Recent Photos of Cherry Point MCAS, NC
Radar-Operations, Looking North
GATR, Looking North
GATR, Looking East
GATR, Looking South
GATR, Looking West
source: http://www.carteretflying.com/gallery.asp
It appears this photo was made from the newer Base Ops control tower; the view is to the NW. The photos are dated 15 March 2008, courtesy of Sam Sellars and Jennifer Wenk.
June 1985 photo, source: http://www.dodmedia.osd.mil/
June 1985 photo, source: http://www.dodmedia.osd.mil/
MCAS Flight Operations building next to the three former Air Force radar towers
June 1985 photo, source: http://www.dodmedia.osd.mil/
Three radar towers can be seen in this photo.
Dec 1986 photo, source: http://www.dodmedia.osd.mil/
Of significance, this 1986 photo shows two features not seen in other recent photos we have of the old USAF radar site at Cherry Point MCAS.
One, the height-finder (?) radar tower is fitted with a weather radar & radome, as someone once reported it once was.
Two, three radar towers are seen. ADC history records list three radars for the 614th AC&W Sq.: two AN/FPS-8 search radars and one AN/FPS-6 height-finder radar. One veteran (I forget who) told me this site had only two radars total. However, this photo supports the ADC documentation for three radar towers. (The one at the far end, seen to the right, is the tower that has been removed. Now, if someone could tell us exactly which tower was for which radar type, that would be great ... and a few vintage photos would be nice, too ....)
One other thing -- the newer, taller control tower had not yet been built when this photo was snapped. So, now we know it was constructed some time after 1986.
Jan 1999 photo, source http://www.dodmedia.osd.mil/
Sep 2004 photo, source: http://www.dodmedia.osd.mil/
Photo source: http://homepage.mac.com/aianton/PhotoAlbum4.html
Photo source: http://www.myaviation.net/search/photo_search.php?id=00057483&size=large
The other side of the USAF radar station
October 2002 photo contributed by William Chick
The security police ran me away, so I took it through the windshield
May 2001 photos and notes contributed by Tom Page
Note: Special thanks go to 1st Lt John Caldwell (USMC), the Base Public Affairs Officer, for escorting me and permitting photography.
The former Cherry Point Air Force Station (M-116) at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, NC. The USAF radar site was collocated with the MCAS Flight Operations, seen here. The towers once held an AN/FPS-8 search radar and an AN/FPS-6 height-finder radar, although it is not obvious which tower was which (I would guess that the AN/FPS-6 tower was the one on the left (northwest). A third tower was originally included, and held a second AN/FPS-8 search radar. [looking east-northeast]
Another view of the former Cherry Point AFS. The USAF diesel power plant is seen between the two former radar towers. [looking north]
Another view of the former USAF diesel power plant and one radar tower. [looking north-northwest]
Another view of the other radar tower and present-day base Ops. [looking northeast]
February 1999 photos and notes by Tom Page
Tom writes:
"The final leg of my trip was to visit Cherry Point MCAS, NC, where the 614th AC&W
Sq. was located from 1958 to 1963. To get there, I drove north from Fort Fisher AFS
on US Route 421 to NC route 132, back to US Route 17 north. Then I took the shortcut
through Camp Lejeune on NC route 172 to NC route 24, then angled up to US Route 70.
Before going to Cherry Point, I first paid a quick visit to its old GATR site at
Newport (R-16). The GATR building is still there, but is no longer in use; however,
two commercial TV or radio antenna towers now stand in its antenna farm. [After the
614th deactivated, this GATR was assigned to Roanoke Rapids AFS, NC, as OLAA/632
RADS; later, in 1977, it was reassigned to Fort Fisher AFS as OLAA/701 RADS.]
When I got to Cherry Point MCAS (in Havelock, NC, just east of US Route 70), I
went to the Visitor`s Center, and contacted the base public affairs office. They
had never heard of the Air Force`s radar site there or of the 614th AC&W Sq., so
they referred me to the base historian. I contacted him, only to find out he had
never heard of them, either. However, he said he would make some inquiries next
week, and see if he can find anything. Needless to say, I didn`t get to visit the
old Cherry Point radar site, as no one there apparently knows where on base it was
located. Also, it wasn`t really a good time to visit the base, as it was on Alert
Condition "Alpha" (whatever that means) and troops were preparing to leave for
Kosovo. I did, however, get a photo of the base, an aerial photo that hangs inside
the Visitor`s Center."
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A photo of a photo (which hangs in the Visitor`s Building), this is an aerial
view of Cherry Point MCAS, NC,
where the former 614th AC&W Sq. (ADC) was located. We recently learned that the
old radar site was situated
behind the Base Operations Building, just west of the flight line.
[Interestingly, the MCAS base historian didn`t
even know the USAF had a tenant unit there from 1958 to 1963.]
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| Recent photo of the Newport GATR site (R-16), originally
assigned to the 614th AC&W Sq. at Cherry Point MCAS, NC. After the
614th was deactivated, the GATR was assigned to the 632nd Radar Sq. at
Roanoke Rapids AFS, NC, until about 1977, then it was assigned to the
701st Radar Sq. at Fort Fisher AFS, NC, until the JSS switchover or when
the 701st squadron was deactivated (I don`t know which came first).
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