Montauk Air Force Station

 (1951-1981) - A Cold War Air Force Radar Station first established in 1951 at Montauk Point, Suffolk County, New York. Moved to Camp Hero by 1 Feb 1952. Named Montauk Air Force Station after the location on 1 Dec 1953. Initially assigned a Permanent ID of LP-45 and later a Sage ID of Z-45. Abandoned by the Air Force in 1981.

History
Established in 1951 at the site of an existing radar site and became operational in 1951 and later named Montauk Air Force Station manned by the 773rd 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 CPS-5 search radar and a TPS-10A height-finder radar. In 1952 they had been replaced by an FPS-3 and an FPS-5. Between 1955-1956 an FPS-8/GPS-3 was installed. One of the first FPS-20 search radars was installed in 1957 along with two FPS-6 height-finders. This was the baseline configuration for SAGE operation.

SAGE System Transition
The site began operation as a SAGE site in 1958 initially feeding the McGuire SAGE Direction Center DC-01. The search radar was upgraded to an FPS-35 in December 1960 but problems with interference delayed its operational date until 1962. In 1963 one of the FPS-6 height-finder radars was replace with an FPS-26. With the closure of DC-01 on 30 Sep 1968 control changed to the Hancock SAGE Direction Center DC-03.

Gap Filler Radars
Montauk AFS was responsible for the maintenance of two remote unattended gap-filler radar sites. The Montauk AFS gap-filler radars were located at Manorville, NY and Chilmark, MA.

BUIC System
Montauk AFS became a BUIC I GCI site in 1962 and went operational as a BUIC II site on 1 Apr 1966. The BUIC II system provided a backup for a SAGE direction center and provided the ability to display sector wide radar data on consoles for local weapons controllers. The system duplicated the functionality of the vacuum tube direction center computers with more up-to-date computers and replaced the FST-2 with a more up-to-date coordinate data transmitter, the FYQ-47. As the threat from a soviet bomber fleet lessened the decision came to mothball the BUIC system in 1974. Montauk AFS and the 773rd were deactivated in 1981.

Closure
Montauk AFS and the 773rd were deactivated in 1981.

Current Status
Part of Camp hero State Park, abandoned at Montauk Point, Suffolk County, New York. The FPS-35 tower and antenna remain in place with the antenna freewheeling to prevent wind damage, motors and drive removed.

See Also:
 * SAGE System
 * BUIC System
 * Permanent System Radar Sites
 * US Radar Sets
 * McGuire SAGE Direction Center DC-01
 * Hancock SAGE Direction Center DC-03

Sources:
 * , page 167.
 * , page 141.

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