Ellington Air Force Base Radar Site
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Ellington Air Force Base Radar Site (1952-1969) - A Cold War U.S. Air Force Radar Station established during the Korean War. Originally located on the former Ellington Air Force Base near Houston, Harris County, Texas. Initially assigned a Permanent ID of P-79, a Sage ID of Z-79 and a JSS ID of J-15. A Sage ID of Z-240 was assigned when SAGE inputs were resumed circa 1974. Closed as a USAF radar site in 1969 and became a FAA radar site that is still operational. HistoryEstablished in 1952 and became operational in April 1952 as the Ellington Air Force Base Radar Site manned by the 747th Aircraft Control & Warning (AC&W) Squadron. Initial equipment included two FPS-10 radar sets, one serving as a search radar and one used as a height-finder radar. A FPS-8 was installed in 1955 and later modified to become a GPS-3. This set operated until 1960 when a FAA ARSR-1A search radar was installed. The FAA ARSR-1A was upgraded to a ARSR-1E in 1964. A FPS-6 height-finder radar set replaced the FPS-10 being used as a height-finder radar in 1957. DeactivationThe 747th AC&W Squadron was deactivated on 31 Dec 1969 but the FAA continued to operated and maintain the ARSR-1 on the site. Follow on USAF OperationsIn late 1972 a detachment of the 630th Radar Squadron began to operate a FPS-90 height-finder radar at the FAA Site. The FPS-90 was modified to become a FPS-116 about 1977 and was removed about 1988. The USAF limited use of the site ceased sometime in the 1990s when the Morales ARSR-4 became operational and tied into the JSS System. Data tied USAF use resumed following 9/11, 2001. Ellington FAA Radar SiteThe Ellington FAA Radar site began equipment operation about 1960 with the installation of a FAA ARSR-1A search radar. That radar was upgraded to a ARSR-1E in in 1964. The FAA continued to operate the ARSR-1E after the departure of the 747th AC&W Squadron in 1969. Between 1972 and 1988 USAF operated and maintained a SAGE System height-finder capability at the site. It is presumed that a FYQ-47 Common Digitizer would have been installed by the FAA in the early 1970s to enable digital processing of the search and height-finder radar data. The FYQ-47 would probably have been followed by the CD-2 Common digitizer as the FAA system evolved. The Ellington FAA Radar Site site now operates a Common Air-Route Surveillance Radar (CARSR) radar that became operational in 2011. Gap FillersEllington AFS was responsible for the maintenance of two remote unattended gap filler radar sites between 1960 and 1964. 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 Ellington AFS gap filler radars were located at Fannett and Van Vleck, Texas.
Current StatusActive FAA Radar site.
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