Owingsville Air Force Station
Owingsville Air Force Station | |
|---|---|
| Part of Air Defense Command (ADC) | |
  Owingsville AFS Location of Owingsville AFS, Kentucky | |
| Coordinates | 38°11′31″N 083°49′01″W / 38.19194°N 83.81694°W |
| Type | Air Force Station |
| Site information | |
| Controlled by |
 United States Air Force |
| Site history | |
| Built | 1956 |
| In use | 1954-1957 |
| Garrison information | |
| Garrison | 809th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron |
Owingsville Air Force Station (ADC ID: M-111) is a closed United States Air Force General Surveillance Radar station. It is located 4.3 miles (6.9 km) northwest of Owingsville, Kentucky. It was closed in 1957.
History
Owingsville Air Force Station was part of the planned deployment by Air Defense Command of forty-four Mobile radar stations across the United States to support the permanent Radar network established during the Cold War for air defense of the United States. This deployment had been projected to be operational by mid-1952. Funding, constant site changes, construction, and equipment delivery delayed deployment.
The 809th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron was activated at Owingsville on 1 December 1954 with an AN/TPS-1D Radar. Operational status was achieved in 1956, 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. Budget cuts forced closure on 30 November 1957.
The site was then redesignated as an unmanned gap-filler radar annex (P-82B) controlled by Snow Mountain AFS, KY. It later was assigned as a Gap Filler for Guthrie AFS, WV (P-43C) and eventually was closed in the 1960s. It is unclear if Owingsville was ever equipped with an AN/FPS-14 or FPS-18 radar.
Today the radar site is obliterated and abandoned. The former containment area is now owned by the Kentucky DOT.
Air Force units and assignments
Units
- Constituted as the 809th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron
- Activated at Willow Run AFS (P-23), MI on 25 June 1953
- Moved to Owingsville AFS on 1 December 1954
- Inactivated on 30 November 1957
Assignments
- 4708th Defense Wing, 1 December 1954
- 58th Air Division, 1 March 1956 - 30 November 1957
See also
References
This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency website http://www.afhra.af.mil/.
- 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 Owingsville AFS, KY
