Lake City Air Force Station
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Lake City Air Force Station (1952-1961) - A Cold War Air Force Radar Station first established in 1952 near Briceville, in both Campbell and Anderson County, Tennessee. Originally named Cross Mountain Air Force Station but redesignated Lake City Air Force Station 1 Dec 1953. Initially assigned a Permanent ID of P-42. Abandoned in 1961.
HistoryEstablished in 1952 and became operational in March 1952 as Cross Mountain Air Force Station manned by the 663rd AC&W Squadron. The station initially had both a Ground-Control Intercept (GCI) and early warning mission. The early warning mission involved tracking and identifying 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 a pair of FPS-10 search/height-finder radars. The FPS-10 was a stripped down CPS-6B. The station was redesignated Lake City Air Force Station on 1 Dec 1953. An FPS-6 height-finder was installed in 1958 and one of the FPS-10s was removed. There is some indication that a GPA-37 Radar Course Directing Set was installed at Lake City AFS in the March-July 1957 time frame (maintenance personnel were assigned). Gap FillersLake City AFS was responsible for the maintenance of one remote unattended gap-filler radar site. The unattended gap filler sites were placed in locations where the main search radar lacked coverage. These sites were equipped with short range FPS-14 or FPS-18 search radars and FST-1 Coordinate Data transmitters that sent digitized radar target data to a SAGE direction center and to the main radar site. Both the radar set and the FST-1 were dual channel to increase site up time. Maintenance teams were dispatched for regularly scheduled maintenance or when fault indicators on the FSW-1 remote monitoring equipment suggested the site had problems. The FSW-1 also allowed remote operation of specific functions such as channel changes for the radar and for the FST-1, it also allowed remote operation of the diesel generators at the gap filler site. The Lake City AFS gap-filler radar was located at Melvin Hill, North Carolina. This gap-filler was reportedly operational for only a short period of time and two additional sites were planned but never went operational.
ClosureLake City AFS and the 663rd were deactivated on 1 Jun 1961. Physical PlantThe physical plant of the site was divided into the main site, a cantonment area, a housing area and two radio sites. The main site housed the operations buildings, the radar towers, the backup generators, a mess hall and was located atop Cross Mountain in Campbell County. Both radio sites were also located on Cross Mountain near the main site. The cantonment area and the housing area were located at the base of the mountain in Anderson County. Daily personnel access between the upper sites and the lower sites was by a small tramway some 10,000 feet long (a 22-minute ride). The cantonment area housed the enlisted barracks, the bachelor officer's quarters, the orderly room, a dining hall, the motor pool and other support buildings. Apart from the main site was a small housing area for married personnel.
Current StatusSites abandoned and sold to private interests. The main site is now the location for commercial radio and television antennas. It appears from satellite images that the operations and maintenance building still exists. The cantonment area is now owned by a coal company and not open to the public. On-site visit confirms that the motor pool building, the admin building, and the recreation building remain although modified. The barracks buildings are all gone. The housing area remains, with the houses in private hands.
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Visited: 20 May 2016
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