
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