Salt Lake City Radar Bomb Scoring Site

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The Salt Lake City Radar Bomb Scoring Site [3] ("Salt Lake Bomb Plot") is a Formerly Used Defense Site that was an automatic tracking (AUTOTRACK) radar station during the Cold War. Operated by Detachment 6 of the 11th Radar Bomb Scoring Squadron [3] which had relocated from the Phoenix semi-mobile RBS station in December 1964, [4] the military installation evaluated practice bomb runs by Strategic Air Command simulating attacks on the metropolitan area (e.g., during the 1955 Bombing and Navigation Competition) [5] and on the Hill Air Force Range [6] which had been the Salt Lake City Army Air Base Gunnery Range in World War II.

Originally part of the Salt Lake City Army Airfield, the 0.34 acres (0.14 ha) site at "Salt Lake City Municipal Airport No. 1 (now Salt Lake City International Airport), on the corner of Second Street and E Street" [3] was leased by the USAF from the Salt Lake City Corporation for the site. Equipment included tracking radar ("radar bomb scoring device") which mistakenly resulted in "a dropping of practice" bomb on one occasion, [7] and the 1960 Salt Lake B-58 crash occurred while on a bomb run tracked from the site. Det 6 also provided technicians for the first SAC RBS Express train created in 1961 from "existing U.S. Army stock" at the nearby Ogden General Depot [8] (the Tooele Army Depot's [9] "Army Rail Shops" serviced the train). [10]

Designated FUDS J08UT092700,[ when? ] in May 2005 the site was part of the 135 acres (55 ha) Utah Air National Guard installation. [3]

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References

  1. ↑ "Army Corps of Engineers, Formerly Used Defense Sites - List of Sites Sorted by". corpsfuds.org. Archived from the original on 5 October 2013. Retrieved 15 January 2022.
  2. ↑ Finding of No Department of Defense Actions Indicated: …Milford Radar Bomb Scoring Site (PDF) (Report). CorpsFUDS.org. Retrieved 8 July 2012.[ permanent dead link ] ((Google Maps shows 2 locations)
  3. 1 2 3 4 Prepared by EMASSIST, INC. (May 2005). Salt Lake City Air Reserve Center: DERP-FUDS site no. J08UT092700 (No DoD Actions Indicated document) (Report). U.S. Army Corps of Engineers . Retrieved 17 July 2012. The site has formerly been known as Salt Lake City Air Base, Salt Lake City Army Air Field, Salt Lake City Bomb Scoring Site, Salt Lake City Radar Bomb Scoring Site, and Air Force Installation No. 2247. The site is 0.34 of an acre. … Bldg No. 1305 [was used] After renovation, the Air Force used it as an airman dormitoryfor the radar bomb scoring detachments.[ permanent dead link ] (includes p. 5 site map has a designator mark corresponding to 40.781126,-111.956327 on the newer Google image)
  4. ↑ "title tbd". Archived from the original (biography) on 13 May 2008. About May 1954 he was assigned to a semi-mobile Radar Bomb Scoring/Electronic Counter Measures Unit (SAC) at Phoenix, Arizona – in December 1954 that unit relocated to the municipal airport at Salt Lake City, Utah.
  5. ↑ "Spokane Daily Chronicle - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com.
  6. ↑ Gwynn, J. Wallace (4 October 1980). Great Salt Lake. Utah Geological Survey. ISBN   9781557910837 – via Google Books.
  7. ↑ "Subscription" . Salt Lake City: Salt Lake Tribune. 17 March 1950. p. 24. Retrieved 7 June 2023– via NewspaperArchive.com.
  8. ↑ "Bombers To Descend Near Alto Series of Mock Air Attacks". The Cherokeean. Rusk, Texas. 28 December 1961. Retrieved 9 July 2012. At the target area near Greenville, radar bomb scoring equipment mounted on an Air Force train
  9. ↑ "The Tooele Army Depot". UtahRails.net. 5 August 2011. Retrieved 8 July 2012.
  10. ↑ Livingood, Jay. "Rail Bomb 'Scorer' Gets Overhaul At Hill Air Base". The Deseret News . Retrieved 8 July 2012.
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