Dallas Center Air Force Station | |
---|---|
Part of Air Defense Command (ADC) | |
Coordinates | 41°43′02″N 093°54′19″W / 41.71722°N 93.90528°W |
Type | Air Force Station |
Site information | |
Controlled by | United States Air Force |
Site history | |
Built | 1955 |
In use | 1955-1957 |
Garrison information | |
Garrison | 650th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron |
Dallas Center Air Force Station (ADC ID: M-122) is a United States Air Force General Surveillance Radar station 3.7 miles (6.0 km) northeast of Dallas Center, Iowa, that was closed in 1957.
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Military Entrance Processing Station (MEPS) Overview
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Transcription
I am Commander Cathy Macer. I am the commanding officer of the Boston Military Entrance Processing Station. MEPS is the place where applicants come to process into the Armed Forces, and we are responsible for ensuring quality accessions into the Armed Forces during both peacetime and during times of mobilization. Well, the day starts, given that the applicant has stayed at a contract hotel overnight, they are given a wakeup call at 4:00 in the morning. Breakfast there at the hotel, and then so they're here at the MEPS shortly after 5:00 in the morning. My name is Staff Sgt. Michael Lyle. I am the MEPS liason when it comes to anybody for the Air Force. The applicant comes in in the morning and sits down with the liasons, and we will go over what their day is going to entale and what they should expect and, yeah, normally at about 5:15, 5:30 when they do show up, we are the first face that they get to see in the morning. Long gone are the days where applicants are herded into various, you know, large rooms and impersonally treated. We have moved into a red carpet treatment for our applicants where they are treated with dignity and respect. Good morning, everybody. I'm Sgt. 1st Class Kethum. I'm operations NCRC here at the Boston MEPS. we reassure them throughout the day all the time. I mean, yeah, they they first come up on the floor, you know, they come very early in the morning. Once we get them signed into the MEPS, we get them all in one area, and we give them the morning brief. Once we get done here, you're going to go to the medical, folks. You're going to get a medical briefing, and you're going to run through that process, okay? Once the briefing is done, you're going to get an exam. You're going to meet with the physicians, okay? And you're going to go through that. Once you're done with the medical, you're going to go down to your service liaisons. You're going to sit down with a counselor, and you guys are going to negotiate a job. Once that's complete, you'll come over to the processing section. ll right, we'll do what we have to do over there, get you ready to swear in, take the Oath of Enlistment and then we'll set up the transportation to take you home. When they do understand the entire process, then we try to make sure that everybody is on the same page, and that if there are any concerns, hopefully then the individual feels comfortable enough to raise them before we get started on the day. That way, they have a nice smooth process. They know where they're going, where they're coming from, and then when they come back to see us, they're in a good mood because they know one more spot is done. I've tried going to school, I've tried regular jobs and just nothing excited me. I've always wanted to join the Military. I went through college, and the, you know, the economy is not the greatest thing right now, but I've always wanted to join. Family full of Marines. My uncle did 32, my father did 23 and it'll be awesome to join as well, become a part of a brotherhood. And you know, I found some opportunities that can be used with my degree, all that kind of stuff, and they offer a lot of gainful things for what I want to do in the future. We are privileged to have them come into the Military. This is a voluntary service. This is not a draft era, and so it is uh... important to us and to each of my staff to treat those who are interested in serving their country with the utmost respect that they deserve.
History
Dallas Center Air Force Station was established as 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.
The site consisted of a total of 38.92 acres fee by purchase and condemnation and no-area license by donation made between March 1954 and November 1956. Funding, constant site changes, construction, and equipment delivery delayed deployment. Improvements at the site consisted of: Radar station; traffic check house; power building; mess hall; administration building; two supply buildings; 65-man airmen's barracks; base auto shop; water storage and pump house; above and underground storage tanks; sanitary sewer system; streets, drives, sidewalks, and parking areas.
Operational status was achieved in 1956 after the 650th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron was moved to Dallas Center on 1 July 1955 with an AN/TPS-1D radar that had been moved in from Fort Snelling, Minnesota, 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. The construction of the buildings were almost all wood or sheetrock.
Budget cuts forced Dallas Center AFS to cease operations in mid-1957 and the tending 650th AC&W Squadron was inactivated shortly thereafter. The site was then converted to an unstaffed AN/FPS-18 gap-filler radar annex (P-71C) for Omaha AFS, Nebraska. It was finally inactivated in December 1957. GSA reported excess 38.23 acres fee on October 30, 1959, and then quitclaimed it to a private party on March 7, 1961, reserving road and utility line easement to the 3.15 acres. Relatives of the private party still own the 38.92 acres, which include the site and access, on which the staffed radar station was located.
Both buildings and radar tower are still extant, the site now being used for Greenhouses for truck crops and as an auto junkyard. In 1988, the owners stated only two structures remain and all the above ground storage tanks have been removed.
Air Force units and assignments
Units:
- 650th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron
- Activated 20 November 1948 at Orlando AFB, Florida
- Inactivated ca. 27 September 1949
- Activated at Snelling AFS, MN, 20 May 1953
- Moved to Dallas Center AFS, IA on 1 July 1955
- Inactivated on 8 October 1957
Assignments:
- 539th Aircraft Control & Warning Group, 20 November 1948 - ca. 27 September 1949
- 31st Air Division, 1 July 1955
- 20th Air Division, 1 March 1956 – 8 October 1957
See also
References
This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency
- Cornett, Lloyd H. and Johnson, Mildred W., A Handbook of Aerospace Defense Organization 1946 - 1980 Archived 2016-02-13 at the Wayback Machine, Office of History, Aerospace Defense Center, Peterson AFB, CO (1980).
- Winkler, David F. & Webster, Julie L., Searching the Skies[dead link], The Legacy of the United States Cold War Defense Radar Program, US Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratories, Champaign, IL (1997).
- Information for Dallas Center AFS, IA