635th Radar Squadron

The 635th Radar Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. It was last assigned to the 20th Air Division, Aerospace Defense Command, stationed at Dauphin Island Air Force Station, Alabama. It was inactivated on 1 July 1974. The unit was a General Surveillance Radar squadron providing for the air defense of the United States.

635th Radar Squadron
Emblem of the 635th Radar Squadron
Active1947–1974
CountryUnited States
Branch United States Air Force
TypeGeneral Radar Surveillance

History

The squadron was first activated as an Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron (AC&W Sq) in 1947 at McChord Field, WA[1][2] with a mission to detect and warn of aircraft and defend an area to the west of the Cascade Mountains.[3] To accomplish its mission, it had detachments at Arlington, WA (WW II Site F-50), Neah Bay, WA (Det E, WW II Site J-55), Bellingham, WA, Spokane AFB, WA (WW II 4 AF Site 129), Coleville, WA, Pacific Beach, WA (Det D, WW II Site B-61, Lashup Site L-35), Sequim, WA (Det F), Everett, WA (Det B, Lashup Site L-31) and Fort Stevens, OR (Lashup Site L-36, Det C), located on World War II Sites.[4][5] Its main search radar to perform this mission at this time was the AN/CPS-5.[4] In the early 1950s, most of its detachments were replaced by separate squadrons.[6] The squadron moved to Fort Lawton, WA in 1960.[7] It joined the Semi Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) system and was redesignated as a Radar Squadron in 1960.[7] It was inactivated in 1963.[7]

The Squadron was activated again in 1973 to replace Operating Location G of the 630th Radar Squadron at Dauphin Island AFS[7] as part of the Southern Air Defense System (SADS).[8] SADS had been established because of the inadequacy of the radar coverage to the south of the United States that had been dramatically illustrated whan a Cuban MiG-17 went undetected before it landed at Homestead AFB,[8] and two years later, an An-24 similarly arrived unannounced at New Orleans International Airport.[8] As a result, ADC established SADS with the squadron operating a manual control center at the Houston ARTCC and added radars to supplement the existing Federal Aviation Administration coverage in the area.[8] However, the squadron was inactivated little more than a year later.[7]

Lineage
  • Constituted as the 635th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron
Activated 21 May 1947
Redesignated 635th Radar Squadron (SAGE), 11 June 1960
Inactivated on 1 August 1963
Redesignated 635th Radar Squadron
Activated 1 January 1973
Inactivated 1 July 1974

Assignments[7]

  • 505th Aircraft Control and Warning Group, 21 May 1947
  • 25th Air Division, 6 February 1952
  • 4704th Defense Wing, 1 January 1953
  • 25th Air Division, 8 October 1954
  • Seattle Air Defense Sector, 1 March 1960 - 1 August 1963
  • 20th Air Division, 1 January 1973– 1 July 1974

Stations

  • McChord Field (later AFB), Washington, 21 May 1947
  • Paine Field, Washington, 26 September 1948[9]
  • McChord AFB, Washington, 22 September 1950[7]
  • Fort Lawton, Washington, 15 May 1960
  • Dauphin Island AFS, Alabama, 1 January 1973 – 1 July 1974[7]
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See also

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency website http://www.afhra.af.mil/.

  1. Abstract, History of 635 AC&W Sq, May-Dec 1947 (accessed 5 Apr 2012)
  2. Mueller, p. 394
  3. Abstract, History of 635th AC&W Sq, Jan-Nov 1949 (accessed 5 Apr 2012)
  4. Abstract, History of 635 AC&W Sq, CY 1948 (accessed 5 Apr 2012)
  5. Abstract, History of 635th AC&W Sq, Jan-Oct 1949 (accessed 5 Apr 2012)
  6. 757 AC&W Sq at Everett, 758 AC&W Sq at Neah Bay, 760 AC&W Sq at Colleville, Cornett & Johnson pp. 164-165
  7. Cornett & Johnson, p. 155
  8. Leonard, p. 172
  9. Abstract, History of 635 AC&W Sq Jul-Sep 1950 (accessed 5 Apr 2012)
  • Cornett, Lloyd H; Johnson, Mildred W (1980). A Handbook of Aerospace Defense Organization, 1946 - 1980 (PDF). Peterson AFB, CO: Office of History, Aerospace Defense Center.
  • Leonard, Barry (2009). History of Strategic Air and Ballistic Missile Defense, Vol I, 1945-1955 (PDF). Center for Military History. ISBN 978-1-4379-2131-1.
  • Leonard, Barry (2009). History of Strategic Air and Ballistic Missile Defense, Vol II, 1955-1972 (PDF). Center for Military History. ISBN 978-1-4379-2131-1.
  • Mueller, Robert (1989). Air Force Bases, Vol. I, Active Air Force Bases Within the United States of America on 17 September 1982 (PDF). Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-912799-53-6.
  • Winkler, David F.; Webster, Julie L (1997). Searching the skies : the legacy of the United States Cold War Defense Radar Program. Champaign, IL: US Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratories. LCCN 97020912.

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