Finland 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 north of Finland, Minnesota. It was closed in 1980. In 1950

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 ...

selected Finland, Minnesota site as one of twenty-eight radar stations built as part of the second segment of the permanent radar

surveillance Surveillance is the monitoring of behavior, many activities, or information for the purpose of information gathering, influencing, managing, or directing. This can include observation from a distance by means of electronic equipment, such as ...

network. Prompted by the start of the

Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

, on 11 July 1950, the Secretary of the Air Force asked the

Secretary of Defense A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and military forces, found in states where the government is divided ...

for approval to expedite construction of the second segment of the permanent network. Receiving the Defense Secretary's approval on 21 July, the Air Force directed the Corps of Engineers to proceed with construction.

History

Finland Air Force Station began as a "Lashup-Permanent" radar site (LP-69) with the 756th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron operating an

AN/CPS-5 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 ...

radar at the station on 30 Nov 1951, 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. On 1 May 1951 the station joined the "permanent" ADC network operating

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 AN/FPS-5 radars. By 1959 these radars had been replaced with

AN/FPS-20 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 ...

and

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 ...

sets, and a second height-finder radar (AN/FPS-6A) was being installed. During 1959 Finland 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, initially feeding data to DC-10 at

Duluth AFS Duluth Air National Guard Base is a United States Air National Guard base located on the grounds of Duluth International Airport. It is home to the 148th Fighter Wing. History The City of Duluth purchased the original property for the airport in ...

, Minnesota. After joining, the squadron was re-designated as the 756th Radar Squadron (SAGE) on 15 December 1959. The radar squadron provided information 24/7 the SAGE Direction Center where it was analyzed to determine range, direction altitude speed and whether or not aircraft were friendly or hostile. In 1961 the search radar was upgraded and redesignated as an

AN/FPS-64 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 ...

. In 1963 the height-finder radars were replaced by

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 and

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 ...

sets, and on 31 July 1963, the site was redesignated as NORAD ID Z-69. In 1964 the AN/FPS-64 was replaced by an

AN/FPS-27 The AN/FPS-27 Radar was a long-range early warning radar used by the United States Air Force Air Defense Command. Westinghouse Electric Corporation built a frequency diverse (FD) search radar designed to operate in the S-band from 2322 to 2670&n ...

. The AN/FPS-90 height-finder radar was decommissioned in 1970. In addition to the main facility, Calumet 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: * Upson, WI (P-69B) * Askov, MN (P-69C) * Aurora, MN (P-69D) 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. Finland came under

Tactical Air Command Tactical Air Command (TAC) is an inactive United States Air Force organization. It was a List of Major Commands of the United States Air Force, Major Command of the United States Air Force, established on 21 March 1946 and headquartered at Lang ...

jurisdiction in October 1979 with the inactivation of Aerospace Defense Command and the formation of

ADTAC Air Defense, Tactical Air Command (ADTAC) was a Named Unit of the United States Air Force, and operated at the Numbered Air Force echelon of Tactical Air Command. It was responsible for the air defense of the United States, and was last statione ...

. The 756th Radar Squadron was inactivated 15 Aug 1980. The Ground/Air Task Oriented Radar (GATR) site was retained until the

Joint Surveillance System The Joint Surveillance System (JSS) is a joint United States Air Force and Federal Aviation Administration system for the atmospheric air defense of North America. It replaced the Semi Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) system in 1983. Overvie ...

(JSS) switchover in 1984. Today the radar station is largely abandoned. The former Air Force Housing area was in use as single-family housing, but is now also mostly abandoned.

Air Force units and assignments

Units

* Constituted as the 756th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron on 14 November 1950 : Activated on 27 November 1950 : Redesignated as 756th Radar Squadron (SAGE) on 15 December 1959 : Redesignated as 756th Radar Squadron on 1 February 1974 : Inactivated on 15 June 1980 Assignments: *

543d Aircraft Control and Warning Group The 543d Aircraft Control and Warning Group is a disbanded United States Air Force unit. It was last assigned to the 31st Air Division, Air Defense Command, stationed at Fort Snelling, Minnesota. It was inactivated on 10 February 1952. History T ...

, 1 January 1951 *

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 ...

, 6 February 1952 *

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 July 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 *

34th Air Division The 34th Air Division (34th AD) is an inactive United States Air Force organization. Its last assignment was with Air Defense Command at Custer Air Force Station, Michigan. It was inactivated on 31 December 1969. History Assigned to Air Def ...

, 15 September 1969 *

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 – 15 June 1980

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 Finland AFS, MN
{{Authority control Installations of the United States Air Force in Minnesota Semi-Automatic Ground Environment sites Aerospace Defense Command military installations Military installations established in 1950 Military installations closed in 1989 1950 establishments in Minnesota 1989 disestablishments in Minnesota

History

Air Force units and assignments

Units

See also

References