Lufkin Air Force Station

Lufkin Air Force Station
Lufkin Air Force Station
Part of Air Defense Command (ADC)
	Lufkin AFS Location of Lufkin AFS, Texas
Coordinates	31°25′17″N 094°48′10″W / 31.42139°N 94.80278°W
Type	Air Force Station
Site information
Controlled by	United States Air Force
Site history
Built	1957
In use	1957-1961
Garrison information
Garrison	815th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron

Lufkin Air Force Station (ADC ID: TM-193) is a closed United States Air Force General Surveillance Radar station. It is located 7.2 miles (11.6 km) northwest of Lufkin, Texas. It was closed in 1961.

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History

Lufkin 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 815th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron was moved to Lufkin AFS on 14 February 1957. It began operating an AN/FPS-3A search radar and an AN/FPS-6 height-finder radar, 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 Lufkin on 1 June 1961 due to budgetary constraints. The site is now home to one of the Texas state supported living centers.

Air Force units and assignments

Units

Constituted as the 815th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron

Activated on 8 November 1956 at Oklahoma City AFS, OK (not equipped or manned)

Moved to Lufkin AFS on 1 November 1957

Discontinued and inactivated on 1 June 1961

Assignments

33d Air Division, 1 November 1957
Oklahoma City Air Defense Sector, 1 Jan 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^{[dead link]}, The Legacy of the United States Cold War Defense Radar Program, US Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratories, Champaign, IL (1997).
Information for Lufkin AFS, TX