Cudjoe Key Air Force Station

Cudjoe Key Air Force Station (earlier Cudjoe Key Missile Tracking Annex, Eglin AFB Site "No D 8") is a Formerly Used Defense Site of 68.5 acres (27.7 ha)[1] in Monroe County, Florida, 7 mi (11 km) Northeast of Perky, Florida.[2]

Background

In February 1959, the county commissioned approved a water line to the "missile tracking site on Cudjoe Key" being built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.[3] Activated on 16 Jun 1959[2] by the Army, the site was "to track missiles traveling over the Eglin Gulf Test Range. The Air Force assumed operations in 1960" (the initial site code J-08 was changed to Z-399[4] in 1963.)

On 30 June 1967, the station transferred from the jurisdiction of Eglin AFB to Goodfellow AFB[2] after beginning a May 1967 classified mission for the USAF Security Service.[4] On 30 September 1970 the military installation transferred to Tyndall Air Force Base,[2] and in 1973 the first aerostat of the Tethered Aerostat Radar System was deployed at the site.[5]

Aerospace Defense Command / Tactical Air Command / Air Combat Command

By 1977 the site had transferred under "the 671st Radar Squadron [at] Homestead" Air Force Base, and the site manager was John Workman in a unit that worked for the Patrick AFB Range Measurements Laboratory.[6] In 1981 the aerostat broke free while being brought down prior to a storm, and it was later shot down by an F-4 Phantom,[7] and the aerostat broke free again in 1989 and 1991.[3] in 2007 a private Cessna crashed into the tethers, killing 3 passengers.[3] In 2013, petition signatures were being gathered to keep the "Fat Albert" Aerostat at the station.[5]

By 2005, the annex had been redesignated as both Cudjoe Key Air Force Station and Detachment 3, Southeast Air Defense Sector, with the latter unit embedded at the site.[8]

References

  1. ↑ http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CZIC-td194-56-f6-n27-1981/xml/CZIC-td194-56-f6-n27-1981.xml
  2. 1 2 3 4 Mueller, Robert (1989). "Eglin Air Force Base". Air Force Bases (PDF) (Report). Volume I: Active Air Force Bases Within the United States of America on 17 September 1982. Office of Air Force History. p. 136. ISBN 0-912799-53-6. Retrieved 2013-08-15.
  3. 1 2 3 "title tbd". February 4, 2009. Retrieved 2014-07-09. 50 YEARS AGO…The Monroe County Commission approved a request by the U.S. Army Crops of Engineers to lay a water line to the missile tracking site on Cudjoe Key.
  4. 1 2 Winkler, David F; Webster, Julie L (June 1997). Searching the Skies: The Legacy of the United States Cold War Defense Radar Program (PDF) (Report). Champaign, IL: U.S. Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratories. LCCN 97020912. Retrieved 2013-04-23. The [PAVE PAWS] structure consists of two AN/FPS-115 phased-array radars mounted on a triangular building. … Installed at Laredo AFB in Texas, the first AN/FPS-17 was used to track rockets launched from White Sands, New Mexico. (transcription available at the Federation of American Scientists website)
  5. 1 2 Linhardt, Adam (January 23, 2013). "Keys icon deflated in name of progress: Blimp, seen as crime deterrent, has storied past". Retrieved 2014-07-09. There are actually two TARS blimps at Cudjoe Key, according to the Air Force. Both are low-level surveillance systems. One was formerly used by the State Department to transmit TV Marti, an American television signal, into Cuba. The other blimp is used in counter-drug operations and by the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), according to the Air Force.
  6. ↑ https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1964&dat=19770815&id=l9wiAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Dc4FAAAAIBAJ&pg=7183,122364
  7. ↑ https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=860&dat=19810812&id=tktPAAAAIBAJ&sjid=CY8DAAAAIBAJ&pg=4645,3097271
  8. ↑ Detachment 3: Southeast Air Defense Sector, Cudjoe Key AFS (military designation sign with aerostat in background), Radomes.org, year tbd for webpage image, retrieved 2014-07-09 Check date values in: |date= (help)

Coordinates: 24°41′56″N 81°30′18″W / 24.699°N 81.505°W / 24.699; -81.505

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