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 20 October 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

See also

• List of USAF Aerospace Defense Command General Surveillance Radar Stations

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