Dauphin Island Air Force Station

 (1958-1970, 1973-1980) - A Cold War Air Force Radar Station first established in 1958 at Pelican Point on Dauphin Island, Mobile County, Alabama. Named Dauphin Island Air Force Station after the location. Initially assigned a Permanent ID of TM-196 and later a SAGE ID of Z-196. Abandoned in 1970 and reactivated in 1973 with a new SAGE ID of Z-249. Finally abandoned in 1980.

History
Established in 1958 and became operational in January 1959 as Dauphin Island Air Force Station manned by the 693rd 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 the FPS-20 search radar and two FPS-6A height-finder radars. In this period before SAGE System implementation, a GPA-37 Analog Computer Course Directing set was installed to provide an efficient platform for weapons controllers to manually direct intercepts of unknown targets. The GPA-37 equipment allowed a single controller to simultaneously conduct six separate intercepts. When the SAGE System equipment (FST-2) became operational the GPA-37 equipment was removed.

SAGE System Operation


The site began operation as a SAGE site in 1960 initially feeding the Gunter SAGE Direction Center DC-09. The search radar was upgraded to an FPS-7.

Gap Fillers
Dauphin Island 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 Dauphin Island AFS for regularly scheduled maintenance or when fault indicators suggested the site had problems. The two Dauphin Island gap-filler sites were located in Gulfport, Mississippi and New Orleans, Louisiana.

Deactivation
In August 1969 Hurricane Camille struck the Mississippi Gulf Coast and directly impacted Dauphin Island inundating 70% of the Island and damaging the Radar Station. The site was closed and declared surplus in 1970 and occupied in April 1971 by Dauphin Island Sea Lab (DISL) along with the remaining Air Force civilian caretakers.

Reactivation
The station was reactivated 1 Jan 1973 in conjunction with the establishment of the Southern Air Defense Sector (SADS) to counter a perceived threat from Cuba and Russia via the Gulf Coast. The 635th Radar Squadron was assigned to man the station operating an FPS-6 height-finder and an FPS-93 search radar. The squadron was assigned to the 20th Air Division, Fort Lee SAGE Direction Center DC-04 and also furnished radar data to the SADS manual direction center using an FYQ-47 Common Digitizer.

Closure
The 635th Radar Squadron was deactivated 1 Jul 1974. The radar site then became an operating location of the 630th Radar Squadron at Houston, and later the 678th Air Defense Group at Tyndall who was operating a BUIC III System. The site closed for good on 30 Sep 1980.

Physical Plant
The physical plant of the site was divided into the main site, a housing area, and a radio site. The main site housed the operations building, the radar towers, two enlisted barracks, the bachelor officer's quarters, the orderly room, the dining hall, the motor pool, and the backup generators. Apart from the main site was a small housing area for married personnel. A separate radio site housed the radio equipment for directing aircraft intercepts. The radar site was located on Pelican Point immediately adjacent to the historic Third System Fort Gaines.

Current Status
Part of Dauphin Island Sea Lab on Dauphin Island, Mobile County, Alabama. Part of the search radar tower and several repurposed cantonment buildings remain. Two barracks building have been repurposed as dorm rooms for the Sea Lab. The Air Force dining hall is now a cafeteria and the one remaining radar tower is a part of the Sea Lab's Estuarium facility.

See Also:
 * Houston ARTCC
 * JSS System
 * Permanent System Radar Sites
 * Gunter SAGE Direction Center DC-09
 * Fort Gaines
 * Defense Installations Portal

Sources:
 * , page 94.
 * , page 155,165.
 * , page 155,165.

Links:
 * Radomes - Dauphin Island Air Force Station
 * Wikipedia - Dauphin Island Air Force Station
 * 635th Radar Squadron
 * Dauphin Island Sea Lab
 * Dauphin Island History