History of Palermo GATR, NJ

In 1948 the Air Force activated an AN/TPS-1B Lashup search radar at this southern New Jersey site (L-13) that fed into a manual control center established at Roslyn, New York. This radar site was incorporated into the Lashup system and the follow-on permanent network. In 1951 AN/CPS-5 and AN/TPS-10A height-finder radars were added to the site. By April 1952 the 770th AC&W Squadron was operating AN/CPS-4 and AN/FPS-3 sets. In the spring of 1957, this site was one of the first to deploy an AN/FPS-20 search radar. The site also received two AN/FPS-6 height-finder radars at this time. The site became a SAGE feeder in June 1958. By late 1959 this station also was performing air-traffic-control duties. On October 1, 1961, the 770th Radar Squadron (SAGE) and the site designation left for Fort Meade, Maryland (RP-54) (a joint-use Army / Air Force radar site). The GATR site (R-14) remained in use. Plans to convert the Palermo site to a gap-filler annex were cancelled following the loss of Texas Tower No. 4 (TT-4) in Jan 1961. The AN/FPS-20 search radar was retained, operated by Detachment 1 of the New York Air Defense Sector. This unit was redesignated the 680th Radar Squadron (SAGE) (relocated from Yaak AFS, MT, P-11) in 1962, and the P-54 site designation returned to Palermo in 1963 as Z-54. [The Fort Meade radar site was redesignated as Z-227.] In 1963, the AN/FPS-20 was upgraded into an AN/FPS-65. In 1968 one AN/FPS-6 height-finder radar was retired. Radar operations ceased 30 March 1970, and the 680th Radar Squadron was deactivated in May 1970. The GATR site (R-28) remained in use until 1976.

References: "Searching the Skies"; misc. ADCOM documents; eyewitness accounts.


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