Lewistown Air Force Station (ADC ID: TM-178 NORAD ID: Z-178) 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 east-southeast of Hilger, Montana. It was closed in 1971.

History

Lewistown Air Force Station came into existence as part of Phase III of the Air Defense Command Mobile Radar program. On October 20, 1953 ADC requested a third phase of twenty-five radar sites be constructed. The 694th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron was assigned to Lewistown AFS on 1 September 1958. The squadron began manual radar operations in February 1960 with

AN/FPS-3 The AN/FPS-20 was a widely used L band early warning and ground-controlled interception radar system employed by the United States Air Force Air Defense Command, the NORAD Pinetree Line in Canada, the USAF CONAD in the continental United States ...

A and

AN/FPS-6 The AN/FPS-6 Radar was a long-range height finding radar used by the United States Air Force's Air Defense Command. The AN/FPS-6 radar was introduced into service in the late 1950s and served as the principal height-finder radar for the United Stat ...

radars, 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/FPS-90 The AN/FPS-6 Radar was a long-range height finding radar used by the United States Air Force's Air Defense Command. The AN/FPS-6 radar was introduced into service in the late 1950s and served as the principal height-finder radar for the United Stat ...

height-finder radar was added a year later. During 1961 Lewistown AFS joined the

Semi Automatic Ground Environment The Semi-Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) was a system of large computers and associated networking equipment that coordinated data from many radar sites and processed it to produce a single unified image of the airspace over a wide area. S ...

(SAGE) system, initially feeding data to DC-20 at

Malmstrom AFB Malmstrom Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base and census-designated place (CDP) in Cascade County, Montana, United States, adjacent to the city of Great Falls. It was named in honor of World War II POW Colonel Einar Axel Malmstrom. ...

, Montana. After joining, the squadron was re-designated as the 694th Radar Squadron (SAGE) on 1 March 1961. 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. On 31 July 1963, the site was redesignated as NORAD ID Z-25, and the AN/FPS-3A was removed in 1963, replaced by an

AN/FPS-66 The AN/FPS-20 was a widely used L band early warning and ground-controlled interception radar system employed by the United States Air Force Air Defense Command, the NORAD Pinetree Line in Canada, the USAF CONAD in the continental United States, ...

search set. This radar was upgraded to an AN/FPS-66A in 1966. The AN/FPS-90 was removed from service in 1968. The Air Force inactivated the 694th Radar Squadron on 30 June 1971 due to budget reductions. After the facility's closure, the housing/cantonment area was used for a time as the campus of the now-defunct Big Sky Bible College. The Air Force equipment atop Judith Mountain has been removed.

Air Force units and assignments

Units

* Established as the 694th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron : Activated at

, Montana on 8 August 1958 : Moved to Lewistown AFS on 1 September 1958 : Redesignated 694th Radar Squadron (SAGE) on 1 March 1961 : Inactivated on 30 June 1971

Assignments

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 ...

, 1 September 1958 *

Great Falls Air Defense Sector The Great Falls Air Defense Sector (GFADS) is an inactive United States Air Force organization. Its last assignment was with the Air Defense Command 29th Air Division, being stationed at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Montana. It was inactivated on ...

, 1 July 1960 *

28th Air Division The 28th Air Division is an inactive United States Air Force organization. Its last assignment was with Air Defense Tactical Air Command at Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma. It was inactivated on 29 May 1992. History Established in December 1 ...

, 1 April 1966 * 24th Air Division, 19 November 1969 - 30 June 1971 Big Sky Bible college has reopened and is now located in Bozeman Montana

References

* Cornett, Lloyd H. and Johnson, Mildred W.,
A Handbook of Aerospace Defense Organization 1946 - 1980
', Office of History, Aerospace Defense Center, Peterson AFB, CO (1980) * 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 Lewistown AFS, MT
{{Aerospace Defense Command, state=collapsed Installations of the United States Air Force in Montana Semi-Automatic Ground Environment sites Aerospace Defense Command military installations Buildings and structures in Fergus County, Montana 1958 establishments in Montana 1971 disestablishments in Montana Military installations established in 1958 Military installations closed in 1971

History

Air Force units and assignments

Units

Assignments

See also

References