"During the late 1950s another area of progress was the development and deployment of AN/FPS-14 and AN/FPS-18 gap-filler radars. Having a range of around sixty-five miles, these radars were placed in areas where it was thought enemy aircraft could fly low to avoid detection by the longer-range radars of the permanent and mobile radar networks. Gap-filler radar deployment peaked in December 1960 at 131 sites throughout the continental United States. Because the introduction of gap-filler radars alleviated the need for civilians to scan the skies for enemy bombers, the ADC disestablished the Ground Observer Corps on January 31, 1959."
Searching The Skies
AN/FPS-74Frequency-diverse gap-filler radar, similar to AN/FPS-63; neither was ever fielded.
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In the USGS aerial image above, from the "TerraServer" website, http://terraserver-usa.com/image.aspx?T=4&S=8&Z=18&X=5969&Y=86369&W=2, the old Air Force gap-filler radar radome is the round white object immediately to the left (east) of the baseball diamond. The Nike earthen berm is the brownish, tree-covered area around it to the east and south. |
Here's an excerpt from a newspaper article about Montana gap-filler installations. |
Photos below contributed by Don Horton
[Click to download 185KB PDF file]
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