Bangor Air Defense Sector

The Bangor Air Defense Sector was organized in January 1957 at Topsham Air Force Station, Maine and assigned to the 32nd Air Division, located at Syracuse Air Force Station, New York.Cornett & Johnson, p. 35Cornett & Johnson, p. 57 However, it was not initially assigned any operational units.Cornett & Johnson, pp. 70, 98, 114, 150, 156-57, 165-66, 173

On 15 August 1958, the 32nd Air Division was inactivated and replaced by the 26th Air Division, and the sector was reassigned to the 26th.Cornett & Johnson, p. 34 At the same time, the sector assumed command of air defense units in its area of responsibility that had been assigned directly to 32nd Air Division. These units provided air defense of Maine and most of Vermont and New Hampshire, as well as small parts of New York and Nova Scotia. The fighter squadrons assigned to its 14th and 23rd Fighter Groups flew Convair F-102 Delta Daggers and McDonnell F-101 Voodoos.Cornett & Johnson, p. 70Cornett & Johnson, pp. 115, 118 The active duty fighter units were augmented by Air National Guard units of the 101st Air Defense Wing located at Dow Air Force Base, Maine; Grenier Field, New Hampshire, and Ethan Allen Air Force Base, Vermont.See Leonard, p. 156 (by July 1961, 25 of the 29 Air National Guard Squadrons gained by ADC on mobilization were standing 5 minute alert). These squadrons operated the Northrop F-89 Scorpion and North American F-86 Sabre, with one squadron later upgrading to the F-102.{{cn|date=February 2025}}

On 1 March 1959 the sector's new Semi Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) direction center (DC-05) became operational. DC-05 was equipped with dual AN/FSQ-7 Computers.{{cn|date=February 2025}} As the sector's aircraft control and warning squadrons entered the SAGE system that year, their controllers were centralized in the sector direction center and the squadrons were redesignated radar squadrons.Winkler & Webster, p. 41 The sector's 672d Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron at Barrington Air Station in Canada did not convert, but was transferred to Boston Air Defense Sector the following year.Cornett & Johnson, p. 98 In addition to its assigned units, the sector's direction center also controlled Army air defense systems, interfacing with the Army's AN/FSG-1 Missile Master control system.Lonnquest & Winkler, p. 60

File:27th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron F-106 59-0031 Griffiss AFB.jpg on 13 November 1992 and later converted to a QF-106 drone. It was shot down by an AIM-7 on 17 January 1996. {{cite web |url=https://www.crouze.com/baugher/usaf_serials/1959.html |last1=Dirkx|first1=Marco |title=1959 USAF Serial Numbers|date=11 June 2023|publisher=Joe Baugher’s Serial Number List|access-date=February 16, 2025}}}}]]

The sector added a surface to air missile unit in June 1959, when the 30th Air Defense Missile Squadron was activated at Dow Air Force Base, Maine, although the squadron would not be operational until the following year.Cornett & Johnson, p. 150Lonnquest & Winkler, p. 203 The following month, the 23rd Fighter Group was inactivated when Presque Isle Air Force Base, Maine was transferred from Air Defense Command (ADC) to Strategic Air Command. However, its 75th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron moved to Dow, and was assigned directly to the sector.Maurer, pp. 138-139 In October, the 27th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron moved to Loring Air Force Base, Maine from Griffiss Air Force Base, New York and was assigned to the sector. Once it arrived at Loring, it began converting to the Convair F-106 Delta Dart.Cornett & Johnson, p. 114

In 1962, ADC adjusted the sector area of responsibility, which resulted in the transfer of the 654th, 764th, 765th and 911th Radar Squadrons to the Boston Air Defense Sector.Cornett & Johnson, pp. 156-57, 165-66, 173 This reduced the sector's area of responsibility in the United States to only a portion of Maine. Although the sector remained assigned to the 26th Air Division, it was operationally controlled through the Northern NORAD Region in Canada.Leonard, p. 163 (map showing NORAD regions on 31 December 1964).{{efn|Although the former base of the sector's 672nd Squadron was within this region, it was now operated by the Royal Canadian Air Force.}}

In 1964, the Air Force phased the Boeing CIM-10A BOMARC out of the air defense system.{{efn|The CIM-10B BOMARC remained in service until 1972.}}Lonnquest & Winkler, p. 198 As a result, the 30th Air Defense Missile Squadron was inactivated on 15 December.

The sector was inactivated 1 April 1966 as part of an ADC reorganization, with its mission, personnel and equipment being reassigned to the 36th Air Division, which was simultaneously activated at Topsham.Cornett & Johnson, p. 56{{cite web |url= https://airforcehistoryindex.org/data/000/464/863.xml |author=No byline|title=Abstract, History 36 Air Division, Apr-Dec 1966|date=|publisher=Air Force History Index|access-date=February 15, 2025}}

• Designated as the Bangor Air Defense Sector and organized on 8 January 1957

: Inactivated on 1 April 1966

• 32d Air Division, 8 January 1957
• 26th Air Division, 15 August 1958 – 1 April 1966

• Topsham Air Force Station, Maine, 8 January 1957 – 1 April 1966

• 14th Fighter Group, 15 August 1958-25 June 1960

: Ethan Allen Air Force Base, Vermont{{efn|Location of units is provided for units not located with sector headquarters at Topsham Air Force Station.}}

• 23d Fighter Group, 15 August 1958-1 July 1959

: Presque Isle Air Force Base, Maine

; Fighter squadrons

• 27th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, 1 October 1959-1 April 1966

: Loring Air Force Base, Maine

• 75th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, 1 July 1959-1 April 1966Maurer, pp. 274-275

: Dow Air Force Base, Maine

; Missile squadron

• 30th Air Defense Missile Squadron, 1 June 1959-15 December 1964

: Dow Air Force Base, Maine

; Radar squadrons

{{Col-begin}}

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• 654th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron (later 654th Radar Squadron (SAGE)), 15 August 1958-1 August 1962Cornett & Johnson, pp. 156-57

: Brunswick Air Force Station (P-13),Winkler & Webster, p. 118{{efn|P sites became Z sites with the same number after converting to the SAGE system.}}Maine

• 672d Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron, 15 August 1958 – 1 July 1960

: Barrington Air Station (M-102){{efn|Later C-102.}}, Nova Scotia, Canada

• 764th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron (later 764th Radar Squadron (SAGE)), 15 August 1958 – 1 June 1962Cornett & Johnson, pp. 165-66

: Saint Albans Air Force Station (P-14),Winkler & Webster, p. 160 Vermont

• 765th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron (later 765th Radar Squadron (SAGE)), 15 August 1958 – 1 August 1962Cornett & Johnson, p. 166

: Charleston Air Force Station (P-65), Maine{{efn|This was the first unit in ADC to operate the AN/FPS-27 radar.}}

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• 766th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron (later 766th Radar Squadron (SAGE)), 15 August 1958 – 1 April 1966

: Caswell Air Force Station (P-80), Maine

• 907th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron (later 907th Radar Squadron (SAGE)), 15 August 1958 – 1 April 1966Cornett & Johnson, p. 173

: Bucks Harbor Air Force Station] (M-110) (later P-80), Maine

• 911th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron (later 911th Radar Squadron (SAGE)), 15 August 1958 – 1 August 1962

: North Concord, Vermont (M-103) (later Lyndonville Air Force Station)

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; Support squadrons

• 4626th Air Base Squadron, 8 January 1957 – 1 April 1966See {{cite web |url= https://airforcehistoryindex.org/data/000/411/572.xml |author=No byline|title=Abstract, History 4626 Air Base Squadron, Jan 1958-Dec 1959|date=|publisher=Air Force History Index|access-date=February 15, 2025}}
• 4626th Support Squadron, SAGE 15 July 1959 – 1 April 1966

• List of USAF Aerospace Defense Command General Surveillance Radar Stations
• Aerospace Defense Command Fighter Squadrons
• List of United States Air Force aircraft control and warning squadrons
• List of United States Air Force radar squadrons

; Explanatory notes

{{notelist}}

; Citations

{{Reflist|30em}}

{{AFHRA}}

• {{cite book|last1=Cornett|first1=Lloyd H|last2=Johnson|first2=Mildred W.|title=A Handbook of Aerospace Defense Organization, 1946 - 1980|url= http://www.usafpatches.com/pubs/handbookofadcorg.pdf |year=1980|publisher=Office of History, Aerospace Defense Center|location = Peterson AFB, CO|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220626094249/https://www.usafpatches.com/pubs/handbookofadcorg.pdf |archive-date=June 26, 2022|access-date=December 8, 2024}}
• {{cite book|last=Leonard|first=Barry|title=History of Strategic Air and Ballistic Missile Defense|url= http://www.history.army.mil/html/books/bmd/BMDV2.pdf |volume=II, 1955-1972|year=2009|publisher=Center for Military History|location=Fort McNair, DC|isbn=978-1-43792-131-1|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20250110155422/http://www.history.army.mil/html/books/bmd/BMDV2.pdf |archive-date=January 10, 2025|access-date=February 17, 2025}}
• {{cite book|last1=Lonnquest|first1=John C. |last2=Winkler|first2=David F.|title=.To Defend and Deter: The Legacy of the United States Cold War Missile Program|url= http://www.denix.osd.mil/cr/upload/94-1264-LEGACY-US-COLD-WAR-MISSLE-PROGRAM_0.PDF |access-date=February 15, 2025|year=1996|publisher= Defense Publishing Service|location=Rock Island, IL |isbn=978-0976149453 }}
• {{cite book|editor=Maurer, Maurer|title=Combat Squadrons of the Air Force, World War II|orig-year=1969|url= http://media.defense.gov/2010/Dec/02/2001329899/-1/-1/0/AFD-101202-002.pdf |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20161220180455/http://media.defense.gov/2010/Dec/02/2001329899/-1/-1/0/AFD-101202-002.pdf |url-status= dead |archive-date= 20 December 2016 |edition= reprint|access-date= December 17, 2016|year=1982|publisher=Office of Air Force History|location=Washington, DC|isbn=0-405-12194-6|oclc=72556|lccn=70605402}}
• {{cite book|last1=Winkler|first1=David F.| last2=Webster|first2=Julie L|title=Searching the skies: The legacy of the United States Cold War Defense Radar Program|url= http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a331231.pdf |year=1997|publisher=US Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratories|location=Champaign, IL|lccn=97020912|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20131029191330/http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a331231.pdf |archive-date=October 29, 2013|access-date=February 16, 2025}}

• {{cite web |url= http://www.radomes.org/museum/thumbs.php?pic=TopshamAFSME&site=Topsham+AFS,+ME |last1=|first1=|title=Photos of Topsham AFS, ME |date=|publisher=Radomes, Inc.|access-date=February 14, 2025}}

{{Aerospace Defense Command|state=collapsed}}

Category:Air defense sectors of the United States Air Force

Category:Air defence radar networks