Saint Albans Air Force Station

 (1951-1979) - A Cold War Air Force Radar Station first established in 1951 on Bellevue Hill near Saint Albans, Franklin County, Vermont. Initially named Belleview Hill Air Force Station it was renamed Saint Albans Air Force Station after the nearby town. Initially assigned a Permanent ID of P-14, later a Sage ID of Z-14. Abandoned by the Air Force in 1979, a portion was retained by the FAA and is now Saint Albans FAA Radar Site with an FAA ID of QHB.

History
Established in 1951 and became operational in September 1951 as Belleview Hill Air Force Station manned by the 764th 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 two CPS-6B search/height-finder radars. In 1958 a single FPS-6 height-finder radar replaced one of the CPS-6Bs and a second FPS-6 was installed in 1959.

This configuration established the basic requirements for the transition to SAGE System operation.

SAGE System Operation


The site began operation as a SAGE System site in 1959, initially feeding the Topsham SAGE Direction Center DC-05. The search radar was upgraded to one FPS-7C in 1962 and one of the FPS-6 height-finder radars was replaced in 1963 by a FPS-26A. On 1 Aug 1962 control was shifted from Topsham SAGE Direction Center DC-05 to Stewart SAGE Direction Center DC-02. On 1 Apr 1966 control shifted from Stewart SAGE Direction Center DC-02 to Hancock SAGE Direction Center DC-03 where it remained until the site closed.

Early in the 1970s the FST-2 was replaced with a more up-to-date coordinate data transmitter, the FYQ-47 Common Digitizer.

Gap Fillers
Saint Albans AFS was responsible for the maintenance of two remote unattended gap-filler radar sites. The Saint Albans AFS gap-filler radar sites were located at Blue Mountain Lake, NY and Bangor, NY.

Closure
Saint Albans AFS and the 764th were deactivated on 29 Jun 1979. A small portion of the site was retained by the FAA and is now Saint Albans FAA Radar Site.

Saint Albans FAA Radar Site
The FAA assumed control of a portion of the radar site and operated a FPS-67B search radar in the former FPS-107 radar tower. The site was data-tied into the Joint Surveillance System (JSS). Circa 2015, the FPS-67B legacy radar was replaced with the minimally attended FAA Common Air-Route Surveillance Radar CARSR Radar set. FAA ID of QHB.

By 1990 the site was equipped with an FPS-67B search radar and a CD-2A Common Digitizer. The Saint Albans CD-2A was scheduled to receive an upgrade kit to implement three level weather data processing in September 1992.

CARSR Radar
At the time of the CARSR changeout, the legacy radar in place was an FPS-67B and the CARSR conversion included a 1561 Antenna. The secondary radar for the site is the Mode S Beacon set.

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 nine-unit housing area for married personnel.

A separate radio site housed the radio equipment for directing aircraft intercepts. The Saint Albans AFS GATR facility provided 26 UHF Ground to Air channels, time-division data link GKA-5 and a 20kw amplifier FRT-49.

Current Status
Abandoned by the Air Force in 1979, a portion was retained by the FAA and is now Saint Albans FAA Radar Site. The housing area remains now in private hands. The majority of the cantonment area has been leveled. The main site has been reconfigured to house the FAA radar site. No remains of the operations building or other radar towers.

See Also:
 * Boston ARTCC
 * SAGE System
 * JSS System
 * Permanent System Radar Sites
 * US Radar Sets
 * Stewart SAGE Direction Center DC-02
 * Hancock SAGE Direction Center DC-03
 * Topsham SAGE Direction Center DC-05

Sources:
 * , page 165-166.
 * , page 160.



Links:
 * Radomes - Saint Albans Air Force Station
 * Wikipedia - Saint Albans Air Force Station
 * 764th Radar Base Web Page