Selfridge AFB radar station

{{Short description|Military facility}}

{{Infobox military installation

| name = Selfridge AFB
Army Air Defense Command Post

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| type = Army command and control facility

| image = 1965 Missile Master interfaces.png

| caption = The Selfridge AADCP networked local radars (middle, bottom) and directed Michigan's Nike fire units--each with a network of 3 radars (top) for acquiring the target, tracking the target, and tracking/guiding the Nike missile.

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| coordinates = {{coord|42|37|37|N|82|49|47|W|display=inline,title}}

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| location = Detroit Defense Area, Michigan

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{{External media |width=25em |float=cright

|image1=[https://books.google.com/books?id=pM2sRXPgGhsC&pg=PA91 1960 radar station w/ tower (bunker site to left)]

|image2=[http://nikehercules.tripod.com/d-15dc.html Missile Master complex in 1961] & [http://www.radomes.org/museum/recent/SelfridgeAFBMI.html c2004]

|image3=[http://57thbombwing.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=58236 radar station & "GATR site"]

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The Selfridge AFB radar station is a United States military facility in Michigan. It began operations in 1949 with a Bendix AN/CPS-5 Radar test that tracked aircraft at {{convert|210|mi|abbr=on}}.{{Citation needed|date=September 2011}} A height finder MIT AN/CPS-4 Radar was added by March 9, 1950;[http://www.nicap.org/selfridge.htm] and the station was site L-17 of the Lashup Radar Network and site LP-17{{When|date=October 2011}} of the subsequent network during construction of the Air Defense Command permanent network. The 661st Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron was activated at Selfridge in 1951, and with a pair of General Electric AN/CPS-6 Radars,{{Clarify|did these replace the CPS-5?|date=September 2011}} the station became site LP-20 of the permanent ADC network in 1952. In 1957 the station added a height finder General Electric AN/FPS-6 Radar. The station became part of the Semi Automatic Ground Environment radar network in 1959, supplying radar tracks to SAGE data center DC-06 at Custer Air Force Station, Michigan, for directing interceptor aircraft and CIM-10 Bomarc air defense missiles.

By 1960, the AN/CPS-6 radar had been replaced by a Bendix AN/FPS-20 Radar for general surveillance, and the site had an additional General Electric AN/FPS-6A height-finder radar. A Sperry AN/FPS-35 radar installed at the station's tower in 1961 became operational in 1962, and the AN/FPS-6A height-finder was replaced with an Avco AN/FPS-26A Radar c. 1963. On 31 July 1963, Selfridge AFB was redesignated as NORAD site Z-20.

The 661st AC & WS also operated Gap Filler sites with Bendix AN/FPS-18 Radars before inactivating on July 1, 1974. The radar station was shared with the United States Army for Nike missile command-and-control.

In 1960, Army Air Defense Command Post (AADCP) D-15DC was constructed for coordinating Nike surface-to-air missile launches from numerous Michigan batteries from Algonac/Marine City (D-17) south to Carleton (D-57) & Newport (D-58). The AADCP closed when the Army deactivated the remaining D-06, D-58, & D-87 batteries in April 1974 at Utica, Newport, and Commerce/Union Lake.

The former radar station is the location of a United States Marine Corps Reserve unit and the Selfridge Military Air Museum & Air Park. The Missile Master bunker was subsequently used as an air traffic control center[https://web.archive.org/web/20120401135706/http://www.saffm.hq.af.mil/shared/media/document/AFD-090416-118.pdf RAPCON center] staffed by the 2031st Communications Squadron.[https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1955&dat=19660214&id=3SErAAAAIBAJ&sjid=mZ0FAAAAIBAJ&pg=6649,6460015 2031st] and [https://books.google.com/books?id=pM2sRXPgGhsC&pg=PA98] Documents regarding the bunker, demolished in 2005, have been entered in the Historic American Engineering Record.{{Cite web |last=Bateman |first=Tom |title=Site D-15DC - Selfridge AFB/ANGB |url=http://nikehercules.tripod.com/d-15dc.html |work=Detroit - Cleveland Defense Area |publisher=NikeHercules.Tripod.com |accessdate=2011-09-16}}{{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 |accessdate=2011-09-27}}