Selfridge AFB
Army Air Defense Command Post
Detroit Defense Area, Michigan
The Selfridge AADCP networked local radars (middle, bottom) and directed Michigan's Nike fire units--each with a network of 3 radars (top) for acquiring the target, tracking the target, and tracking/guiding the Nike missile.
Coordinates42°37′37″N 82°49′47″W / 42.62694°N 82.82972°W / 42.62694; -82.82972 [1]
TypeArmy command and control facility
External images
image icon 1960 radar station w/ tower (bunker site to left)
image icon Missile Master complex in 1961 & c2004
image icon radar station & "GATR site"

The Selfridge AFB radar station is a United States military facility in Michigan. It began operations in 1949 with a Bendix AN/CPS-5 Radar test that tracked aircraft at 210 mi (340 km).[citation needed] A height finder MIT AN/CPS-4 Radar was added by March 9, 1950;[2] and the station was site L-17 of the Lashup Radar Network and site LP-17[when?] of the subsequent network during construction of the Air Defense Command permanent network. The 661st Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron was activated at Selfridge in 1951, and with a pair of General Electric AN/CPS-6 Radars,[clarification needed] the station became site LP-20 of the permanent ADC network in 1952. In 1957 the station added a height finder General Electric AN/FPS-6 Radar. The station became part of the Semi Automatic Ground Environment radar network in 1959, supplying radar tracks to SAGE data center DC-06 at Custer Air Force Station, Michigan, for directing interceptor aircraft and CIM-10 Bomarc air defense missiles.

By 1960, the AN/CPS-6 radar had been replaced by a Bendix AN/FPS-20 Radar for general surveillance, and the site had an additional General Electric AN/FPS-6A height-finder radar. A Sperry AN/FPS-35 radar installed at the station's tower in 1961 became operational in 1962, and the AN/FPS-6A height-finder was replaced with an Avco AN/FPS-26A Radar c. 1963. On 31 July 1963, Selfridge AFB was redesignated as NORAD site Z-20.

The 661st AC & WS also operated Gap Filler sites with Bendix AN/FPS-18 Radars before inactivating on July 1, 1974. The radar station was shared with the United States Army for Nike missile command-and-control.

In 1960, Army Air Defense Command Post (AADCP) D-15DC was constructed for coordinating Nike surface-to-air missile launches from numerous Michigan batteries from Algonac/Marine City (D-17) south to Carleton (D-57) & Newport (D-58). The AADCP closed when the Army deactivated the remaining D-06, D-58, & D-87 batteries in April 1974 at Utica, Newport, and Commerce/Union Lake.

The former radar station is the location of a United States Marine Corps Reserve unit and the Selfridge Military Air Museum & Air Park. The Missile Master bunker was subsequently used as an air traffic control center[2] manned by the 2031st Communications Squadron.[3][4] Documents regarding the bunker, demolished in 2005, have been entered in the Historic American Engineering Record.[1][3]

References

  1. ^ a b Bateman, Tom. "Site D-15DC - Selfridge AFB/ANGB". Detroit - Cleveland Defense Area. NikeHercules.Tripod.com. Retrieved 2011-09-16.
  2. ^ RAPCON center
  3. ^ a b Selfridge Field, Building No. 1050… (Report). Library of Congress: Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record. Retrieved 2011-09-27.
  4. ^ 2031st and [1]
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