North Charleston Air Force Station

 (1955-1980) - A Cold War U.S. Air Force Radar Station established in 1955. Located near North Charleston, Charleston County, South Carolina. Initially assigned a Permanent ID of M-113 and a Sage ID of Z-113. Closed in 1980.

History
Established in 1955 and became operational in 1955 as North Charleston Air Force Station manned by the 792nd Aircraft Control & Warning (AC&W) Squadron.

Initial equipment included the MPS-7 search radar. By 1956, GPS-3, MPS-14, and  MPS-8 radars had been added. In 1959 a FPS-20A search radar was installed. In 1961 the FPS-20A search radar was upgraded and redesignated as a FPS-66. By August 1962, a GPA-37 Course Directing Group, a weapons directing analog computer system, was in operation at North Charleston AFS running manual radar intercepts. The installed radar configuration (a SAGE qualified long-range search radar and two SAGE qualified height-finders) met the requirements for transition to SAGE System operation.

SAGE System Operation


The site began operation as a SAGE site on 1 Jul 1961 initially feeding the Fort Lee SAGE Direction Center DC-04. On 25 Mar 1962, the squadron designation was changed from the 792nd AC&W Squadron to 792nd Radar Squadron (SAGE) indicating the new SAGE System role.

In 1964 the site received a FPS-27 search radar. In the early 1970s, the vacuum tube FST-2 Coordinate Data Transmitter was probably replaced with a solid state FYQ-47 Common Digitizer. On 1 Jul 1974, the 792nd was redesignated as the 792nd Radar Squadron. The MPS-14 was modified to become a FPS-116 height-finder about 1977. The FPS-26A height-finder was retired circa 1979. The facility came under TAC (ADTAC) control in 1979 when ADC was eliminated.

Closure
North Charleston AFS and the 792nd Radar Squadron were deactivated on 1 June 1980. The GATR facility remained operational until the JSS switchover, circa 1984.

FAA Joint Use
In late 1959 the Air Force radar site was also performing air traffic control duties for the FAA with the FPS-20A search radar and MPS-14 height-finder. The FPS-20A was upgraded to a FPS-66 about 1961. In 1966, the FAA departed along with the FPS-66 search radar.

Gap Fillers
North Charleston AFS was responsible for the maintenance of three remote unattended gap-filler radar sites. The North Charleston AFS gap-filler radars were located at Stateburg SC, Georgetown SC, and Parris Island MCAS, SC.

Physical Plant
The physical plant of the site was divided into a main operations site, a cantonment area, a housing area and a radio site. The main operations 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 22 unit housing area for married personnel.

A separate radio site housed the radio equipment for directing aircraft intercepts.

Current Status
The main site has been leveled and overbuilt with North Charleston Public Works buildings. Only the cantonment area has any signs of the Air Force Station buildings and only some the foundation pads remain. The housing area is gone with no signs at all of the housing units.

See Also:
 * SAGE System
 * Permanent System Radar Sites
 * US Radar Sets
 * Fort Lee SAGE Direction Center DC-04
 * Jedburg FAA Radar Site

Sources:
 * , page 170.
 * , page 153.

Links:
 * Radomes - North Charleston Air Force Station
 * Wikipedia - North Charleston Air Force Station