Othello Air Force Station

Othello Air Force Station (1952-1975) - A Cold War long range U.S. Air Force Radar Station first established in 1952 near Othello, Adams County, Washington. Named Othello Air Force Station after the nearby town. Initially assigned a Permanent ID of P-40 and later a Sage ID of Z-40. Abandoned in 1975.

File:.jpg Othello Air Force Station	File:.jpg Othello Air Force Station
Othello AFS

History of Othello Air Force Station

Established in 1952 with the relocation of the 637th AC&W Squadron to the newly constructed radar station. Initial equipment included the FPS-3 search radar and an FPS-5 height finder radar. The radar equipment evolved into an FPS-3 search radar with two FPS-6 height finder radars while the site was still a manual Ground Control Intercept (GCI) site.

The transition to the automated SAGE system began with instation of the GPA-37 analog intercept control system which allowed local controllers to vector interceptors to their targets. Operation of the GPA-37 continued even as the site was being upgraded for the automated SAGE system with the FST-2 installation and the search radar upgrade to the FPS-20.

The site began operation as a SAGE site on 15 Mar 1960 initially feeding the direction center DC-15 at nearby Larson AFB. With the closure of DC-15 in 1963 Othello was connected to the DC-12 direction center at McChord AFB. The search radar was upgraded to an FPS-7C and an FPS-26A height finder radar was installed in 1963-64.

In the following years Othello was selected as a Backup Interceptor Control (BUIC) site as a backup to the Sage direction center in case of failure. Othello AFS and the 637th were deactivated on 31 Mar 1975.

Unit Designations:

637th Aircraft Control & Warning (AC&W) Squadron (1947-1960)
637th Radar Squadron (RADRON) (1960-1970)
637th Air Defense Group (ADG) (1970-1974)
637th Aircraft Control & Warning (AC&W) Squadron (1974-1975)

Othello AFS Major Equipment List
Search Radar	HF Radar	Data Systems	Radio
FPS-3 FPS-20 FPS-7C FPS-107	FPS-5 FPS-6 FPS-6A FPS-26	GPA-37 FST-2/A/B BUIC-I BUIC-III

Current Status

Private property near Othello, Adams County, Washington.

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Location: Radar Hill near Othello, Adams County, Washington.

Maps & Images

Lat: 46.721389 Long: -119.18

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Elevation: 1,280'

See Also:

USAF Radar Sites

Sources:

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