TheBangor Air Defense Sector is an inactiveUnited States Air Force organization. Its last assignment was with26th Air Division atTopsham Air Force Station, Maine, where it was inactivated on 1 April 1966. From 1958 through 1966, the sector controlledair defensefighter,missile andradar units in Maine and northern Vermont and New Hampshire.[b] From 1958 to 1960, it also controlled a radar unit in Canada.
On 1 March 1959 the sector's newSemi Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) direction center (DC-05) became operational. DC-05 was equipped with dualAN/FSQ-7 Computers.[citation needed] As the sector's aircraft control and warning squadrons entered the SAGE system that year, their controllers were centralized in the sector direction center and the squadrons were redesignated radar squadrons.[9] The sector's672d Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron atBarrington Air Station in Canada did not convert, but was transferred toBoston Air Defense Sector the following year.[10] In addition to its assigned units, the sector's direction center also controlledArmy air defense systems, interfacing with the Army'sAN/FSG-1Missile Master control system.[11]
In 1962, ADC adjusted the sector area of responsibility, which resulted in the transfer of the 654th, 764th, 765th and 911th Radar Squadrons to the Boston Air Defense Sector.[16] This reduced the sector's area of responsibility in the United States to only a portion of Maine. Although the sector remained assigned to the 26th Air Division, it was operationally controlled through the NorthernNORAD Region in Canada.[17][d]
In 1964, the Air Force phased theBoeing CIM-10A BOMARC out of the air defense system.[e][18] As a result, the 30th Air Defense Missile Squadron was inactivated on 15 December.[12]
The sector was inactivated 1 April 1966 as part of an ADC reorganization, with its mission, personnel and equipment being reassigned to the36th Air Division, which was simultaneously activated at Topsham.[19][20]
^Approved 25 July 1958. Description:Azure,saltirewise, an eagle’s headerasedArgent, eyeGules, beakOr andissuant fromsinisterchief a lightning flash of the last [color mentioned], all surmounted by a radarscopeVert with markings of the second [color mentioned]. Significance: The emblem is symbolic of the fundamentals of the sector's air defense mission. The radarscope represents detection, the eagle’s eye symbolizes identification, the eagle indicates interception, and the bolt of lightning represents destruction.
^The sector's initial area of responsibility included parts of New York, but no units under the sector's control were stationed there.
^Aircraft is Convair F-106-110-CO Delta Dart, serial 59-0031. It was sent to theAerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Center on 13 November 1992 and later converted to a QF-106 drone. It was shot down by anAIM-7 on 17 January 1996.Dirkx, Marco (11 June 2023)."1959 USAF Serial Numbers". Joe Baugher’s Serial Number List. Retrieved16 February 2025.
^Although the former base of the sector's 672nd Squadron was within this region, it was now operated by theRoyal Canadian Air Force.
^The CIM-10B BOMARC remained in service until 1972.
^Location of units is provided for units not located with sectorheadquarters at Topsham Air Force Station.
^P sites became Z sites with the same number after converting to the SAGE system.
United States
United States Air Force
This article incorporatespublic domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency