Marietta Air Force Station

 (1956-1968) - A Cold War U.S. Air Force Radar Station. Located near Marietta, Cobb County, Georgia. Initially assigned a Permanent ID of M-111 and later, a Sage ID of Z-111. The Air Force Station closed in 1968 but the FAA Radar Site continues to operate as Marietta FAA Radar Site (ATL). Also known as Atlanta FAA Radar Site (ATL).

History
Established in 1956 and became operational in 1956 as Marietta Air Force Station manned by the 908th Aircraft Control & Warning (AC&W) Squadron. Two sites were established, the original site was a manual site and the initial equipment included the MPS-11 search radar and MPS-8 height-finder radars. In 1959, Marietta AFS began to performed air traffic control duties.

In 1961 the site moved to a nearby location in preparation for SAGE System operation. Initial equipment at the new site included a pair of FPS-6 height-finder radars and an FAA ARSR-1A search radar. This configuration (a SAGE qualified long-range search radar and two SAGE qualified height-finders) met the requirements for transition to SAGE System operation.

SAGE System Operation


The new site began operation as a SAGE site in 1962 initially feeding the Gunter SAGE Direction Center DC-09. On 1 Apr 1962, the squadron designation was changed from the 908th AC&W Squadron to 908th Radar Squadron (SAGE) indicating the new SAGE System role.

The FAA ARSR-1A search radar was upgraded to an ARSR-1E configuration in 1964.

Closure
Marietta AFS and the 908th Radar Squadron were deactivated on 8 Sep 1968.

Marietta FAA Radar Site
The FAA continued to operate the ARSR-1E search radar on a smaller site after the Air Force Station closed. The Marietta FAA Radar Site is designated as FAA location ATL. Also known as Atlanta FAA Radar Site.

By 1990 the site was equipped with a Common Digitizer CD-2A. The Marietta CD-2A was scheduled to receive an upgrade kit to implement three level weather data processing in October 1992.

CARSR Radar
The search radar was listed as having been upgraded to the CARSR radar configuration as of 17 Aug 2015 and operation continues to date.

Gap Fillers
Marietta AFS was responsible for the maintenance of three remote unattended gap-filler radar sites. The Marietta AFS gap-filler radars were located at Barnesville GA, Elberton GA and Melvin Hill, NC. Three other sites were planned but were either not built or never went operational.

Current Status
Active FAA Radar Site equipped with a CARSR long-range radar and an ATCBI-6 beacon system. Responsible to the Atlanta ARTCC.

See Also:
 * Atlanta ARTCC
 * SAGE System
 * Permanent System Radar Sites
 * US Radar Sets
 * Gunter SAGE Direction Center DC-09

Sources:
 * , page 173.
 * , page 111.



Links:
 * Radomes - Marietta Air Force Station
 * Wikipedia - Marietta Air Force Station