Havre Air Force Station
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Havre Air Force Station (1951-1979) - A Cold War Air Force Radar Station first established as Simpson Air Force Station in 1951 near Havre, Hill County, Montana. Named Havre Air Force Station after the nearby town on 1 Dec 1953. Initially assigned a Permanent ID of P-25 and later a Sage ID of Z-25. Abandoned in 1979.
History of Havre Air Force StationEstablished in 1951 with the relocation of the 778th AC&W Squadron to the newly constructed radar station at Simpson, Montana. Redesignated Havre Air Force Station after the nearby town on 1 Dec 1953. Initial equipment included the FPS-3 search radar and an FPS-4 height finder radar. The radar equipment evolved into an FPS-27 search radar with two FPS-6 height finder radars while the site was still a manual Ground Control Intercept (GCI) site. 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 on 20 Jul 1960 initially feeding data to the Malmstrom SAGE Direction Center DC-20 at Malmstrom AFB. BUIC SystemHavre AFS became a BUIC I GCI site in 1962 and went operational as a BUIC II site on ...... It was selected as a BUIC III site and in 1970 the 778th Radar Squadron (SAGE) became the 778th Air Defense Group (BUIC). The BUIC III system provided a backup for a SAGE direction center with the GSA-51 computer system 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 the more up-to-date GSA-51 computer system 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. Havre AFS was deactivated on 30 Jun 1979 and the 778th was deactivated on 29 Sep 1979. Gap Filler RadarsHavre 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 Havre AFS gap fillers were located at Galata, Montana and Hogeland, Montana.
Physical PlantThe physical plant of the site was divided into a main site, a housing area and a radio site. The main site housed the operations building, the radar towers, the enlisted barracks, the bachelor officer's quarters, the orderly room, the chow hall, the motor pool and the backup generators. Apart from the main site was a small housing area for critical married personnel. A separate radio site housed the radio equipment for directing aircraft intercepts.
Current StatusAbandoned near Havre, Hill County, Montana.
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Links: Visited: 7 Aug 2014
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