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for the civil engineering building, the station buildings were connected by heated hallways. As a result, personnel stationed there, with few exceptions, were able to wear "summer" uniforms year round, unless they had a need to go outside in winter. The coverings of the station's three radar towers were heated from within to keep the covering from becoming brittle from extreme cold, and thus subject to being damaged or destroyed by high winds. Tours at the station were limited to one year because of the psychological strain and physical hardships.
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The station consisted of a power/heating plant, water and fuel storage tanks, gymnasium and other support office buildings. Two other buildings contained living quarters, work areas, and recreational facilities, plus opportunities for sports such as skiing, skating, horseshoes, and basketball. Except
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initiated "Operation Clean Sweep", in which abandoned Cold War stations in Alaska were remediated and the land restored to its previous state. After years of neglect the facilities at the station had lost any value they had when the site was closed. The site remediation was carried out by the 611th
413:
The station was one of the most difficult to construct and one of the most expensive in Alaska. All supplies and equipment initially had to be disassembled then the pieces parachuted to the site by aircraft; many times the equipment landed in wilderness instead of the cleared base site area. Bears
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radars at the top site. The top site was a mini-station in its own right, where twelve airmen lived; two radio maintenance, nine radar maintenance, and a cook. Later, a control room was added and a full
Surveillance and Weapons Control crew lived at top camp, five Weapons Control officers and the
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where radar contacts were analyzed to determine range, direction altitude speed and whether or not aircraft were friendly or hostile. An AN/FYQ-9 Semiautomatic Data
Processing and Display System was installed and became operational in July 1965, eliminating the need to pass track data manually.
410:. Access to the radars was initially by a road built up the side of the mountain; later, a cable tramway was built. The tramway cables frequently broke because of high winds and ice, and fog and the extreme cold made repairs hazardous. Ice 16 inches thick built up on the cables in winter.
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No longer needed, the 719th ACWS was inactivated on 1 November 1983 and the station re-designated as a Long Range Radar (LRR) Site. This left only contractor personnel to maintain the site radar. In 1990, jurisdiction of the
Sparrevohn LRR Site was transferred to Eleventh Air Force with the
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It is generally unattended, A few civilian contractors access the site for maintaining the facilities. and a new ground support structure was erected on the site of the former bottom camp for storage of equipment, vehicles, and for brief overnight stays by support personnel.
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was activated in 1957. It was inactivated in 1979, and replaced by an
Alascom owned and operated satellite earth terminal as part of an Air Force plan to divest itself of the obsolete White Alice Communications System and transfer the responsibility to a commercial firm.
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were a hazard, and the initial construction crew had to winter over in the sub-zero environment in hastily constructed
Quonset huts, working in the elements. In the spring of 1955, United States Army engineers constructed a 4,000 ft gravel airstrip
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undertook the project. The radar station site was located on the summit of Cairn
Mountain at 3,400 ft elevation (top camp), with a ground support station on a slight ridge between 1,600 and 1,800 ft at the base of the summit
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Radar officer with a full complement of support troops from weapons technicians to cooks. Barracks were connected between the radomes. Between the domes were other barracks rooms and the dayroom/library/kitchen/movie theater.
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Communications were initially provided by a high frequency radio system which proved unreliable because of atmospheric disturbances. The
Alaskan Air Command, after investigating various options, decided to build the
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Over the years, the equipment at the station was upgraded or modified to improve the efficiency and accuracy of the information gathered by the radars. In 1983, Sparrevohn received a new
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Sparrevohn Air Force
Station appeared once on the 1980 U.S. Census as a census-designated place (CDP). With its closure in 1983, it did not appear again on the census.
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adjacent to the base site, which allowed transports to bring in supplies, equipment and other material directly without the need for airdrops by parachute.
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Currently, the site is continuously attended by contractors to maintain the runway, power station, radar, facilities and supporting infrastructure.
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The station operated as a long-range surveillance radar station, which provided information continuously to the air defense
Direction Center at
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The ground control intercept (GCI) station was closed on 1 November 1983, and was re-designated as a Long Range Radar (LRR) site as part of the
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program. It was designed to transmit aircraft tracking data via satellite to the
Alaskan NORAD Regional Operations Control Center (ROCC) at
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Sparrevohn AFS was a continental defense radar station constructed to provide the United States Air Force early warning of an attack by the
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Photo of Sparrevohn Air Force Station showning the upper and lower camps and airstrip during mid-winter
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Today very little of the former Sparrevohn Air Force Station remains. The site is controlled by the
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Civil Engineering Squadron at Elmendorf Air Force Base, and remediation work was completed by 2005.
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Construction of the station began in January 1953 and was completed in October 1955. The
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General Surveillance Radar station. It is located 356 miles (573 km) southwest of
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642:. Contractor access to the site to support the FPS-117 is by the
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PILOTNAV Web site: CAIRN MOUNTAIN NDB, SPARREVOHN, AK, USA
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Emblem of the 719th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron
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Sparrevohn Air Force Station (AAC ID: F-15, LRR ID: A-06)
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719th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron (1954-1983)
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Buildings and structures in Bethel Census Area, Alaska
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Installations of the United States Air Force in Alaska
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719th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron, 1958–1983
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minimally attended radar under Alaskan Air Command's
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779:U.S. Builds Secret Radar Base In Northern Alaska
784:Alaska Radar Warning Base Built In Bitter Cold
804:Radar stations of the United States Air Force
8:
463:719th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron
338:. Today, it remains active as part of the
16:Closed US Air Force radar station in Alaska
819:Military installations established in 1952
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69:Learn how and when to remove this message
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32:This article includes a list of general
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824:Military installations closed in 1983
680:5059th Air Postal Squadron, 1958-1983
7:
724:Air Force Historical Research Agency
465:, activated in March 1954, operated
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156:Location of Sparrevohn AFS, Alaska
38:it lacks sufficient corresponding
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494:White Alice Communications System
718: This article incorporates
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498:Air Force Communications Service
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86:Sparrevohn Long Range Radar Site
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659:Air Force units and assignments
342:under the jurisdiction of the
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814:1952 establishments in Alaska
84:Sparrevohn Air Force Station
310:GPX (secondary coordinates)
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500:(AFCS). The Tatalina site
198:Sparrevohn AFS Radars F-15
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367:Army Transportation Corps
305:GPX (primary coordinates)
280:Map all coordinates using
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554:Elmendorf Air Force Base
288:Download coordinates as:
749:"U.S. Decennial Census"
644:Sparrevohn LRRS Airport
636:611th Air Support Group
560:re-designation of AAC.
445:Sparrevohn LRRS Airport
344:611th Air Support Group
325:United States Air Force
236:United States Air Force
53:more precise citations.
720:public domain material
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531:Sparrevohn White Alice
520:61.12000°N 155.59222°W
434:61.09917°N 155.57472°W
401:Sparrevohn Bottom Camp
390:61.09722°N 155.58083°W
187:61.11889°N 155.59750°W
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617:U.S. Decennial Census
577:Historical population
300:GPX (all coordinates)
769:Alaskan Air Defenses
525:61.12000; -155.59222
439:61.09917; -155.57472
395:61.09722; -155.58083
263:Garrison information
192:61.11889; -155.59750
774:Sparrevohn AFS, AK
703:Alaskan Air Command
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340:Alaska NORAD Region
336:Alaska Radar System
182: /
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633:Pacific Air Forces
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565:Pacific Air Forces
224:Controlled by
112:Eleventh Air Force
691:11th Air Division
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475:, AN/FPS-20A and
329:Fairbanks, Alaska
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59:December 2012
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753:. Retrieved
751:. Census.gov
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685:Assignments:
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572:Demographics
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360:Soviet Union
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323:is a closed
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258:1952-Present
242:Site history
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37:
638:, based at
523: /
510:155°35′32″W
437: /
424:155°34′29″W
393: /
380:155°34′51″W
362:on Alaska.
255:In use
190: /
177:155°35′51″W
165:Coordinates
51:introducing
793:Categories
709:References
550:SEEK IGLOO
546:AN/FPS-117
529: (
507:61°07′12″N
443: (
421:61°05′57″N
399: (
377:61°05′50″N
350:, Alaska.
196: (
174:61°07′08″N
34:references
477:AN/FPS-66
697:See also
563:In 1998
473:AN/FPS-3
470:AN/CPS-4
467:AN/CPS-5
268:Garrison
110:Part of
755:June 6,
354:History
114:(PACAF)
47:improve
672:Units:
582:Census
233:
99:
93:
36:, but
247:Built
757:2013
603:1980
591:Note
586:Pop.
461:The
250:1954
211:Type
295:KML
795::
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607:26
596:%±
556:.
346:,
331:.
759:.
612:—
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66:(
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57:(
43:.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
