Dallas Center Air Force Station

Dallas Center Air Force Station
Part of Air Defense Command (ADC)
Type	Air Force Station
Coordinates	41°43′02″N 093°54′19″W / 41.71722°N 93.90528°W / 41.71722; -93.90528 (Dallas Cente AFS M-122)
Built	1955
In use	1955-1957
Controlled by	United States Air Force
Garrison	650th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron

Dallas Center AFS

Location of Dallas Center AFS, Iowa

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Emblem of the 650th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron

Dallas Center Air Force Station (ADC ID: M-122) is a closed United States Air Force General Surveillance Radar station. It is located 3.7 miles (6.0 km) northeast of Dallas Center, Iowa. It was closed in 1957.

History

Dallas Center Air Force Station was established as part of the planned deployment by Air Defense Command of forty-four Mobile radar stations across the United States to support the permanent Radar network established during the Cold War for air defense of the United States. This deployment had been projected to be operational by mid-1952.

The site consisted of a total of 38.92 acres fee by purchase and condemnation and no-area license by donation made between March 1954 and November 1956. Funding, constant site changes, construction, and equipment delivery delayed deployment. Improvements at the site consisted of: Radar station; traffic check house; power building; mess hall; administration building; two supply buildings; 65-man airmen's barracks; base auto shop; water storage and pump house; above and underground storage tanks; sanitary sewer system; streets, drives, sidewalks, and parking areas.

Operational status was achieved in 1956 after the 650th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron was moved to Dallas Center on 1 July 1955 with an AN/TPS-1D radar that had been moved in from Fort Snelling, Minnesota, 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. The construction of the buildings were almost all wood or sheetrock.

Budget cuts forced Dallas Center AFS to cease operations in mid-1957 and the tending 650th AC&W Squadron was deactivated shortly thereafter. The site was then converted to an unmanned AN/FPS-18 gap-filler radar annex (P-71C) for Omaha AFS, Nebraska. It was finally inactivated in December 1957. GSA reported excess 38.23 acres fee on October 30, 1959, and then quitclaimed it to a private party on March 7, 1961, reserving road and utility line easement to the 3.15 acres. Relatives of the private party still own the 38.92 acres, which include the site and access, on which the manned radar station was located.

Both buildings and radar tower are still extant, the site now being used for Greenhouses for truck crops and as an auto junkyard. In 1988, the owners stated only two structures remain and all the above ground storage tanks have been removed.

Air Force units and assignments

Units:

• 650th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron, Assigned on 1 July 1955

Activated at Fort Snelling, MN, 20 May 1953

Inactivated on 8 October 1957

Assignments:

• 31st Air Division, 1 July 1955
• 20th Air Division, 1 March 1956-8 October 1957

See also

• List of USAF Aerospace Defense Command General Surveillance Radar Stations

References

	United States Air Force portal
	Military of the United States portal

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Air Force Historical Research Agency.

• A Handbook of Aerospace Defense Organization 1946 - 1980, by Lloyd H. Cornett and Mildred W. Johnson, Office of History, Aerospace Defense Center, Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado
• Winkler, David F. (1997), Searching the skies: the legacy of the United States Cold War defense radar program. Prepared for United States Air Force Headquarters Air Combat Command.
• Information for Dallas Center AFS, IA

External links