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Mount Lemmon Air Force Station | |
|---|---|
| Part ofAir Defense Command (ADC) | |
| Site information | |
| Type | Air Force Station |
| Controlled by |  United States Air Force |
| Location | |
  Mount Lemmon AFS Location of Mount Lemmon AFS, Arizona | |
| Coordinates | 32°26′30″N110°47′22″W / 32.44167°N 110.78944°W /32.44167; -110.78944 (Mount Lemmon AFS M-92) |
| Site history | |
| Built | 1956 |
| In use | 1956-1969 |
| Garrison information | |
| Garrison | 684th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron |
Mount Lemmon Air Force Station (ADC ID: M-92, NORAD ID: Z-92) is a closedUnited States Air Force General Surveillance Radar station. It is located 17.2 miles (27.7 km) north-northeast ofTucson, Arizona. It was closed in 1969.
Mount Lemmon Air Force Station was established in 1954 byAir Defense Command as one of a planned deployment of forty-four mobile radar stations to support the permanent ADC Radar network in the United States sited around the perimeter of the country. This deployment was projected to be operational by mid-1952. Funding, constant site changes, construction, and equipment delivery delayed deployment.
This site became operational on 1 April 1956 when the 684th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron was assigned by the34th Air Division to Mount Lemmon AFS. The squadron began operations usingAN/MPS-7,AN/MPS-14, andAN/TPS-10D radars atMount Lemmon in August 1956, and initially the station functioned as an aircraft control and warning station. The AN/TPS-10D was soon retired. By 1959 anAN/FPS-20 had replaced the AN/MPS-7 search radar.
The Ground Air Transmitting Receiving (GATR) Site (R-92) for communications was located at32°26′23″N110°47′11″W / 32.43972°N 110.78639°W /32.43972; -110.78639 (Mount Lemmon AS GATR), Normally the GATR site was connected by a pair of buried telephone cables, with a backup connection of dual telephone cables overhead. The Coordinate Data Transmitting Set (CDTS) (AN/FST-2) at the main site converted each radar return into a digital word which was transmitted by the GATR via microwave to the Control Center.
During 1961 Mount Lemmon AFS joined theSemi Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) system, feeding data to DC-21 atLuke AFB, Arizona. After joining, the squadron was re-designated as the684th Radar Squadron (SAGE) on 15 October 1961. 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. During the following year, anAN/FPS-6 supplemented the AN/MPS-14 height-finder radar, and theAN/FPS-20 was upgraded to become an AN/FPS-67. On 31 July 1963, the site was redesignated as NORAD ID Z-92. The AN/FPS-6 was removed in 1968.
In addition to the main facility, Mount Lemmon operated severalAN/FPS-14 Gap Filler sites:
The 684th was inactivated in December 1969. However, the GATR facility (R-92) was later reactivated, and is still in use as site G-29 by the 355th Communications Squadron,Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona. After its closure, Mount Lemmon AFS was used by theUniversity of Arizona and others as an observatory. Its tracking radar (now removed) was used by US Army fromFort Huachuca.
This article incorporatespublic domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency
