Bartlesville Air Force Station

Bartlesville Air Force Station
Part of Air Defense Command (ADC)
Bartlesville AFS Location of Bartlesville AFS, Oklahoma
Coordinates	36°45′44″N 096°02′18″W / 36.76222°N 96.03833°W / 36.76222; -96.03833 (Bartlesville AFS P-77)
Type	Air Force Station
Site information
Controlled by	United States Air Force
Site history
Built	1951
In use	1951–1961
Garrison information
Garrison	796th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron

Bartlesville Air Force Station (ADC ID: P-77) is a closed United States Air Force General Surveillance Radar station. It is located 3.2 miles (5.1 km) west-northwest of Bartlesville, Oklahoma. It was closed in 1961.

History

In late 1951 Air Defense Command selected Bartlesville, OK as a site for one of twenty-eight radar stations built as part of the second segment of the permanent radar surveillance network. Prompted by the start of the Korean War, on 11 July 1950, the Secretary of the Air Force asked the Secretary of Defense for approval to expedite construction of the second segment of the permanent network. Receiving the Defense Secretary's approval on 21 July, the Air Force directed the Corps of Engineers to proceed with construction.

On 1 May 1951 the 796th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron began operating a pair of AN/FPS-10 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. In 1958 an AN/FPS-6 replaced the AN/FPS-10 height-finder radar.

In addition to the main facility, Bartlesville operated two AN/FPS-14 Gap Filler site:

• Ottawa, OK (P-77A) 36°51′37″N 094°47′08″W / 36.86028°N 94.78556°W / 36.86028; -94.78556 (P-77A)
• Winfield, KS (P-77D) 37°12′47″N 096°57′00″W / 37.21306°N 96.95000°W / 37.21306; -96.95000 (P-77D)

This site was inactivated 1 June 1961 due to budgetary constraints. Today what was Bartlesville Air Force Station is largely obliterated. It now consists of various residential and commercial establishments.

Air Force units and assignments

Units

• Constituted as the 796th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron

Activated on 1 May 1951

Discontinued and inactivated on 1 June 1961

Assignments

• 546th Aircraft Control and Warning Group, 1 May 1951
• 159th Aircraft Control and Warning Group, 4 June 1951
• 33d Air Division, 6 February 1952
• 20th Air Division, 1 March 1956
• Kansas City Air Defense Sector, 1 January 1960 – 1 June 1961

See also

• List of United States Air Force aircraft control and warning squadrons
• United States general surveillance radar stations

References

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

• Cornett, Lloyd H; Johnson, Mildred W (1980). A Handbook of Aerospace Defense Organization, 1946–1980 (PDF). Peterson AFB, CO: Office of History, Aerospace Defense Center. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 February 2016. Retrieved 17 December 2011.
• Winkler, David F.; Webster, Julie L (1997). Searching the skies : the legacy of the United States Cold War defense Radar Program. Champaign, IL: US Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratories. LCCN 97020912.^{[dead link]}
• Information for Bartlesville AFS, OK

This page was last edited on 1 January 2024, at 02:27