Port Isabel Air Force Station
Port Isabel Air Force Station (ADC ID: TM-190) is a closed United States Air Force General Surveillance Radar station. It is located 18.7 miles (30.1 km) north-northeast of Brownsville, Texas. It was closed in 1961.
Port Isabel Air Force Station | |
|---|---|
| Part of Air Defense Command (ADC) | |
  Port Isabel AFS Location of Port Isabel AFS, Texas | |
| Coordinates | 26°09′20″N 097°20′16″W |
| Type | Air Force Station |
| Site information | |
| Controlled by |  United States Air Force |
| Site history | |
| Built | 1958 |
| In use | 1958-1961 |
| Garrison information | |
| Garrison | 811th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron |
History
Port Isabel Air Force Station came into existence as part of Phase III of the Air Defense Command Mobile Radar program. On October 20, 1953 ADC requested a third phase of twenty-five radar sites be constructed.
The 811th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron was moved to the former Port Isabel Auxiliary Naval Air Station on 1 January 1958. It operated an AN/FPS-3A search radar and an AN/FPS-6 height-finder radar at the site, 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 Air Force inactivated Port Isabel AFS on 1 June 1961 due to budgetary constraints. Today the site is part of the Port Isabel-Cameron County Airport and the Port Isabel Detention Center.
Air Force units and assignments
Units
- Constituted as the 811th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron
- Activated on 8 November 1956 at Oklahoma City AFS, OK (not equipped or manned)
- Moved to Port Isabel AFS on 1 January 1958
- Discontinued and inactivated on 1 June 1961
Assignments
- 33d Air Division, 1 January 1958
- Oklahoma City Air Defense Sector, 1 January 1960 - 1 June 1961
References
This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency.
- Cornett, Lloyd H. and Johnson, Mildred W., A Handbook of Aerospace Defense Organization 1946 - 1980, Office of History, Aerospace Defense Center, Peterson AFB, CO (1980).
- Winkler, David F. & Webster, Julie L., Searching the Skies, The Legacy of the United States Cold War Defense Radar Program, US Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratories, Champaign, IL (1997).
- Information for Port Isabel AFS, TX
