Ozona Air Force Station

 (1957-1963) - A Cold War Air Force Radar Station first established in 1957 near Ozona, Crockett County, Texas. Named Ozona Air Force Station after the location. Initially assigned a Permanent ID of TM-187. Abandoned in 1963.

History
Established in 1957 and became operational in 1959 as Ozona Air Force Station manned by the 732nd AC&W Squadron.

Initial equipment included the FPS-3 search radar and an FPS-6 height-finder radar.

Gap Fillers
Ozona AFS was responsible for the maintenance of two remote unattended gap-filler radar sites. The Ozona AFS gap-filler radars were located at McCamey and Comstock, Texas.

Closure
Ozona AFS and the 732nd were deactivated on 1 Aug 1963. The equipment was removed and the property was sold at public auction by the GSA in January 1965.

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 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 married personnel.

A separate Ground to Air Transmitter/Receiver (GATR) radio site housed the radio equipment for directing aircraft intercepts.

Current Status
The operations area buildings were demolished circa 2005 and replaced with industrial buildings. The front portion of the cantonment area is in private hands and access is restricted. The rear portion of the cantonment area (including the barracks, dining hall, supply, rec hall and radio site) is owned by the Boy Scouts of America but is unoccupied and deteriorating. The housing area is in private hands and is now known as Crockett Heights.

See Also:
 * Permanent System Radar Sites
 * US Radar Sets
 * Oklahoma City Air Force Station

Sources:
 * , page 100.
 * , page 157.

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