Port Austin Air Force Station

 (1952-1988) - A Cold War Air Force Radar Station first established in 1952 near Port Austin, Huron County, Michigan. Named Port Austin Air Force Station after the location. Initially assigned a Permanent ID of P-61, later a Sage ID of Z-61 and a JSS ID of J-57. Abandoned in 1988.

History
Constructed in 1950-1951 and became operational in 1952 as Port Austin Air Force Station manned by the 754th 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-3 search radar and later in 1954 a CPS-4 height-finder radar.

SAGE System Transition
The site began operation as a SAGE site in 1959 initially feeding the Custer SAGE Direction Center DC-06. The search radar was upgraded to an FPS-20 and two FPS-6 height-finder radars were installed.

In 1962 a large FPS-24 search radar was installed followed by an FPS-26A height-finder in 1964. The FPS-6 height-finders were removed in 1964 and 1968. The FPS-24 and the FPS-26A remained the site radar until the FPS-24 suffered a catastrophic bearing failure in 1982 and was replaced with an FPS-91A in 1983. The FPS-26A was later replaced by an FPS-116. The FPS-91A and FPS-116 remained until the site closed in 1988.

BUIC System
A technological change came to Port Austin with the BUIC II system and the installation of the Burroughs D825 (GSA-51) computer system. The BUIC II system officially went operational at Port Austin AFS in 1965.

In 1968 Port Austin AFS became a BUIC III site. The BUIC III system provided a backup for SAGE direction centers 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. On 15 Jan 1970 the BUIC III mission was terminated and Port Austin AFS reverted to a long-range radar site status. The vacuum tube FST-2 was replaced with the solid-state FYQ-47 early in the 1970s.

JSS System
In 1983, with the deactivation of the SAGE System, Port Austin joined the JSS System as site J-57, one of only seven USAF military sites to do so. As a JSS site, Port Austin operated an FPS-91A search Radar and an FPS-116 Height finder. The secondary radar was a UPX-14.

Closure
Port Austin AFS was deactivated on 30 Sep 1988.

Physical Plant
The physical plant of the site was divided into the main site, a cantonment area, a small 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. Northeast of the main site was a small housing area for married personnel. South of the site was a trailer park. A separate radio site housed the radio equipment for directing aircraft intercepts. The BUIC III upgrade in 1968 added a new operations building to house the computer equipment and operators' consoles. A second new building was added to house the Operations Director and a large operations training team.

Current Status
Abandoned in Port Austin, Huron County, Michigan.

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

Sources:
 * , page 124.
 * , page 164.
 * , page 63.

Links:
 * Radomes - Port Austin Air Force Station
 * Wikipedia - Port Austin Air Force Station