Topsham Air Force Station is a closed

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

station. It is located north of

Brunswick, Maine Brunswick is a New England town, town in Cumberland County, Maine, United States. Brunswick is included in the Lewiston-Auburn, Maine metropolitan New England city and town area. The population was 21,756 at the 2020 United States Census. Part o ...

. It was closed in 1969.

History

Topsham AFS was initially the headquarters of the

Air Defense Command Aerospace Defense Command was a major command (military formation), command of the United States Air Force, responsible for air defense of the continental United States. It was activated in 1968 and disbanded in 1980. Its predecessor, Air De ...

Bangor Air Defense Sector (BaADS), which was activated on 8 January 1957. In 1958 a

Semi Automatic Ground Environment The Semi-Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) was a system of mainframe computer, large computers and associated computer network, networking equipment that coordinated data from many radar sites and processed it to produce a single unified image ...

(SAGE) Data Center (DC-05) was established at Topsham AFS. The SAGE system was a network linking Air Force (and later FAA) General Surveillance Radar stations into a centralized center for Air Defense, intended to provide early warning and response for a Soviet nuclear attack. A GATR site (R-25) was also constructed at Topsham as part of the 654th Radar Squadron at Brunswick AFS, but was reassigned to the BaADS at Topsham AFS when the 654th RADS was inactivated in 1965. The BaADS was absorbed by the

36th Air Division The 36th Air Division is an inactive United States Air Force organization. Its last assignment was with First Air Force at Topsham Air Force Station, Maine. It was inactivated on 30 September 1969. History Strategic Air Command "The 36th Air Di ...

, being moved to Topsham from

Davis Monthan AFB Davis may refer to: Places Antarctica * Mount Davis (Antarctica) * Davis Island (Palmer Archipelago) * Davis Station, an Australian base and research outpost in the Vestfold Hills * Davis Valley, Queen Elizabeth Land Canada * Davis, Sa ...

, Arizona on 1 April 1966. DC-02 with its

AN/FSQ-7 The AN/FSQ-7 Combat Direction Central, referred to as the Q7 for short, was a computerized air defense command and control system. It was used by the United States Air Force for ground-controlled interception as part of the Semi-Automatic Grou ...

computer remained under the 34th AD until it, and the Air Division was inactivated on 30 September 1969 when technology advances allowed the Air Force to shut down many SAGE Data Centers. With the inactivation of the 36th AD, the station and GATR site were closed. The former Topsham AFS is now an annex of the now-closed

Naval Air Station Brunswick Naval Air Station Brunswick , also known as NAS Brunswick or the Brunswick Naval Air Station, was a military airport located southeast of Brunswick, Maine, with a number of Navy-operated maritime patrol aircraft. As of November 28, 2009, the la ...

. The SAGE DC blockhouse was demolished in August 1985 and is now a recreation field.

Known ADCOM units assigned

, 1 April 1966 – 30 September 1969 * Bangor Air Defense Sector, 8 January 1957 – 1 April 1966

References

* 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 Topsham AFS, ME

External links

{{Navboxes , list = {{Aerospace Defense Command {{Cumberland County, Maine {{FmrMEMilitary Installations of the United States Air Force in Maine Semi-Automatic Ground Environment sites Aerospace Defense Command military installations Military installations closed in 1969 Buildings and structures in Topsham, Maine 1957 establishments in Maine 1969 disestablishments in Maine Military installations established in 1957

History

Known ADCOM units assigned

See also

References

External links