North Truro Air Force Station

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North Truro Air Force Station (1951-1994) - A Cold War Air Force Radar Station first established in 1951 near Cape Cod, Barnstable County, Massachusetts. Named North Truro Air Force Station after the location. Initially assigned a Permanent ID of P-10 and later a Sage ID of Z-10 and finally a JSS ID of J-53. Deactivated in 1994.

History of North Truro Air Force Station

Established in 1951 and became operational on ..... as North Truro Air Force Station manned by the 762nd AC&W Squadron. The station initially had both a Ground-Control Intercept (GCI) and early warning misssion. The early warnng mission involved tracking and identifing all aircraft entering their airspace while the GCI mission involved guiding Air Force interceptors to any identified enemy aircraft. Controllers at the station vectored fighter aircraft at the correct course and speed to intercept enemy aircraft using voice commands via ground-to-air radio.

Initial equipment included two CPS-3 transportable search radar.

The 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 in 1958 initially feeding the Stewart SAGE Direction Center DC-02 at Stewart AFB. The search radar was upgraded to an FPS-7 and FPS-6 height finders were installed.

North Truro AFS was responsible for the maintenance of three remote unattended gap filler radar sites. The gap filler sites were place in locations where the main search radar lacked coverage. These sites sent digitized radar target data directly to a direction center. Maintenance teams were dispatched from North Truro AFS for regularly scheduled maintenance or when fault indicators suggested the site had problems. North Truro was responsible for gap filler sites at Westboro and Chilmark Massachusetts and the site at Fort Dearborn, New Hampshire.

The physical plant of the site was divided into a main site, a housing area, a radio site and a toposcatter communications site. The main site housed two operations buildings (AC&W & SAGE), 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. A toposcatter communications site was used for communications with Texas Tower II, a radar platform 90 miles out in the Atlantic.

North Truro AFS was selected as a BUIC I, II and III site.

North Truro AFS and the 762nd were deactivated in 1994.


North Truro AFS Major Equipment List
Search Radar HF Radar Data Systems
  • CPS-3
  • FPS-8
  • GPS-3
  • CPS-6B
  • FPS-7
  • FPS-107
  • FPS-91A
  • FPS-6
  • FPS-6A
  • FPS-90
  • FPS-26A
  • FST-2/A/B
  • BUIC-II GSA-51
  • BUIC-III Burroughs D825
Unit Designations
  • 762nd Aircraft Control & Warning (AC&W) Squadron (1951-1958)
  • 762nd Radar Squadron (SAGE) (1958-1974)
  • 762nd Radar Squadron (1974-1979)


North Truro AFS Gap Filler Radar Sites (edit list)
ADC NORAD Location State Type From To GPS Notes
P-10A Z-10A Westboro MA FPS-14, FST-1 1957 1962 42.239825,
-71.628133 		Tower Remains
P-10B Z-10B Fort Dearborn NH FPS-14, FST-1 1957 1968 43.044698,
-70.715550 		Located on Fort Dearborn
No remains
P-10E Z-10E Chilmark MA FPS-14, FST-1 1957 1968 41.355278,
-70.735278 		No remains

Current Status

Part of the Cape Cod National Seashore administered by the National Park Service on Cape Cod, Barnstable County, Massachusetts.

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Location: Cape Cod, Barnstable County, Massachusetts.

Maps & Images

Lat: 42.03149 Long: -70.05329

  • Multi Maps from ACME
  • Maps from Bing
  • Maps from Google
  • Elevation: .....'

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.
  • 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.

Links:

Visited: 17 May 2012

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