Rockville Air Force Station (ADC ID: P-53, NORAD ID: Z-63) 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 west-northwest of

Rockville, Indiana Rockville is a town in Adams Township, Parke County, in the U.S. state of Indiana. The population was 2,607 at the 2010 census. The town is the county seat of Parke County. It is known as "The Covered Bridge Capital of the World". History Rockv ...

. It was closed in 1966.

History

Rockville 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. Opened in 1951, the 782d Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron was activated on 16 April. It began operating a pair of AN/FPS-10 radars at Rockville in May 1952, 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. In the mid / late 1950s, an AN/CPS-6B search radar was in use, according to one veteran. During 1959 Rockville 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, feeding data to DC-07 at Truax Field, Wisconsin. After joining, the squadron was redesignated as the 782d Radar Squadron (SAGE) on 1 November 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. By 1960 the original radars had been phased out and replaced by two

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 ...

height-finder radars and an

AN/FPS-7 The AN/FPS-7 Radar was a Long Range Search Radar used by the United States Air Force Air Defense Command. In the mid-1950s General Electric developed a radar with a search altitude of 100,000 feet and a range of 270 miles. This radar was signific ...

B search radar. On 31 July 1963, the site was redesignated as NORAD ID Z-53. In addition to the main facility, Rockville operated an

AN/FPS-18 The AN/FPS-18 was a medium-range search Radar used by the United States Air Force Air Defense Command.http://www.bendixradiofoundation.com/documents/Bendix%20Radio%20Radar%20History.pdf This medium-range search radar was designed and built by Bend ...

Gap Filler site: * Neoga, IL (P-53A) Rockville AFS was closed on 2 June 1966 due to budget reductions; sold to the state of Indiana and is now the

Rockville Correctional Facility Rockville Correctional Facility is a state prison located in Adams Township, Parke County, one mile (1.6 km) northwest of Rockville, Indiana. A part of the Indiana Department of Corrections, it is the largest state prison for women in India ...

. Many former Air Force buildings are still in use.

Air Force units and assignments

Units

* Constituted as the 782d Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron : Activated on 16 April 1951 : Redesignated 782d Radar Squadron

(SAGE) on 1 November 1959 : Discontinued and inactivated on 25 June 1966

Assignments

* 541st Aircraft Control and Warning Group, 16 April 1951 * 30th Air Division, 6 February 1952 * 4706th Air Defense Wing (later 4706th Air Defense Wing), 16 February 1953 * 58th Air Division, 1 March 1956 * 37th Air Division, 1 September 1958 * 30th Air Division, 1 April 1959 *

Chicago Air Defense Sector The Chicago Air Defense Sector (CADS) is an inactive United States Air Force organization. Its last assignment was with the Air Defense Command (ADC) 30th Air Division at Truax Field Wisconsin. It was inactivated on 1 April 1966. History CADS w ...

, 1 June 1959 * 20th Air Division, 1 April-25 June 1966

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 Rockville AFS, IN
{{Aerospace Defense Command, state=collapsed Installations of the United States Air Force in Indiana Semi-Automatic Ground Environment sites Aerospace Defense Command military installations 1951 establishments in Indiana Military installations established in 1951 1966 disestablishments in Indiana Military installations closed in 1966

History

Air Force units and assignments

Units

Assignments

See also

References