Port Isabel Air Force Station

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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 / 26.15556°N 97.33778°W / 26.15556; -97.33778 (Port Isabel AFS TM-190)Coordinates: 26°09′20″N 097°20′16″W / 26.15556°N 97.33778°W / 26.15556; -97.33778 (Port Isabel AFS TM-190)
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

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.

History[]

Port Isabel Air Force Station came into existence as part of Phase III of the Air Defense Command Mobile Radar program. On October 20, 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 website http://www.afhra.af.mil/.

• 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

External links[]