Louis Blotner Radar Bomb Scoring Site

Last updated

Louis Blotner Radar Bomb Scoring Site
Loring Air Force Base, Aroostook, Maine
Coordinates 47°00′30″N68°01′07″W / 47.00833°N 68.01861°W / 47.00833; -68.01861 [1]
Typemilitary radar station
Area6.59 acres (2.67 ha) [2] [3]

The Louis Blotner Radar Site was a tracking site (Not an RBS site) in Connor, Maine at the former NIKE missile launch site. Activated in June 1963 and operational until after 1979, The Ashland site was an AUTOTRACK radar site operated by Detachment 7 of the 1st Combat Evaluation Group. [4] The station simulated Electronic Countermeasures and Radar Bomb Scoring for the Ashland Training Range's low-level training route "over Bangor north to Houlton, Maine." [3]

Contents

History

The site was constructed at a former 1957 NIKE battery control area (radar site) which, had been conveyed to Blotner Trailer Sales in 1962, [1] the SAC radar station was initially a mobile site with temporarily-emplaced systems. [5] In 1975, the site was planned to become permanent, [3] but instead groundbreaking in June 1979 was for the nearby Ashland Radar Station. [5] [6] The "Blotner Site" was subsequently used for Louis Blotner Communications Facility No. 1 of Det 2, 1000 SOG in 1987-1993, and the enlisted men's barracks operated as a general store in August 1992. [1] In 1996 the former Ashland site was planned for civilian transfer. [7]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Strategic Air Command</span> 1946–1992 US Air Force major command

Strategic Air Command (SAC) was a United States Department of Defense Specified Command and a United States Air Force (USAF) Major Command responsible for command and control of the strategic bomber and intercontinental ballistic missile components of the United States military's strategic nuclear forces from 1946 to 1992. SAC was also responsible for strategic reconnaissance aircraft; airborne command posts; and most of the USAF's aerial refueling aircraft.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eglin Air Force Base</span> United States Air Force operating base in northwestern Florida

Eglin Air Force Base is a United States Air Force (USAF) base in the western Florida Panhandle, located about three miles (5 km) southwest of Valparaiso in Okaloosa County.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Loring Air Force Base</span> Former US Air Force base in northeast Maine

Loring Air Force Base was a United States Air Force installation in northeastern Maine, near Limestone and Caribou in Aroostook County. It was one of the largest bases of the U.S. Air Force's Strategic Air Command during its existence, and was transferred to the newly created Air Combat Command in 1992.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Project Nike</span> Missile program of the United States Army

Project Nike was a U.S. Army project, proposed in May 1945 by Bell Laboratories, to develop a line-of-sight anti-aircraft missile system. The project delivered the United States' first operational anti-aircraft missile system, the Nike Ajax, in 1953. A great number of the technologies and rocket systems used for developing the Nike Ajax were re-used for a number of functions, many of which were given the "Nike" name . The missile's first-stage solid rocket booster became the basis for many types of rocket including the Nike Hercules missile and NASA's Nike Smoke rocket, used for upper-atmosphere research.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barksdale Air Force Base</span> United States historic place

Barksdale Air Force Base is a United States Air Force (USAF) base in Bossier Parish, Louisiana, in northwest Louisiana. Much of the base is within the city limits of Bossier City, Louisiana, along the base's western and northwestern edge. Barksdale AFB occupies more than 22,000 acres (89 km2) east of Bossier City and along the southern edge of Interstate 20. More than 15,000 active-duty and Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC) members serve at Barksdale.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hunter Army Airfield</span> Military airfield near Hinesville, Georgia, US

Hunter Army Airfield, located in Savannah, Georgia, United States, is a military airfield and subordinate installation to Fort Stewart located in Hinesville, Georgia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1st Combat Evaluation Group</span> Military unit

The 1st Combat Evaluation Group was a Strategic Air Command (SAC) unit. It was formed on 1 August 1961 to merge the 3908th Strategic Standardization Group for SAC aircrew evaluation with the 1st Radar Bomb Scoring Group that had originated from the 263rd Army Air Force Base Unit which transferred from 15th AF to directly under Strategic Air Command c. 1946. The 1CEVG formed after SAC switched to low-level tactics to counter Soviet surface-to-air missiles and SAC had "developed a Radar Bomb Scoring field kit for use in NIKE Systems" in early 1960 for scoring SAC training missions against US Hercules SAM sites. The 1CEVG headquarters included an Office of History and a "standardization and evaluation school" for command examiners.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charleston Air Force Station</span> Defunct Air Force Station

Charleston Air Force Station is a defunct Air Force Station that opened in 1952 and closed in 1980. It was located in Charleston, Maine and is the site of a radar station and other buildings. After closure, it was redeveloped into a juvenile jail for the state of Maine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reeves AN/MSQ-77 Bomb Directing Central</span> US military computerized tracking radar

The Reeves AN/MSQ-77 Bomb Directing Central, Radar was a United States Air Force automatic tracking radar/computer system for command guidance of aircraft. It was often used during Vietnam War bomb runs at nighttime and during bad weather. Developed from the Reeves AN/MSQ-35, the AN/MSQ-77 reversed the process of Radar Bomb Scoring by continually estimating the bomb impact point before bomb release with a vacuum tube ballistic computer. Unlike "Course Directing Central" systems which guided aircraft to a predetermined release point, the AN/MSQ-77 algorithm continuously predicted bomb impact points during the radar track while the AN/MSQ-77's control commands adjusted the aircraft course. A close air support regulation prohibited AN/MSQ-77 Combat Skyspot bombing within 1,000 yd (910 m) of friendly forces unless authorized by a Forward Air Controller, and "on several occasions" strikes were as close as 273 yd (250 m).

Cheli Air Force Station, in Bell, southeastern Los Angeles County, California, was a United States Air Force installation and a Cold War Radar Bomb Scoring site of the Strategic Air Command, from 1947 to 1961.

Radar Bomb Scoring is a combat aviation ground support operation used to evaluate Cold War aircrews' effectiveness with simulated unguided bomb drops near radar stations of the United States Navy, the USAF Strategic Air Command, and Army Project Nike units. USAF RBS used various ground radar, computers, and other electronic equipment such as jammers to disrupt operations of the bomber's radar navigator, AAA/SAM simulators to require countermeasures from the bomber, and Radar Bomb Scoring Centrals for estimating accuracy of simulated bombings. Scores for accuracy and electronic warfare effectiveness were transmitted from radar sites such as those at Strategic Range Training Complexes.

The Lowry Bombing and Gunnery Range (LBGR) was a World War II and Cold War facility that included 4 of the 6 HGM-25A Titan I missile launch complexes southeast of Denver, Colorado.

RBS Express railroad trains were 3 mobile United States Air Force radar stations for 1CEVG Radar Bomb Scoring (RBS) of Strategic Air Command bomber crews beginning in March 1961. Electronic equipment included the "MSQ-39, TLQ-11, MPS-9, and the IFF/SIF for the MSQ-39" along with support railcars, and the trains were temporarily used at various rail sites with the radar antennas emplaced using hoists built onto flatcars. Pulled by a "contracted locomotive" that left the train at the site, and a North American B-25 Mitchell was used for calibration of the radar station.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">99th Range Group</span> Military unit

The 99th Range Group is an inactive United States Air Force (USAF) unit. It was last stationed at Nellis AFB, Nevada, where it was responsible for the Nevada Test and Training Range (NTTR).

The Stockton Ordance Depot was a World War II vehicle repair facility, supply depot, and camp for German and Italian prisoners of war. The installation was also used as a USAF radar station and a DLA Defense Distribution Center.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hawthorne Bomb Plot</span> Formerly Used Defense Site in Nevada

Hawthorne Bomb Plot is a Formerly Used Defense Site that had a Strategic Air Command (SAC) AUTOTRACK radar station during the Cold War. Operations began at a temporary RBS train site for RBS Express #2 was at the Hawthorne area in December 1961, and the 11th Radar Bomb Scoring Squadron subsequently established the fixed military installation for Radar Bomb Scoring in Babbitt, Nevada, the military housing community near the local Navy/Army depot.

The Interior Radar Bomb Scoring Site opened in August 1960 on Hurley Butte, adjacent to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and a few miles from Interior, South Dakota. The Interior RBSS is a Formerly Used Defense Site, that closed in 1968.

The 3903rd Radar Bomb Scoring Group was a military evaluation unit under direct command of Strategic Air Command (SAC) headquarters for scoring simulated bomb runs using automatic tracking radar stations. Initially an Army Air Forces Base Unit (AAFBU) and then a squadron, the 3903rd RBS Group was personnel, assets, and detachments were redesignated the 1st Radar Bomb Scoring Group and then the 1CEVG Radar Bomb Scoring Division when the RBS Group merged with the 3908th Strategic Standardization Group in 1961, the year RBS Express trains began to be used for low-altitude Boeing B-52 Stratofortress operations..

The Reeves AN/MSQ-1 Close Support Control Set produced by Reeves Instrument Corporation was a trailer-mounted combination radar/computer/communication developed under a Rome Air Development Center program office for Cold War command guidance of manned aircraft Developed for Korean War ground-directed bombing, one detachment of the 3903rd Radar Bomb Scoring Squadron bombed itself with an MSQ-1 because it mistakenly used procedures for the earlier SCR-584/OA-294 system The MSQ-1 was subsequently used for nuclear testing during Operation Teapot, and for aircraft tests such as for "MSQ-1 controlled pinpoint photography" in 1954.

Ashland Radar Station was a United States Air Force station located in Ashland, Maine operational from around 1975 to 1990. Sitting on 6.59 acres (2.67 ha).

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Locations of Former NIKE MISSILE SITES (text)" . Retrieved 1 April 2013. GPS 47-00-41, 68-01-11…16-unit housing area at[ verification needed ] was transferred to the Air Force and became Loring Family Housing Annex No. 3, NRCX
  2. "Off-Site Parcels [map]". Community Relations Plan - Loring Air Force Base (LORNG_AR_2069.pdf) (Report). Vol. AR File Number 2069 (Installation Restoration Program). Cambridge: WPI, Inc. May 1995. p. 37. Ashland Radar Bomb Scoring consists of 6.59 acre parcel in Ashland, southwest of Loring AFB. (map shows "Blotner Site" northeast of the "Det 7, 1st CEVG" site.)
  3. 1 2 3 Spruce, Christopher (5 September 1975). "Ashland radar site aids Air Force training" (Google News Archive). Bangor Daily News. Retrieved 10 April 2013. The Ashland radar site complex consists of a power production plant, a maintenance and supply area, a communications room, an operations area, administrative offices, and the radar scoring and ECM areas. Although the local RBS site is now permanent…We'll be having a full water supply and a sewer system. [Lt. Col. James H. Tiller, after being stationed at the Bismarck Bomb Plot, assumed] his first command at the Ashland site
  4. [ dead link ]
  5. 1 2 "Permanent radar site construction begins" (Google News Archive). Bangor Daily News. 4 June 1979. Retrieved 10 April 2013. Lt. Col. Gene Riggs, Chief of Radar Bomb Development, Headquarters, 1st Combat Evaluation Group at Barksdale AFB, La.; Col. Anthony Papaner 1, Deputy Commander for Radar Bomb Scoring, Headquarters, at Barksdale …
  6. "Bangor Daily News - Google News Archive Search".
  7. "Bangor Daily News - Google News Archive Search".