Port Austin Air Force Station (ADC ID: P-61, NORAD ID: Z-61) is a closed

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

General Surveillance Radar station. It is located south-southwest Port Austin, Michigan. It was closed in 1988 by the Air Force. After the station's closure, it was replaced by the

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic m ...

(FAA) at

Canton, Michigan Canton, officially the Charter Township of Canton, is a charter township of Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 census, the township had a population of 98,659. Canton Township is Michigan's second most-populated townshi ...

(near Detroit) as part of the

Joint Surveillance System The Joint Surveillance System (JSS) is a joint United States Air Force and Federal Aviation Administration system for the atmospheric air defense of North America. It replaced the Semi Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) system in 1983. Overvie ...

(JSS), designated by

NORAD North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD ), known until March 1981 as the North American Air Defense Command, is a combined organization of the United States and Canada that provides aerospace warning, air sovereignty, and protection ...

as Eastern Air Defense Sector (EADS) Ground Equipment Facility J-62.

History

Port Austin Air Force Station was one of twenty-eight stations built as part of the second segment of the

Air Defense Command Aerospace Defense Command was a major command (military formation), command of the United States Air Force, responsible for continental air defense. It was activated in 1968 and disbanded in 1980. Its predecessor, Air Defense Command, was est ...

permanent radar network. Prompted by the start of the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

, on July 11, 1950, the Secretary of the Air Force asked the Secretary of Defense for approval to expedite construction of the permanent network. Receiving the Defense Secretary's approval on July 21, the Air Force directed the Corps of Engineers to proceed with construction. The 754th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron was initially activated on 27 November 1950 at a temporary site at

Oscoda AFB Wurtsmith Air Force Base is a decommissioned United States Air Force base in Iosco County, Michigan. It operated from 1923 until decommissioned in 1993. On January 18, 1994 it was listed as a Superfund due to extensive groundwater contaminatio ...

, Michigan (L-20) with an AN/TPS-1B radar. It was assigned to Port Austin in July 1951 and began operating an AN/TPS-1C. The site then joined the ''Permanent'' radar network, and the squadron began using an AN/FPS-3 set, and initially the station functioned as a Ground-Control Intercept (GCI) and warning station. As a GCI station, the squadron's role was to guide interceptor aircraft toward unidentified intruders picked up on the unit's radar scopes. An AN/CPS-4 was added in 1954. This radar was replaced in 1957 by an AN/FPS-6 height-finder radar. A second AN/FPS-6 height-finder radar was added a year later. In 1958 this site began operating an AN/FPS-20 radar, which replaced the AN/FPS-3. During 1959 Port Austin AFS joined the Semi Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) system, feeding data to DC-06 at Custer AFS, Michigan. After joining, the squadron was redesignated as the 754th Radar Squadron (SAGE) on 1 September 1959. The radar squadron provided information 24/7 the SAGE Direction Center where it was analyzed to determine range, direction altitude speed and whether or not aircraft were friendly or hostile. In early 1962 the site received and operated an

AN/FPS-24 The AN/FPS-24 Radar was a long range early warning radar used by the United States Air Force Air Defense Command. It used a two-frequency signal in order to avoid fluctuation loss, which causes signals on single-frequency radars to fade in and ou ...

search radar, and the AN/FPS-20 was retired. On 31 July 1963, the site was redesignated as NORAD ID Z-61. In 1963 an

AN/FPS-26 The Avco AN/FPS-26 Radar was an Air Defense Command height finder radar developed in the Frequency Diversity Program with a tunable 3-cavity power klystron for electronic counter-countermeasures (e.g. to counter jamming). Accepted by the Rome Ai ...

A height-finder radar (serial # 51) was installed, and one AN/FPS-6 was removed later that year. The other AN/FPS-6 was removed in 1968. Over the years, the equipment at the station was upgraded or modified to improve the efficiency and accuracy of the information gathered by the radars. The site came under

Tactical Air Command Tactical Air Command (TAC) is an inactive United States Air Force organization. It was a Major Command of the United States Air Force, established on 21 March 1946 and headquartered at Langley Air Force Base, Virginia. It was inactivated on 1 J ...

control in October 1979 with the inactivation of Aerospace Defense Command and the transfer of the site to Air Defense, Tactical Air Command ( ADTAC). Circa 1982, the main bearing of the AN/FPS-24 search radar failed catastrophically. The

FAA The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic m ...

long-range radar site at Canton (Detroit), MI, was then used as a temporary data-tie site until an AN/FPS-91A search radar could be installed at Port Austin AFS in 1983. Also, the AN/FPS-26A was replaced by an AN/FPS-116 height-finder radar for the JSS Program. The site remained in use as an Air Force site until 30 September 1988 when it was closed altogether, again replaced by the FAA radar site at Canton.

Air Force units and assignments

Units

* Constituted as the 754th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron on 14 November 1950 : Activated 27 November 1950 at Oscoda AFB, MI : Moved to Port Austin AFS on 20 July 1951 : Redesignated 754th Radar Squadron (SAGE) on 1 September 1959 : Redesignated 754th Radar Squadron on 1 February 1974 : Inactivated on 30 September 1988

Assignments

541st Aircraft Control and Warning Group The 541st Aircraft Control and Warning Group (AC&WG) is a disbanded United States Air Force unit. It was last assigned to the 30th Air Division, stationed at Selfridge Air Force Base, Michigan. It was inactivated on 6 February 1952 and disbanded o ...

, 1 January 1951 *

30th Air Division The 30th Air Division (30th AD) is an inactive United States Air Force organization. Its last assignment was with Air Defense Command, assigned to Tenth Air Force, being stationed at Sioux City Municipal Airport, Iowa. It was inactivated on ...

, 6 February 1952 *

4708th Defense Wing The 4708th Air Defense Wing is a discontinued United States Air Force organization. Its last assignment was with the 30th Air Division of Air Defense Command (ADC) at Selfridge Air Force Base (AFB), Michigan, where it was discontinued in 1956. ...

, 16 February 1953 * 30th Air Division, 8 July 1956 * Detroit Air Defense Sector, 1 April 1959 *

34th Air Division The 34th Air Division (34th AD) is an inactive United States Air Force organization. Its last assignment was with Air Defense Command at Custer Air Force Station, Michigan. It was inactivated on 31 December 1969. History Assigned to Air Def ...

, 1 April 1966 *

29th Air Division The 29th Air Division (29th AD) is an inactive United States Air Force organization. Its last assignment was with Air Defense Command, being stationed at Duluth International Airport, Minnesota. It was inactivated on 15 November 1969. History ...

, 14 November 1969 *

23d Air Division 3-D, 3D, or 3d may refer to: Science, technology, and mathematics Relating to three-dimensionality * Three-dimensional space ** 3D computer graphics, computer graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data ** 3D film, a ...

, 19 November 1969 *

21st Air Division The 21st Air Division (21st AD) is an inactive United States Air Force organization. Its last assignment was with Tactical Air Command, being stationed at Griffiss Air Force Base, New York. It was inactivated on 23 September 1983. History World W ...

, 1 August 1981 *

24th Air Division The 24th Air Division is an inactive United States Air Force intermediate echelon command and control organization. It was last assigned to First Air Force, Tactical Air Command (ADTAC). It was inactivated on 30 September 1990 at Griffiss Air ...

, 1 September 1983 * Northeast Air Defense Sector, 1 December 1987 – 1 October 1988

Notes

References

* Grant, C.L.
The Development of Continental Air Defense to 1 September 1954, (1961), USAF Historical Study No. 126
* * * Winkler, David F. & Webster, Julie L.,
Searching the Skies
', The Legacy of the United States Cold War Defense Radar Program, US Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratories, Champaign, IL (1997).
Information for Port Austin AFS, MI
{{Aerospace Defense Command, state=collapsed Installations of the United States Air Force in Michigan Semi-Automatic Ground Environment sites Aerospace Defense Command military installations Military installations established in 1951 Military installations closed in 1988 1951 establishments in Michigan 1988 disestablishments in Michigan