Not really a ''lashup'' site per se; the site was termed a temporary ''gap filler'' at the time. The 903rd AC&W Squadron itself relocated to Gettsburg AFS, SD (M-99) circa 1956.
Current Use: See 801st AC&W Squadron, Malmstrom AFB, MT (TM-147).
NOTICE:
Some photos and documents may be marked with varying degrees of classification,
up to SECRET. Data so marked is the way it was delivered from official USAF sources,
and have been completely declassified. To the best of our knowledge, no
currently classified data is stored on this site.
By 1954, several AC&W squadrons had been formed at then Great Falls AFB. The 903rd AC&W Squadron was one of them, and operated an AN/TPS-1D (termed a ''gap-filler''; this radar was used probably for training purposes {?}). The 903rd AC&W Squadron subsequently relocated to Gettysburg AFS, SD. Meanwhile, in 1957, under the control of the 801st AC&W Squadron, the Malmstrom AFB radar station became operational with AN/FPS-20 search and AN/FPS-6 height-finder radars. A second AN/FPS-6 series height-finder radar was added in 1960, and subsequently was upgraded to an AN/FPS-90 set. In 1959 this station was performing air-traffic-control duties for the FAA, and joined the SAGE system circa 1961. In 1964 the site received an AN/FPS-24 search radar, replacing the AN/FPS-20. The 801st Radar Squadron (SAGE) was deactivated on 31 December 1969. However, the radar site itself rejoined the SAGE network on 30 June 1971. The FAA operated an AN/FPS-65 search radar (which had replaced the AN/FPS-24), and the Air Force added an AN/FPS-90 height-finder radar. This height-finder radar later became an AN/FPS-116 for the JSS Program, then was removed circa 1988. The Malmstrom AFB radar site was closed altogether in the late 1990s, replaced by a new ARSR-4 JSS site on Bootlegger Ridge north of Great Falls. References: "Searching the Skies"; misc. ADCOM documents; eyewitness accounts.