Havre Air Force Station

Havre Air Force Station (1951-1979) - A Cold War Air Force Radar Station first established as Simpson Air Force Station in 1951 near Havre, Hill County, Montana. Named Havre Air Force Station after the nearby town on 1 Dec 1953. Initially assigned a Permanent ID of P-25 and later a Sage ID of Z-25. Abandoned in 1979. Havre Air Force Station in 2014 History of Havre Air Force Station Established in 1951 with the relocation of the 778th AC&W Squadron to the newly constructed radar station at Simpson, Montana. Redesignated Havre Air Force Station after the nearby town on 1 Dec 1953. Initial equipment included the FPS-3 search radar and an FPS-4 height finder radar. The radar equipment evolved into an FPS-27 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. 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. The transition to the automated SAGE system began with installation of the AN/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. Havre AFS was responsible for the maintenance of two 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 Havre AFS for regularly scheduled maintenance or when fault indicators suggested the remote site had problems. The Havre AFS gap fillers were located at Galata, Montana and Hogeland, Montana. The site began operation as a SAGE site on 20 Jul 1960 initially feeding data to direction center DC-20 at Malmstrom AFB. Havre AFS was deactivated on 30 Jun 1979 and the 778th was deactivated on 29 Sep 1979. Havre AFS Major Equipment List Search Radar HF Radar Data Systems FPS-3 FPS-27 FPS-4 FPS-6 FPS-6A FST-2/A/B BUIC-III Unit Designations 778th Aircraft Control & Warning (AC&W) Squadron (1951-1961) 778th Radar Squadron (RADRON) (1961-1979) Havre AFS Gap Filler Radar Sites (edit list) ADC NORAD Location State Type From To GPS Notes P-25A Z-25A Galata Montana FPS-14, FST-1 1957 1960 48.770833, -111.328889 P-25B Z-25B Hogeland Montana FPS-14, FST-1 1957 1960 48.858056, -108.57 Current Status Abandoned near Havre, Hill County, Montana. {"selectable":false,"width":"500"} Location: Near Havre, Hill County, Montana. Maps & Images Lat: 48.880833 Long: -109.945 Multi Maps from ACME Maps from Bing Maps from Google Elevation: .....' See Also: SAGE System BUIC System Permanent System Radar Sites US Radar Sets 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: Radomes - Havre Air Force Station Wikipedia - Havre Air Force Station Visited: 7 Aug 2014 Havre Air Force Station Picture Gallery Click on the picture to see a larger version. Contribute additional pictures - the more the better!