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Richards-Gebaur Manual Direction Center SM-169 (1955-1960) - A Cold War Manual System Direction Center first established in 1955 on Richards-Gebaur Air Force Base, Kansas City, Platte County, Missouri. Named Richards-Gebaur Manual Direction Center after the location. Assigned a Permanent System ID of SM-169. Also designated Manual Combat Center MCC-2. Deactivated in 1960.
History
Established in 1955 and became operational on 8 Oct 1955 as Grandview Manual Direction Center SM-169. In 1957 Grandview Air Force Base was renamed Richards-Gebaur Air Force Base and the Manual Direction Center assumed that name.
The Manual System Command Centers were based on the standardized AC&W infrastructure site design of the Chicago design firm of Holabird, Root & Burgee. These designs dated to 1949 but construction did not begin on any facilities until after the beginning of the Korean War. At system completion, 16 of these command centers were built. The Command Center was designated as a Type 4 Site while the most common operations center configuration at the AC&W radar sites was the Type 2. The Type 2 Operations Center had similar characteristics to the Type 4 Direction Center except the operations centers were single story. The site designs included, where appropriate, a power plant, an administrative building and one or two radomes all incorporated into a secure compound. The Command Centers and the Operations Centers can be easily identified by a small louvered ventilation tower that rises above the roof.
Key features of the Type 4 Manual Control Center
- Reinforced concrete column-and-beam structure, oversized columns and thick beams
- Flat, reinforced concrete roof (thick)
- Double concrete-block exterior walls, with intervening airspace
- Four-inch thick interior concrete-block walls
- Heavily protected communications cable trenches
- Exterior pilasters (reinforcing strengthening)
- Windowless
- Outer- and inner-lock rooms
- Air baffles and chemical filter banks
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- Pressurized interior air system (air conditioning)
- Ventilation shaft (tower)
- Clean- and contaminated-clothes areas, with disinfector
- Decontamination showers
- Gas-proof clothes chutes
- Communications, code equipment, and message rooms
- Two-story, open central operations room with balcony glassed-in observation cubicles
- War room
- Associated administrative building (type 3 station), power plant, and radomes
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The Manual System Direction Centers did not survive the transition into the SAGE System because they were far too small for the massive SAGE computers and consoles and did not have big enough power or HVAC plants. The radar site Type 2 operations centers did survive into the SAGE System but each one required the construction of an attached SAGE Annex for the large FST-2 computer system and later additions were necessary for those chosen as BUIC Sites.
The manual direction center (SM-169) and manual combat center (MCC-2) in building 602 closed down on 1 Jan 1962 when the nearby Richards-Gebaur SAGE Direction Center DC-08 in building 612 became operational.
Richards-Gebaur Manual Direction Center SM-169 Radar Sites (edit list)
| Location
|
Type
|
State
|
Unit
|
ADC
|
NORAD
|
JSS
|
From
|
To
|
GPS
|
Notes
|
| Walnut Ridge
|
|
AR
|
725th
|
SM-143
|
Z-143
|
|
1956
|
1961
|
36.13,
-90.91917
|
To Truax DC-07
|
| Olathe
|
|
KS
|
738th
|
P-72
|
Z-72
|
|
1956
|
1961
|
38.835,
-94.90444
|
To Sioux City DC-22
|
| Waverly
|
|
IA
|
788th
|
P-81
|
Z-81
|
|
1956
|
1958
|
42.69,
-92.48444
|
To Truax MDC P-23
|
| Omaha
|
|
NE
|
789th
|
P-71
|
Z-71
|
|
1956
|
1961
|
41.36083,
-96.02444
|
To Sioux City DC-22
|
| Kirksville
|
|
MO
|
790th
|
P-64
|
Z-64
|
|
1956
|
1958
|
40.29778,
-92.57556
|
√
|
| Hanna City
|
|
IL
|
791st
|
P-85
|
Z-85
|
|
1956
|
1958
|
40.69889,
-89.82583
|
√
|
| Hutchinson
|
|
KS
|
793rd
|
P-47
|
Z-47
|
|
1956
|
1961
|
37.92611,
-97.88694
|
√
|
| Bartlesville
|
|
OK
|
796th
|
P-77
|
|
|
1956
|
1961
|
36.76222,
-96.03833
|
√
|
| Fordland
|
|
MO
|
797th
|
P-68
|
|
|
1956
|
1961
|
37.15417,
-92.87583
|
√
|
| Belleville
|
|
IL
|
798th
|
P-70
|
Z-70
|
|
1956
|
1961
|
38.47556,
-89.90583
|
√
|
| Dallas Center
|
|
IA
|
650th
|
M-122
|
|
|
1956
|
1957
|
41.71819,
-93.90528
|
√
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Current Status
Manual Direction Center repurposed but vacant on the former Richards-Gebaur AFB in Kansas City, Platte County, Missouri.
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Location: Richards-Gebaur, Kansas City, Platte County, Missouri.
Maps & Images
Lat: 38.84462 Long: -94.5464
- Multi Maps from ACME
- Maps from Bing
- Maps from Google
- Elevation: yyyyy'
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GPS Locations:
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See Also:
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 129.
- 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 53.
- Weitze, Karen J., Ph.D., Cold War Infrastructure for Air Defense: The Fighter and Command Missions, Prepared for Headquarters, Air Combat Command Langley Air Force Base, Virginia, Nov 1999, Contract DACA63-98-P-1363 United States Army Corps of Engineers, Fort Worth District, 167 pages, Pdf
- Cold War Infrastructure For Air Defense: The Fighter And Command Missions, Headquarters, Air Combat Command Langley Air Force Base, Virginia, 1999, Pdf.
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