Bartlesville Air Force Station


Bartlesville Air Force Station is a closed United States Air Force General Surveillance Radar station. It is located west-northwest of Bartlesville, Oklahoma. It was closed in 1961.

History

In late 1951 Air Defense Command selected Bartlesville, OK as a site for one of twenty-eight radar stations built as part of the second segment of the permanent radar surveillance network. Prompted by the start of the Korean War, on 11 July 1950, the Secretary of the Air Force asked the Secretary of Defense 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.
On 1 May 1951 the 796th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron began operating a pair of AN/FPS-10 radars, and initially the station functioned as a Ground-Control Intercept 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. In 1958 an AN/FPS-6 replaced the AN/FPS-10 height-finder radar.
In addition to the main facility, Bartlesville operated two AN/FPS-14 Gap Filler site:
This site was inactivated 1 June 1961 due to budgetary constraints. Today what was Bartlesville Air Force Station is largely obliterated. It now consists of various residential and commercial establishments.

Air Force units and assignments

Units

  • Constituted as the '''796th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron'''

Assignments