Sweetwater Air Force Station
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Sweetwater Air Force Station (1956-1969) - A Cold War Air Force Radar Station first established in 1956 near Sweetwater, Nolan County, Texas. Named Sweetwater Air Force Station after the location. Initially assigned a Permanent ID of M-89, later a Sage ID of Z-89. Abandoned as an Air Force Station in 1969.
History of Sweetwater Air Force StationEstablished in 1956 and became operational in 1956 as Sweetwater Air Force Station manned by the 683rd 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 MPS-11 search radar and a TPS-10D height finder radar. The TPS-10D was replaced by an FPS-6A Height Finder in 1961 and it was later upgraded to an FPS-90. The MPS-11 was replaced by an FPS-67B in the mid 1960s. Sweetwater AFS and the 683rd were deactivated in 1969. Sweetwater AFS was responsible for the maintenance of two 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 Sweetwater AFS for regularly scheduled maintenance or when fault indicators suggested the site had problems. The Sweetwater AFS gap filler radars were located at Big Spring and Sidney, Texas. From 1960 to 1966 the Army Air Defense Command Post (AADCP) controlling the Dyess Nike-Hercules anti-aircraft missile sites (DY-10 and DY-50) was co-located with the Sweetwater AFS radar operations. The AADCP used the CSG-5 Battery Integration and Radar Display Equipment (BIRDIE) with inputs from the USAF radars.  The radar site was housed in a relatively small compound adjacent to Avenger Field, the Sweetwater municipal airport. The physical plant of the site was divided into a main site on the east side of the compound, a cantonment area on the north end, a housing area on the other side of the airport and a radio site in the south end. The main site housed the operations building, the radar towers, the C & E Building 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. The cantonment area also housed a large recreation building that contained the BX, photo lab and library. Apart from the main site was a small 24 unit housing area for critical married personnel. A Ground to Air Transmitter/Receiver (GATR) radio site on the south end of the compound housed the radio equipment for directing aircraft intercepts.
Current StatusNow the Rolling Plains campus of Texas State Technical Institute in Sweetwater, Nolan County, Texas. While some of the original building remain on the main site and cantonment area, most are gone. The recreation building and the operations building have been repurposed. No sign of the two radar towers. The housing area still exists but is gated and appears to be deteriorating.
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Visited: 29 Apr 2015
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