Colville Air Force Station
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Colville Air Force Station (1951-1961) - A Cold War Air Force Radar Station first established in 1951 near Colville, Stevens County, Washington. Named Colville Air Force Station after the location. Initially assigned a site ID of LP-60 and using surplussed Lashup System equipment (TPS-6B/C). A Permanent ID of P-60 was assigned when permanent system equipment was installed in 1952. The site was abandoned in 1960. History of Colville Air Force StationBegan operation at the Colville site in March 1951 with a site ID of LP-60 using Lashup System surplussed equipment, first a TPS-1B and later a TPS-1C in November 1951. The permanent site P-60 became operational in February 1952 manned by the 760th 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 P-60 equipment included the FPS-3 search radar and the FPS-5 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 FST-2 was installed at Colville in the fall of 1959. The site began operation as a SAGE site in 1960 initially feeding the Larson SAGE Direction Center DC-15. In preparation for SAGE implementation the search radar was upgraded from the FPS-3 to an FPS-20. In 1956 the FPS-5 height finder was replaced with one FPS-6 height finder and a second FPS-6A was added later. Colville AFS was responsible for the maintenance of 5 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 Colville AFS for regularly scheduled maintenance or when fault indicators suggested the site had problems. The Colville AFS gap filler radars were located at Iona, WA; Northport, WA; Curlew, WA; Okanogon, WA; and Mazama, WA. Physical PlantThe physical plant of the site was divided into a main site, a cantonment area, a 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. Apart from the main site was a small housing area for critical married personnel. A separate Ground to Air Transmitter/Receiver (GATR) radio site housed the radio equipment for directing aircraft intercepts.
Current StatusAbandoned in Colville, Stevens County, Washington.
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