Port Austin Air Force Station
Port Austin Air Force Station (1952-1988) - A Cold War Air Force Radar Station first established in 1952 near Port Austin, Huron County, Michigan. Named Port Austin Air Force Station after the location. Initially assigned a Permanent ID of P-61 and later a Sage ID of Z-61. Abandoned in 1988.
History of Port Austin Air Force Station
Constructed in 1950-1951 and became operational in 1952 as Port Austin Air Force Station manned by the 754th 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 the FPS-3 search radar and later in 1954 an CPS-4 height finder 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 1959 initially feeding the Custer SAGE Direction Center DC-06. The search radar was upgraded to an FPS-20 and two FPS-6 height finder radars were installed.
In 1962 a large FPS-24 search radar was installed followed by an FPS-26A height finder in 1964. The FPS-6 height finders were removed in 1964 and 1968. The FPS-24 and the FPS-26A remained the site radar until the FPS-24 suffered a catastrophic bearing failure in 1982 and was replace with an FPS-91A in 1983. The FPS-26A was later replaced by an FPS-116. The FPS-91A and FPS-116 remained until the site closed in 1988.
Technological change came to Port Austin with the BUIC II system. The system brought a replacement of the vacuum tube FST-2 with the solid state FYQ-47 and installed the Burroughs D825 (GSA-51) computer system. The BUIC II system officially went operational at Port Austin AFS in 1965.
In 1968 Port Austin AFS became a BUIC III site. The BUIC III system provided a backup for SAGE direction centers and provided the ability to display sector wide radar data on consoles for local weapons controllers. The system duplicated the functionality of the vacuum tube direction center computers with more up-to-date computers. On 15 Jan 1970 the BUIC III mission was terminated and Port Austin AFS reverted to a long range radar site status.
The physical plant of the site was divided into a main site, a cantonment area, a small housing area and a radio site. The main site housed the operations buildings, the radar towers and the backup generators. The cantonment area housed the enlisted barracks, the bachelor officer's quarters, the orderly room, the dining hall, the motor pool and other support buildings. Northeast of the main site was a small housing area for married personnel. South of the site was a trailer park. A separate radio site housed the radio equipment for directing aircraft intercepts. The BUIC III upgrade in 1968 added a new operations building to house the computer equipment and operators consoles. A second new building was added to house the Operations Director and a large operations training team.
Port Austin AFS was deactivated on 30 Sep 1988.
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Current Status
Abandoned in Port Austin, Huron County, Michigan.
USGS Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) Database Entry: 2089925
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Location: Port Austin, Huron County, Michigan. Maps & Images Lat: 44.03028 Long: -83.00167 |
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 124.
- 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 164.
Links:
Visited: No
- FST-2
- SAGE Radar Sites
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- Michigan All
- Michigan Radar Sites
- Michigan Huron County
- Port Austin Air Force Station
- Michigan Not Visited
- Starter Page
- USAF Radar Sites
- BUIC Sites
- FPS-3 Search Radar
- FPS-20 Search Radar
- FPS-24 Search Radar
- FPS-91 Search Radar
- CPS-4 Height Finder Radar
- FPS-6 Height Finder Radar
- FPS-6A Height Finder Radar
- FPS-26 Height Finder Radar
- FPS-116 Height Finder Radar
- GPA-37 Analog Course Directing Computer
- FST-2 Digital Coordinate Data Transmitter
- FYQ-47 Digital Coordinate Data Transmitter
- GSA-51 Digital Course Directing Computer