Guthrie Air Force Station

 (1951-1968) - A Cold War U.S. Air Force Radar Station established during the Korean War. Located near Guthrie, Kanawha County, West Virginia. Initially assigned a Permanent ID of P-43 and later a Sage ID of Z-43. Closed in 1968.

History
Established in 1951 and became operational in June 1952 as Guthrie Air Force Station manned by the 783rd Aircraft Control & Warning (AC&W) Squadron. The missions included radar search and manual Ground Control and Incercept (GCI) of unknown aircraft entering the covered area.

Initial equipment included a FPS-3 search radar and a FPS-4 height-finder radar. In 1958 these radar sets were replaced by an FPS-20 search radar and an FPS-6 height-finder radar.

SAGE System Operation
The site began operation as a SAGE site in 1962 initially feeding the Custer SAGE Direction Center DC-06. On 1 Jul 1962, the squadron designation was changed from the 783rd AC&W Squadron to 783rd Radar Squadron (SAGE) indicating the new SAGE System role.

In 1962 the FPS-20 search radar was upgraded to an FPS-67. A second FPS-6 height-finder radar was added in 1963. One FPS-6 was removed in 1966.

Closure
The public announcement of the closure of Guthrie AFS came on 20 Nov 1964 with the Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara 's announcement of massive military cutbacks and closures of some 95 installations. The site was originally scheduled to close in mid-1966 but that was later delayed to 1968. Guthrie AFS and the 783rd were finally deactivated on 18 June 1968 but the phase-out of the Air Force Station continued through November 1968.

Gap Fillers
Guthrie AFS was responsible for the maintenance of three remote unattended gap-filler radar sites. The Guthrie AFS gap-filler radars were located at Hellier KY, Bainbridge OH and Lewisville OH. Two additional gap-fillers were planned but not built.

Physical Plant
The physical plant of the site was divided into the main operations 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 27 unit housing area for married personnel.

A separate radio site housed the radio equipment for directing aircraft intercepts.

Current Status
After closure, the site was transferred to the State of West Virginia and became the Guthrie Agricultural Center owned by the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources. Since 2012 known as the Gus R. Douglass Agricultural Center at Guthrie. Part also utilized by the West Virginia Conservation Agency.

Some buildings remain including the operations building and several cantonment buildings. The GATR site building appears to be overbuilt with newer buildings. Many of the housing area buildings remain.

See Also:
 * SAGE System
 * Permanent System Radar Sites
 * US Radar Sets
 * Custer SAGE Direction Center DC-06

Sources:
 * , page 168.
 * , page 167.

Links:
 * Radomes - Guthrie Air Force Station
 * Wikipedia - Guthrie Air Force Station
 * Radomes Echoes - Guthrie AFS, page 7.