Watertown Air Force Station
# Watertown Air Force Station

Watertown Air Force Station is a closed United States Air Force ADCOM General Surveillance Radar station 3.5 miles (5.6 km) south of Watertown, New York. Prior to the Air Defense squadron inactivating on 1 November 1979, the station was reassigned to Tactical Air Command which maintained the Ground Air Transmitter Receiver until early 1984 (now a firefighter training site). A New York State jail opened at the site c. 1983.

It was a part of the 21st RCC (NORAD Regional Control Center) a SAGE network, located at Stewart AFB.

## History

Lashup Radar Network site L-6 was established in June 1950 at the Pine Camp military installation (renamed Fort Drum in 1951) and operated by the 655th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron using an RCA AN/TPS-10A Radar. After construction adjacent to Fort Drum in June 1952, the operation moved to the Air Force Station, one of the first twenty-four Air Defense Command radar stations of the permanent network established 1950-1951 after the USAF directed construction of the sites on December 2, 1948. Watertown AFS used AN/FPS-3 and AN/FPS-5 radars for warning and ground-controlled interception. In 1958 this site was operating with AN/FPS-20 search radar and General Electric AN/FPS-6 Radar for height-finding.

During 1959 Watertown AFS began providing Semi Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) data to DC-03 at Syracuse AFS, New York, and the squadron was re-designated as the 655th Radar Squadron (SAGE) on 1 February 1959. In 1959 a 2nd AN/FPS-6 was added and in 1961, the FPS-20 was upgraded to an AN/FPS-66. One height-finder radar was replaced by an Avco AN/FPS-26 Radar in 1963. In 1964 the AN/FPS-66 was replaced by a Westinghouse AN/FPS-27 Radar. The other AN/FPS-6 height-finder radar was retired in 1964.

In addition to the main facility, the Watertown squadron operated two unmanned AN/FPS-14 (P-49A) and AN/FPS-18 (P-49B) Gap Filler sites:

* Suttons Corner, NY (P-49A) 43°21′17″N 076°17′09″W﻿ / ﻿43.35472°N 76.28583°W﻿ / 43.35472; -76.28583﻿ (P-49A)
* Oswegatchie, NY (P-49B) 44°10′01″N 075°07′08″W﻿ / ﻿44.16694°N 75.11889°W﻿ / 44.16694; -75.11889﻿ (P-49B)

## Air Force units and assignments

Units:

* 655th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron, activated 8 December 1949 at Pine Camp, NY (L-6)

       Moved to Watertown AFS, NY, 1 February 1951
    Redesignated 655th Radar Squadron (SAGE), 1 February 1959
    Redesignated 655th Radar Squadron, 1 February 1974
* Inactivated 1 November 1979

Assignments:

* 540th Aircraft Control and Warning Group (32d Air Division), 18 Dec 1949
* 32d Air Division, 6 February 1952
* 4711th Air Defense Wing, 16 February 1953
* 32d Air Division, 1 March 1956
* Syracuse Air Defense Sector, 1 September 1958
* Boston Air Defense Sector, 4 September 1963
* 35th Air Division, 1 April 1966
* 21st Air Division, 19 November 1969 - 31 December 1979
