Port Isabel Air Force Station (ADC ID: TM-190) is a closed

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Aerial warfare, air military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part ...

General Surveillance Radar station. It is located north-northeast of Brownsville, Texas. It was closed in 1961.

History

Port Isabel Air Force Station came into existence as part of Phase III of the Air Defense Command Mobile Radar program. On October 20, 1953 ADC requested a third phase of twenty-five radar sites be constructed. The 811th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron was moved to the former Port Isabel Auxiliary Naval Air Station on 1 January 1958. It operated an

AN/FPS-3 The AN/FPS-20 was a widely used L band early warning and ground-controlled interception radar system employed by the United States Air Force Air Defense Command, the NORAD Pinetree Line in Canada, the USAF CONAD in the continental United States ...

A search radar and an

AN/FPS-6 The AN/FPS-6 Radar was a long-range height finding radar used by the United States Air Force's Air Defense Command. The AN/FPS-6 radar was introduced into service in the late 1950s and served as the principal height-finder radar for the United Stat ...

height-finder radar at the site, 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 Air Force inactivated Port Isabel AFS on 1 June 1961 due to budgetary constraints. Today the site is part of the Port Isabel-Cameron County Airport and the Port Isabel Detention Center.

Air Force units and assignments

Units

* Constituted as the 811th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron : Activated on 8 November 1956 at

Oklahoma City AFS Oklahoma City Air Force Station (ADC ID: P-52, NORAD-ID: Z-52) is a closed Cold War United States Air Force air defense and communications-electronics headquarters and radar station. It was located east-southeast of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, j ...

, OK (not equipped or manned) : Moved to Port Isabel AFS on 1 January 1958 : Discontinued and inactivated on 1 June 1961

Assignments

33d Air Division The 33rd Air Division (33d AD) is an inactive United States Air Force organization. Its last assignment was with Air Defense Command, assigned to First Air Force, being stationed at Fort Lee Air Force Station, Virginia. It was inactivated on ...

, 1 January 1958 *

Oklahoma City Air Defense Sector The Oklahoma City Air Defense Sector (OCADS) is an inactive United States Air Force organization. Its last assignment was with the Air Defense Command's 29th Air Division at Oklahoma City Air Force Station, Oklahoma. History Oklahoma City A ...

, 1 January 1960 - 1 June 1961

References

* Cornett, Lloyd H. and Johnson, Mildred W.,
A Handbook of Aerospace Defense Organization 1946 - 1980
', Office of History, Aerospace Defense Center, Peterson AFB, CO (1980). * Winkler, David F. & Webster, Julie L.,
Searching the Skies
', The Legacy of the United States Cold War Defense Radar Program, US Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratories, Champaign, IL (1997).
Information for Port Isabel AFS, TX

External links

{{Aerospace Defense Command, state=collapsed Radar stations of the United States Air Force Installations of the United States Air Force in Texas Aerospace Defense Command military installations 1958 establishments in Texas 1961 disestablishments in Texas Military installations established in 1958 Military installations closed in 1961