Baudette 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 ...

General Surveillance Radar station. It is located south-southwest of

Baudette, Minnesota Baudette is a city in, and the county seat of, Lake of the Woods County, Minnesota, Lake of the Woods County, Minnesota, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, its population was 966. Baudette is known as the Walleye ...

. It was closed in 1979.

History

Baudette Air Force Station was initially part of Phase II 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 ...

Mobile Radar program. The Air Force approved this expansion of the Mobile Radar program on 23 October 1952. Radars in this network were designated "SM." The station became operational on 1 October 1958 when the 692d Aircraft Control and Warning SquadronCornett & Johnson, p. 161 began operating 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 State ...

and a pair of

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 S ...

height-finder 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. During 1959 Baudette AFS joined the

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) system, feeding data to DC-10 at Duluth IAP, Minnesota. After joining, the squadron was redesignated as the 692d Radar Squadron (SAGE) on 15 December 1959. The radar squadron provided information around the clock to the SAGE Direction Center where it was analyzed to determine range, direction altitude speed and whether or not aircraft were friendly or hostile. In 1962 Baudette received an

AN/FPS-24 The AN/FPS-24 Radar was a long range early warning radar used by the United States Air Force Air Defense Command. It used a two-frequency signal in order to avoid fluctuation loss, which causes signals on single-frequency radars to fade in and out ...

search radar, and during 1963 an

AN/FPS-26 The Avco AN/FPS-26 Radar was an Air Defense Command height finder radar developed in the Frequency Diversity Program with a tunable 3-cavity power klystron for electronic counter-countermeasures (e.g. to counter jamming). Accepted by the Rome Ai ...

A height-finder radar was installed, replacing one AN/FPS-6, and the other AN/FPS-6 height-finder radar was upgraded to an

AN/FPS-90 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 S ...

. On 31 July 1963, the site was redesignated as NORAD ID Z-132. In addition to the main facility, Baudette operated the following

AN/FPS-18 The AN/FPS-18 was a medium-range search radar used by the United States Air Force Air Defense Command. This medium-range search radar was designed and built by Bendix as a SAGE system gap-filler radar to provide low-altitude coverage. Operating in ...

Gap Filler sites: * Big Falls, MN (SM-132A) * Middle River, MN (SM-132B) Over the years, the equipment at the station was upgraded or modified to improve the efficiency and accuracy of the information gathered by the radars. The AN/FPS-90 height-finder radar was retired in late 1971. The 692nd Radar Sq was inactivated and replaced by the 692d Air Defense Group in March 1970.Cornett, & Johnson, p. 86 The upgrade to group status was done because of Baudette AFS' status as a

Backup Interceptor Control Backup Interceptor Control (BUIC, ) was the Electronic Systems Division 416M System to backup the SAGE 416L System in the United States and Canada. BUIC deployed Cold War command, control, and coordination systems to SAGE radar stations to create ...

(BUIC) site. BUIC sites were alternate control sites in case SAGE Direction Centers became disabled and unable to control interceptor aircraft. The group was awarded the

Air Force Outstanding Unit Award The Air and Space Outstanding Unit Award (ASOUA) is one of the unit awards of the United States Air Force and United States Space Force. It was established in 1954 as the Air Force Outstanding Unit Award and was the first independent Air Force ...

for exceptionally meritorious service for the period 1 June 1971 through 31 May 1973AF Pamphlet 900-2, 30 Sep 76, p. 87 The group was inactivated and replaced by the 692nd Radar Squadron as defenses against manned bombers were reduced. The group was disbanded in 1984.Department of the Air Force/MPM Letter 575q, 27 Sep 1984, Subject: Disbandment of Units The 692d Radar Squadron was inactivated on 1 July 1979 as part of the phase-down of Aerospace Defense Command. Today, the former Baudette Air Force Station is a cold-weather automobile test facility used by

Acura Acura is the luxury and performance division of Japanese automaker Honda, based primarily in North America. The brand was launched on March 27, 1986, marketing luxury and performance automobiles. Acura sells cars in the United States, Canada, M ...

. Many USAF buildings remain and in use and the station is well maintained, along with the large AN/FPS-24 search radar tower.

Air Force units and assignments

Units

* Constituted as 692nd Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron : Activated at

Snelling AFS Fort Snelling is a former military fortification and National Historic Landmark in the U.S. state of Minnesota on the bluffs overlooking the confluence of the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers. The military site was initially named Fort Saint An ...

, Minnesota, 8 August 1958 (not manned or equipped) : Moved to Baudette AFS on 1 October 1958 : Redesignated 692nd Radar Squadron (SAGE) on 15 December 1959 : Inactivated on 1 March 1970 : Redesignated 692nd Radar Squadron on 1 January 1974 : Activated on 17 January 1974 : Inactivated on 1 July 1979 * Constituted as 692nd Air Defense Group on 13 February 1970 : Activated on 1 March 1970 : Inactivated on 17 January 1974 : Disbanded on 27 September 1984

Awards

Commanders

* Lt Col. B.E. Thayer, 1 March 1970 - 1970 * Lt Col. Walter M. Adcock, 1970 - unknown * Lt Col Carl A. Lindberg, 30 August 1961 - 3 August 1963 Source: That Officer's AF Form 11 (supplied by his oldest son, Carl A. Lindberg Jr.).

Assignments

31st Air Division The 31st Air Division (31st AD) is an inactive United States Air Force organization. Its last assignment was with Air Defense Command, assigned to Tenth Air Force, being stationed at Sioux City Municipal Airport, Iowa. It was inactivated on 3 ...

, 1 October 1958 *

37th Air Division The 37th Air Division (37th AD) is an inactive United States Air Force organization. Its last assignment was with Air Defense Command at Goose Air Force Base, Labrador, Canada It was inactivated on 30 June 1970. History Strategic Air Command Es ...

, 1 January 1959 *

30th Air Division The 30th Air Division (30th AD) is an inactive United States Air Force organization. Its last assignment was with Air Defense Command, assigned to Tenth Air Force, being stationed at Sioux City Air National Guard Base, Sioux City Municipal Air ...

, 1 April 1959 *

Duluth Air Defense Sector The Duluth Air Defense Sector (DUADS) is an inactive United States Air Force organization. Its last assignment was with the Air Defense Command 29th Air Division, being stationed at Duluth Airport, Minnesota. It was inactivated on 1 April 1969 ...

, 1 July 1959 *

29th Air Division The 29th Air Division (29th AD) is an inactive United States Air Force organization. Its last assignment was with Air Defense Command, being stationed at Duluth International Airport, Minnesota. It was inactivated on 15 November 1969. History ...

, 1 April 1966 *

23d Air Division 3D, 3-D, 3d, or Three D may refer to: Science, technology, and mathematics * A three-dimensional space in mathematics Relating to three-dimensionality * 3D computer graphics, computer graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geo ...

, 19 November 1969 - 1 July 1979

References

Notes

Bibliography

*
AF Pamphlet 900-2, Unit Decorations, Awards and Campaign Participation Credits, Vol II
Department of the Air Force, Washington, DC, 30 Sep 76 Further reading * *

External links

* {{Aerospace Defense Command, state=autocollapse Installations of the United States Air Force in Minnesota Semi-Automatic Ground Environment sites Aerospace Defense Command military installations 1958 establishments in Minnesota 1979 disestablishments in Minnesota Military installations established in 1958 Military installations closed in 1979