Lockport Air Force Station

 (1951-1979) - A Cold War Air Force Radar Station first established in 1951 near Lockport, Niagara County, New York. Initially known as the Shawnee Radar Site it was renamed Lockport Air Force Station on 1 Dec 1955 after the location. Initially assigned a Permanent ID of P-21, later a Sage ID of Z-21. Abandoned in 1979.

History
Established in 1951 and became operational in September 1951 as Lockport Air Force Station manned by the 763rd AC&W Squadron. Lockport AFS then assumed coverage of the area from the Fort Niagara Lashup Radar Site, L-19. Lockport AFS initially had both a Ground-Control Intercept (GCI) and early warning mission. 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 CPS-6B combination search/height-finder radars.

The site was a joint U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force facility with a U.S. Army Air Defense Command Post (AAFDC) NF-17DC for Nike Missile system along with the U.S. Air Force radar site P-21. The site directed the NIKE missile defenses between 1960-1962 for the Niagara Falls-Buffalo Defense Area and provided some level of integration with the SAGE System.

SAGE Operation
The site began operation as a SAGE site December 1958 initially feeding the Hancock SAGE Direction Center DC-03. The search radar was upgraded to an FPS-7 in 1960 and two FPS-6 height-finder radars were installed. One of the FPS-6 radars was replaced by an FPS-26 in 1962. By the mid-1970s the FPS-7 search radar had been replaced by an FPS-107.

The vacuum tube FST-2 Coordinate Data transmitter was replaced in the early 1970s with the solid state FYQ-47 Common Digitizer.

In September 1963 direction center control of Lockport AFS was shifted to the Custer SAGE Direction Center DC-06. The Custer SAGE Direction Center DC-06 closed in 1969 and control of Lockport shifted back to the Hancock SAGE Direction Center DC-03 and remained there until the site closed in 1979. In 1979 control of the SAGE System was switched from the Air Defense Command (ADC) to the Tactical Air Command (TAC), specifically ADTAC. Many of the remaining radar sites were closed at this shift in command and Lockport AFS was closed as this shift took place

Gap Fillers
Lockport AFS was responsible for the maintenance of two remote unattended gap-filler radar sites. The Lockport AFS gap-filler radars were located at Brockport, NY and Charlotte Center, NY.

Closure
Lockport AFS and the 763rd Radar Squadron were deactivated on 29 Jun 1979.

Physical Plant
The physical plant of the site was divided into the main site, a cantonment area, a housing area and a radio site. The main site housed the operations buildings, the U.S. Army Nike command post, 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 27 unit 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 Status
Abandoned in Lockport, Niagara County, New York.

See Also:
 * SAGE System
 * BUIC System
 * Permanent System Radar Sites
 * US Radar Sets
 * Hancock SAGE Direction Center DC-03
 * Custer SAGE Direction Center DC-06

Sources:
 * , page 165.
 * , page 142.

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