Yaak Air Force Station was an

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 ...

general surveillance radar station in Lincoln County, Montana. Built as one of twenty-eight stations in the second segment of the

Permanent System Permanent may refer to: Art and entertainment *Permanent (film), ''Permanent'' (film), a 2017 American film *Permanent (Joy Division album), ''Permanent'' (Joy Division album) *Permanent (song), "Permanent" (song), by David Cook Other uses *Perm ...

radar network, the 680th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron was activated at the installation on 1 March 1951 for ground-controlled interception operating AN/FPS-3 and AN/FPS-4 radars in April 1952. An AN/FPS-6 was added in 1956, and the AN/FPS-4 was replaced by an

AN/GPS-3 The AN/FPS-8 Radar was a Medium-Range Search Radar used by the United States Air Force Air Defense Command Aerospace Defense Command was a major command (military formation), command of the United States Air Force, responsible for continen ...

in 1957. The station included living quarters for 172 people (including a 3-story barracks),http://www.theyaak.com/yaak-names.html 24 concrete trailer pads, motor pool building, plumbing/carpenter shop, paint house, mess hall, officers' club, office buildings, and dispensary. The "Dirty Shame Saloon" was established in a metal hut during 1951 just outside the main gate. Captain Robert Rice was the commander in 1954, and a recreation building, base exchange, and NCO club were available in 1955. A Rod and Gun Club was established in 1956. The 680th AC&W Squadron was inactivated on 1 July 1960. The station was converted into an unmanned gap-filler radar site in 1960, and redesignated SM-151E, first operated by the

823d Radar Squadron 8 (eight) is the natural number following 7 and preceding 9. In mathematics 8 is: * a composite number, its proper divisors being , , and . It is twice 4 or four times 2. * a power of two, being 2 (two cubed), and is the first number of t ...

at Mica Peak AFS, Washington, then the 716th Radar Squadron at Kalispell AFS, Montana (TM-179B). The radar station was declared excess by the Air Force to GSA in 1960–61. In early 1962, to allow access to the Yaak Mountain Lookout Tower, an observation tower not actually located on the site, a 90-acre portion of the former base was transferred by special use permit to the

U.S. Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Forest Service manages of land. Major divisions of the agency in ...

. The main portion of the station was transferred by the Corps of Engineers to the Forest Service in 1965. In 2014 a small parcel of "Yaak Air Force Base" surrounded by land of a single landowner was transferred.

References

{{Reflist , refs= compiled by {{Cite book , last1=Johnson , first1=Mildred W , date=31 December 1980 , orig-year=February 1973 original by Cornett, Lloyd H. Jr , title=A Handbook of Aerospace Defense Organization 1946 - 1980 , url=http://www.usafpatches.com/pubs/handbookofadcorg.pdf , publisher=Office of History, Aerospace Defense Center , location= Peterson Air Force Base , page={{Verify source, date=April 2012 , access-date=2012-03-26 {{Cite report , last1=Winkler , first1=David F , last2=Webster , first2=Julie L , date=June 1997 , title=Searching the Skies: The Legacy of the United States Cold War Defense Radar Program , url=https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA331231.pdf , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121201202922/http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf&AD=ADA331231 , url-status=live , archive-date=December 1, 2012 , location=Champaign, IL , lccn=97020912 , publisher=U.S. Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratories , access-date=2013-04-23 Installations of the United States Air Force in Montana 1951 establishments in Montana 1960 disestablishments in Montana Air Defense Command radar stations Stations of the United States Air Force Permanent System radar stations Military installations established in 1951 Military installations closed in 1960