Roslyn Air National Guard Station
 | This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (January 2024) |
Roslyn Air National Guard Station | |
|---|---|
| Part of New York Air National Guard | |
  Roslyn ANGS Location of Roslyn Air National Guard Station, New York | |
| Coordinates | 40°47′47″N 073°37′37″W / 40.79639°N 73.62694°W |
| Type | Air National Guard Station |
| Site information | |
| Controlled by |  United States Air Force |
| Site history | |
| Built | 1941 |
| In use | 1941-2000 |
Roslyn Air National Guard Station (ADC ID: P-3) is a closed United States Air Force station. It was located in East Hills, New York, on Long Island. It was originally part of Clarence MacKay's Harbor Hill estate. It was closed in 2000.
History
World War II
During 1942, the site was leased by the United States Army from Clarence Mackay for a headquarters station, initially for the I Interceptor Command, then the unit being re-designated to
The command established an integrated command and control facility dedicated solely to air defense. The first military buildings consisted of nine buildings, including enlisted and officer quarters, mess hall, recreation building, store room, transmitter building, receiver station, and radio tower, and D/F homer station.
Prior to April 1944, access roads, 7 foot barbed wire perimeter fence, Fighter Control Center (currently Building 6), emergency power building, and power distribution system had been completed. At this time, the installation was called the Roslyn Filter Center.
The mission of the 164th AAFBU was detection, interception, identification, and if necessary, destruction of all aircraft in the greater New York Metropolitan area. Through the use of radar and ground observers, the controllers of the Fighter Control Center would identify and classify all aircraft operating in the region. Unknown aircraft would be targeted for interception, and destruction if necessary, by interceptors operating out of nearby military airfields such as Mitchel Field, or by other active defense systems, such as anti-aircraft artillery (AAA), barrage balloons, and smoke generated equipment situated around nearby defense plants and military installations. Orders to passive defensive systems such as blackouts and air raid warnings were also issued from the Fighter Control Center to the appropriate Civil Defense personnel.
The Roslyn Filter Center operated until the end of the war and was then declared surplus to the needs of the Air Defense Command. Operating personnel were withdrawn on or about 14 January 1946, and the 164th AAFBU was inactivated. Caretaker personnel were assigned to protect the property against pilfering and vandalism.
Air Defense Command
The United States Air Force re-leased the established facility in 1951 and assigned it to
The 503d AC&W Group and 645th AC&W Squadron were inactivated 6 February 1952, their mission being taken over by the 26th Air Division. In 1953, the U.S. Government purchased the 50 acre facility for the sum of $250,000, the facility being designated as Roslyn Air Force Station (AFS). The 26th AD commanded the Manual Air-Defense Control Center (ADCC) established by the predecessor ADC organizations coordinating air defense over an area that covered much of the industrial northeast, including New York City, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C.. It employed off shore naval picket ships, fixed "Texas Tower" radar sites, airborne early warning units, and a civilian ground observer corps program.
The 26th AD phased down in when the SAGE program was implemented at
New York Air National Guard
With the reassignment of the ADC 26th Air Division, control of Roslyn AFS was transferred to the
Closure
BRAC 1995 closed Roslyn Air National Guard Station, with inactivation taking place in 2000.[2] In 2005, the former Air Force station was torn down, being replaced by the Park at East Hills.[2][3][4] A few former Air Force buildings remain in the woods to the west of the park, deteriorating and being covered by vegetation.
See also
- List of USAF Aerospace Defense Command General Surveillance Radar Stations
References
This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency
- ^ AFHRA Document 00175669
- ^ a b "Roslyn Air National Guard Station | Profiles | Roslyn Landmark Society". www.roslynlandmarks.org. Retrieved 4 September 2021.
- ^ "Park History | Village of East Hills". villageofeasthills.org. Retrieved 24 April 2020.
- ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 4 September 2021.
- 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 Roslyn AFS, NY
- History of Roslyn ANG Station - 1920 to Present
