Othello Air Force Station

Othello Air Force Station (1951-1975) - A Cold War long range U.S. Air Force Radar Station first established in 1951 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.

Othello Air Force Station Main Gate, Motor Pool in Background	Othello AFS Orderly Room, OPS Building, Radome and Radio Site in Background
Othello AFS, two FPS 6s on the left, FPS 3 in the bubble and Operations building on the right, circa 1959

History of Othello Air Force Station

Established in September 1951 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 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. Just outside the main gate was an NCO club. Across Radar Road (now Sage Road) from the main site was a small housing area for critical married personnel. North of the main site was a separate radio site housing radio equipment for directing aircraft intercepts.

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 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 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 to backup the Sage direction center in case of failure. As the threat from Russian aircraft attack changed to a missile threat the need for the backup BUIC systems evaporated and it was deactivated in 1974. Othello AFS and the 637th were deactivated on 31 Mar 1975 as the need for the SAGE system itself was reduced.

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: On Radar Hill, 7 miles south of Othello, Adams County, Washington.

Maps & Images

Lat: 46.721389 Long: -119.18

Multi Maps from ACME
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Elevation: 1,280'

See Also:

USAF Radar Sites

Sources:

Links:

Visited: 13 Oct 2010