Baudette Air Force Station
Baudette Air Force Station (1959-1979) - A Cold War Air Force Radar Station first established in 1958 near Baudette, Lake of the Woods County, Minnesota. Named Baudette Air Force Station after the location. Initially assigned a Permanent ID of SM-132 and later a Sage ID of Z-132. Abandoned in 1979.
History of Baudette Air Force Station
Established in 1958 and operational in 1959 as Baudette Air Force Station manned by the 692nd 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 a pair of FPS-6 height finder radars.
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 Duluth SAGE Direction Center DC-10. The search radar was upgraded to an FPS-24 in 1962. One of the FPS-6 height finder radars was upgraded to an FPS-90 and in 1963 an FPS-26A height finder radar replaced the other FPS-6.
Baudette AFS was responsible for the maintenance of three remote unattended gap filler radar sites. The gap filler sites were placed 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 Baudette AFS for regularly scheduled maintenance or when fault indicators suggested the site had problems.
Baudette AFS became a BUIC I GCI site in 1962, a BUIC III site in 1968 and in 1970 the 692nd Radar Squadron (SAGE) became the 692nd Air Defense Group (BUIC). The BUIC III system provided a backup for a SAGE direction center 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 a more up-to-date computer, the GSA-51, and replaced the FST-2 with a more up-to-date coordinate data transmitter, the FYQ-47. As the threat from a soviet bomber fleet lessened the decision came to mothball the BUIC system in 1974. Baudette AFS and the 692nd were deactivated on 1 Jul 1979.
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| ADC | NORAD | Location | State | Type | From | To | GPS | Notes |
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| SM-132A | Z-132A | Big Falls | MN | FPS-18, FST-1 | 1959 | 1968 | 48.190556, -93.791667 |
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| SM-132B | Z-132B | Middle River | MN | FPS-18, FST-1 | 1959 | 1968 | 48.5361301, -96.0152453 |
Current Status
Currently in use as an Acura automobile test facility, Lake of the Woods County, Minnesota.
USGS Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) Database Entry: 2086836
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Location: Baudette, Lake of the Woods County, Minnesota. Maps & Images Lat: 48.66992 Long: -94.62081 |
See Also:
Sources:
- 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 85, 161.
- 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 126-127.
- NORAD/CONAD Historical Summary Jan-Dec 1966, dated 1 May 1967, Command History Division, HQ NORAD/CONAD, Unclassified (originally classified Secret), pdf, pages 28-31, Backup Intercept Control Systems
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