The Informer: Radar station moniker was ‘mushroom on the horizon'
The Lake Charles Air Force Station — once located southeast of Lake Charles and across the street from the McNeese State University Farm — was one of seven radar stations on the Gulf Coast in 1976, stretching from El Paso, Texas, to Mobile, Ala.
The seven stations comprised what was known as the 630th Radar Squadron. The Lake Charles station was part of the Air Defense Command's Southern Air Defense Network and was headed by Master Sgt. Earl Woody.
'The mission of the radar station is to operate and maintain installed radar to support Air Defense Operations within its assigned area of responsibility 24 hours a day,' Woody told the American Press for a May 16, 1976, article.
In layman's terms, that meant the station's role was to track aircraft attempting to illegally enter the country.
The smaller-sized radar station — mushroom-shaped and 50-feet tall — was part of a pilot program initiated by the Air Defense Command.
Lake Charles Air Force Station was responsible for the maintenance of one remote unattended gap-filler radar site. The unattended gap filler sites were placed in locations where the main search radar lacked coverage. These sites were equipped with short-range FPS-14 or FPS-18 search radars and FST-1 coordinate data transmitters that sent digitized radar target data to a SAGE (Semi-Automatic Ground Environment) direction center and to the main radar site in Houston.
Woody said the data collected by the radar station since its opening in 1973 provided the Air Defense Command comparable results as those produced at much larger radar squadrons — at a sizable reduction in costs to the taxpayer.
In 1976, the station was operated by seven Air Force enlisted personnel and 18 civilian contract personnel.
'The unit operates on an annual budget of approximately one-half million dollars, most of which is channeled into the local economy,' Woody told the American Press.
Woody said unlike most Air Force assignments, the members of the Lake Charles Air Force Station were dependent on the community for things such as housing, medical care, recreation, groceries and exchange facilities.
'Without exception, an assignment to this unit is considered throughout the Air Force community as a very desirable tour of duty,' Woody said. 'We attribute this to the kind hospitality of the citizens of the greater Lake Charles area.'
The site continued operations over the next two decades.
Lake Charles Air Force Station permanently closed on Sept. 30, 1995, when it was replaced by a new FAA ARSR-4 Joint Surveillance System site on the northwest side of the city.
Now, little remains of the original buildings except for the headquarters building which is intact.
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