Lake Charles Air Force Station

Coordinates: 30°11′03″N 093°10′33″W / 30.18417°N 93.17583°W / 30.18417; -93.17583 (Lake Charles AFS TM-194)
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Lake Charles Air Force Station
Air Defense Command (ADC)
Lake Charles AFS is located in Louisiana
Lake Charles AFS
Lake Charles AFS
Location of Lake Charles AFS, Louisiana
Coordinates30°11′03″N 093°10′33″W / 30.18417°N 93.17583°W / 30.18417; -93.17583 (Lake Charles AFS TM-194)
TypeAir Force Station
Site information
Controlled by United States Air Force
Site history
Built1957
In use1957-1995

Lake Charles Air Force Station (ADC ID: TM-194, NORAD ID: Z-248) is a closed United States Air Force General Surveillance Radar station. It is located 3.8 miles (6.1 km) southeast of Lake Charles, Louisiana. It was closed in 1995 by the Air Force, and turned over to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

Today the site is part of the Joint Surveillance System (JSS), designated by NORAD as Eastern Air Defense Sector (EADS) Ground Equipment Facility J-14.

History

Lake Charles Air Force Station was, actually, two different facilities that shared the same location, active in two different eras.

The first Lake Charles Air Force Station (ADC ID: TM-194) was as part of the Phase III of the

AN/FPS-6
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.

On 1 September 1961, the 812th was inactivated, and the Lake Charles site was converted into a gap-filler radar site (M-125D) for England AFB, LA, operating an

AN/FPS-18. The FPS-18 inactivated on 30 June 1963 along with the 653d Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron at England Air Force Base
.

The second Lake Charles Air Force Station was opened in 1972 when

630th Radar Squadron during 1972 and 1973. Control of the site was reassigned to the 634th Radar Squadron
on 1 January 1973, and inactivated on 1 July 1974.

After the 634th RADS inactivated, activities were assumed by Operating Location D of the

AN/FPS-116height
-finder radar (retired c. 1988).

Lake Charles AFS closed for good on 30 September 1995, being replaced by a new

(JSS) site on the northwest side of the city of Lake Charles.

Today, for the first radar Site TM-194, the original Operations Building and the Power Plant are still extant on the west end of the site, and the original HQ Building is still extant near the site entrance. A private residence occupies the site of the original GAG Radio facility, later gap-filler annex (M-125D), on the east end of the site. Nothing visible remains of the site's second incarnation, Z-248. The current owner of the site is McNeese State University.

See also

  • List of USAF Aerospace Defense Command General Surveillance Radar Stations

References

Public Domain This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency

  • A Handbook of Aerospace Defense Organization 1946 - 1980, by Lloyd H. Cornett and Mildred W. Johnson, Office of History, Aerospace Defense Center, Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado
  • Winkler, David F. (1997), Searching the skies: the legacy of the United States Cold War defense radar program. Prepared for United States Air Force Headquarters Air Combat Command.
  • Information for Lake Charles AFS, LA