Fort Heath radar station
{{Short description|Radar station}}
{{Infobox military installation
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| type = Fort
| image = Boston Defense Area.png
| caption = The Fort Heath Direction Center for the Boston Defense Area (planned as the "Boston-Providence" area){{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=3OxGAAAAIBAJ&pg=504,4357202&dq=boston+missile-master&hl=en|title='Missile Master' Assists Air Defense Coordination|work=Newburgh-Beacon News|date=Jan 27, 1960|quote= "the Army said [the bunker] uses SAGE (semi-automatic ground environment)--such as that at Stewart Air Force Base"}} controlled Nike batteries transferred to the National Guard (B-03, 15, 55, & 63 in 1959 and 36 & 73 in 1964)--Nike Hercules sites B-05, 36, & 73 remained after the Nike Ajax sites closed.
| image_map = Fort Heath 1961.png
| map_caption = The DC was in the nuclear bunker, the largest building of the radar station.
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| location = Winthrop, Massachusetts, Massachusetts, 1960-1962: Chicago-Gary
1962-1974: New England, Army Air Defense Command
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The Fort Heath radar station was a USAF radar site and US Army Missile Master installation of the joint-use site system (JUSS) for North American Air Defense at a former coastal defense site. The Cold War radar station had 2 USAF AN/FPS-6B height finding radars, 2 Army AN/FPS-6A height finders,[http://www.radomes.org/museum/showsite.php?site=Fort+Heath,+Winthrop,+MA+(MM-1) Air Defense Radar Stations]. Radomes.org. Retrieved on 2013-09-18. an FAA ARSR-1 radar emplaced 1958-9,{{r|Butler}} and an Army nuclear bunker. Arctic Towers were the pedestals for the FPS antennas{{r|1970map}} and radomes, while the Air Route Surveillance Radar was on a 50-foot extension temperate tower[http://ed-thelen.org/J-McGrath/NBANKS.HTM Nike Sites of Boston: Fort Banks and Fort Heath B-21 HA]. Ed-thelen.org (2000-07-10). Retrieved on 2013-09-18. adjacent to the Federal Aviation Administration building.{{r|1970map}}
For Boston Air Defense Sector operations (e.g., for radar tracks supporting the 26th ADMS BOMARC surface-to-air missile site at {{Coord|41|40|56|N|070|32|21|W|display=inline|name=26th ADMS Bomarc site}}), the USAF also used an Air Defense Command operations shelter ({{Coord|42|23|20|N|070|58|10|W|display=inline|name=SAGE MM-1 (Ft Heath)}}){{Citation needed|date=March 2013}} for controlling the FPS-6Bs to process height requests from the sector's "Air Defense Control and Coordination System" (DC-02).{{r|Butler}} Activated at the fort in 1959 was the headquarters for the 820th Radar Squadron which, instead of being designated a "SAGE" radar squadron as with other units, was renamed an AC&W Sq in 1961. The 820th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron inactivated in 1962 after the operation—instead of using a "P" (Permanent) or "Z" (SAGE) designation as with other NORAD/ADC sites—had used the "MM-1" designation for the ADDC planned for collocation with the Army's 3rd operational Missile Master.
Planned Air Defense Direction Center
The Ft Heath "Joint Manual Direction Center" was planned by January 24, 1957,[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=TyQtAAAAIBAJ&sjid=c6QEAAAAIBAJ&pg=1094,1427806&dq=boston+missile-master&hl=en]{{dead link|date=August 2017}}
{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=nFNjAAAAIBAJ&pg=7257,2769273&dq=boston+missile-master&hl=en|title=U.S. Army Soon to Double Range of Guided Missiles|work=Saskatoon Star-Phoenix|date=Jan 24, 1957}}{{Cite news |date=May 2, 1957 |title='Missile Master' Survey Completed |url=http://209.212.22.88/DATA/RBR/1950-1959/1957/1957.05.02.pdf |location=Red Bank, New Jersey |newspaper=Red Bank Register |page=13 |access-date=2011-10-08}} and the site plan was approved on October 31, 1957. NORAD/CONAD used the "MM-1" designation for the JMDC in the June 1958 historical summary.{{r|NORAD1958b}} The summary estimated the AADCP and USAF ADDC would be operational in August 1960 with "Air Force operating consoles" in the Army bunker after the estimated March 1960 installation of the ARSR-1.{{Cite NORAD Historical Summary |version=1958 |accessdate=2013-04-22}} An AN/GPA-37 Course Directing Group installation was to be completed by April 1960 to allow manual USAF ADDC ground-controlled intercept operations until SAGE DC-02 was operational for the Boston Air Defense Sector (forecast August 1960).{{r|NORAD1958b}} The modification to the ARSR-1A configuration (Amplitron, "antenna gear box modification", etc.) was to be complete by November 1960.{{r|NORAD1958b}}
Radar station construction had begun by September 22, 1959,{{Cite news |date=September 22, 1959 |title=Missile Master Field Installations in Boston Area |newspaper=Daily Boston Globe |quote=Field Technicians and Service Engineers}} and by the end of 1959, Ft Heath was designated to be a Category 1a NORAD Control Center with the AN/GPA-37 to have the data processing computer for the SAGE TDDL to/from equipped interceptors.{{r|NORAD1959B}} However, since Ft Heath ADDC operation would have only been used for a few months until SAGE DC-02 had ground-controlled interception capability, the AN/GPA-37 installation was never completed.{{Citation needed|reason=The January -June 1959 NORAD/CONAD Historical Summary indicates the policy to not install AN/GPA-37 units, but it may not have been implemented to stop the GPA-37 installation at Fort Heath. Also, the July–December 1959 summary identifies the ADC 19 November 1959 plan "also asked that NORAD drop all requirement for the AN/GPA-67 [TDDL] equipment at the nine NCC's in Category 1", and NORAD "approved the plan on 21 January 1960." However, that summary also identifies 2 specific locations where "the Air Force equipment (AN/GPA-37/67)" to perform this function was no longer required at" Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, does not mention no longer required at Boston/Ft Heath. Note that the USAF squadron left Ft Heath in 1962 (earliest departure from a Missile Master).|date=May 2013}} For the SAGE/Missile Master test program, NORAD requested an abbreviated AN/FSG-1 "be made available…in the Boston area by 1 Ju.l.y 1959" and during Ft Heath bunker construction, 5 of 7 Glenn L. Martin pallets of FSG-1 equipment were assembled at the nearby Fort Banks{{r|NORAD1958B}} for testing with the Experimental SAGE Subsector (XD-1 prototype AN/FSQ-7 at Lexington, Massachusetts) for the Second Phase NORAD SAGE/Missile Master test (September 1959) to assess the Automatic Targeting and Battery Evaluation algorithm.{{r|NORAD1958B}}{{rp|40}}
=Missile Master nuclear bunker=
The Fort Heath Direction Center (B-21DC) was the Army Air Defense Command Post for the Boston Defense Area housed in the partially underground nuclear bunker and manned by the Air Defense Brigade{{Which|date=March 2013}} headquartered at Fort Banks. To network the local "Missile Master organic radars"{{r|FM44}} and several remote Nike batteries' radars, the Direction Center (DC) became operational {{circa|lk=no|April}} 1960{{r|Meriden}} at the site{{Specify| coordinates? |date=March 2013}} formerly used by the MIT research building.{{cite web |date=11 June 2012 |title=Fort Heath |url=http://www.fortwiki.com/Fort_Heath |publisher=FortWiki.com |access-date=2013-03-13}} The DC included a Martin AN/FSG-1 Antiaircraft Defense System with consoles and overhead displays of the tactical display and tracking subsystems within an Antiaircraft Operations Center ("Blue Room") recessed in a pit with a stage. Instead of an underground decontamination water supply beneath the AAOC as with the nominal bunker plan,{{Cite report |title=Selfridge Field, Building No. 1050… |url=https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/MI0684/ |number=HAER No. MI-684 |location=Library of Congress |publisher=Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record |access-date=2011-09-27}} the Army Corps of Engineers (New England District){{Citation needed|date=March 2013}} had exterior emergency water tanks built in addition to a 210,000 gallon freshwater tank.{{r|Butler}} The typical FSG-1 crew was 22 soldiers and 5 company grade officers, and the bunker had an office{{Cite journal |date=March 1958 |title=Missile Master Air Defense System |url=http://coldwar-c4i.net/Missile-Master/RTN0358-054.html |journal=Radio & TV News |pages=54–5 |access-date=2011-09-26}} ([http://coldwar-c4i.net/Missile-Master/RTN0358-055.html page 55)] {{cite web |last=Liebing |first=Ralph |title=History of the 2d Artillery Group (Air Defense) |work=Unit Histories |url=http://ed-thelen.org/unit-histories.html |access-date=2011-09-24}} for the Army Air Defense Commander.{{r|FM44}}
In 1962 the Boston Defense Area merged with the Hartford and Providence areas to become the New England Defense Area,{{Citation needed|date=March 2013}} and in early 1965{{r|Winkler}} the vacuum tube AN/FSG-1 was replaced with a solid-state Martin AN/GSG-5 BIRDIE (than a Hughes AN/TSQ-51 by July 1968).{{r|McMaster}} The "control site" was demolished in 1969{{cite web |title=Harbor Defenses of Boston (MA) |url=https://www.google.com/#sclient=psy-ab&hl=en&source=hp&q=%22Became+a+MISSILE+MASTER+control+site+in+the+1950%27s+(demolished+1969).%22&pbx=1&oq=%22Became+a+MISSILE+MASTER+control+site+in+the+1950%27s+(demolished+1969).%22&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=6459l9298l1l9782l3l3l0l0l0l0l687l1217l2-2.5-1l3l0&fp=1&biw=1600&bih=704&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&cad=b |publisher=keyhole.com |access-date=2011-09-13 |quote=Became a MISSILE MASTER control site in the 1950s (demolished 1969). The FAA obtained a radar site here from 1965 to 1986}} (the bunker remained in 1971),{{Cite web|url=https://www.historicaerials.com/|title=NETRonline: Historic Aerials|website=www.historicaerials.com}} and after a Rhode Island AN/TSQ-51 had opened by July 1, 1970,{{r|McMaster}} Project Concise closed the remaining Nike batteries in 1974.
The site of the former radar station now includes a small park and a complex of large apartment buildings.
References
{{Reflist |refs=
{{Cite map |publisher=U.S. military |title=1961 Plan of Fort Heath |cartography=tbd |year=1970 }}
{{Cite book |last1=Butler |first1=Gerald W |last2=Shaner |first2=Mary |last3=Shaner |first3=Richard |date=12 December 2001 |title=The Guns of Boston Harbor |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=okCNGLr7920C&pg=PA351 |isbn=9780759647305 |access-date=2013-03-01 |quote=In 1958, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) constructed long-range acquisition radar at Fort Heath. Commissioned in 1959, the ARSR-1 radar was used to track aircraft 220 miles distant for flight-following" purposes. …the army and air force also used this surveillance radar for Air Defense Control and Coordination Systems (ADCCS).}}
{{Citation |date=February 1963 |title=Missile Master… |type=field manual |volume=FM44-1 |publisher=United States Army |quote=AN/FSG-1 … f. Utilizes reference track data from local radars and voice communications with the NORAD sector direction center (NSDC) … 22. Normal Tracking. The S & E officers and the trackers monitor the SAGE reference track data … 34. General … The two surveillance and entry consoles…are separated by a channel status unit … "Missile Master organic radars:" … SAGE SELECTOR two-position switch: Selects SAGE 1 or SAGE 2 (primary or secondary SAGE DC) as the source of SAGE data. … 45. Range-Height Subsystem a. Equipment. The range-height equipment consists of two RHI consoles (fig. 15) and two antenna control units}}
{{Cite news |date=July 15, 1960 |title=Boston Center May Control Conn. Missiles |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=x85HAAAAIBAJ&pg=752,1532635&dq=highlands+air+force&hl=en |format=Google News archive |newspaper=Meriden Record |access-date=2013-03-04 |quote=The Boston missile master, although operational, is still being tested and has not been hooked up with any Connecticut missile sites. }}
{{Cite news |date=June 7, 1960 |title=Base is Dedicated: 'Blue Room' at Missile Master Gives Eerie But Secure Feeling |url=http://209.212.22.88/DATA/RBR/1960-1969/1960/1960.06.07.pdf |location=Red Bank, New Jersey |newspaper=Red Bank Register |pages=1–2 |access-date=2011-09-30 |quote=In addition to the New York area, Missile Master sites are now operational in the Baltimore-Washington area, Seattle and Boston. |archive-date=2012-03-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120323151514/http://209.212.22.88/DATA/RBR/1960-1969/1960/1960.06.07.pdf |url-status=dead }} (photograph caption).
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{{External media
|image1 =[http://ed-thelen.org/J-McGrath/NBANKS.HTM ARSR-1 on tower behind FAA building]
|image2 =[http://coldwar-ma.com/B-21DC_Ft.html B-21DC Missile Master bunker]
}}
Category:Installations of the United States Air Force in Massachusetts
Category:1960 establishments in Massachusetts
Category:1969 disestablishments in Massachusetts
Category:Military installations closed in 1969