Cape Charles Air Force Station
Cape Charles Air Force Station
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| Part of Air Defense Command (ADC) | |
1958 oblique airphoto looking west
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 Cape Charles AFS
Location of Cape Charles AFS, Virginia
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| Coordinates | 37°07′58″N 075°57′11″W / 37.13278°N 75.95306°WCoordinates: 37°07′58″N 075°57′11″W / 37.13278°N 75.95306°W |
| Type | Air Force Station |
| Code | ADC ID: P-56, NORAD ID: Z-56 |
| Site information | |
| Controlled by |
 United States Air Force
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| Site history | |
| Built | 1950 |
| In use | 1950-1981 |
| Garrison information | |
| Garrison | 771st Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron |
Cape Charles Air Force Station is a closed United States Air Force General Surveillance Radar station. It is located 3.6 miles (5.8 km) south of Townsend, Virginia. It was closed in 1981.
The military history of this station begins in 1941 when the United States Army established Fort Winslow at this location as a coastal defense artillery installation to complement Fort Story in Virginia Beach in order to protect Chesapeake Bay. In 1942 it was renamed Fort John Custis. Army artillery included two 16" guns, four 8" guns and four 155mm pieces. After the end of World War II the army inactivated the fort.
The United States Air Force acquired the Fort Custis site from the army in 1948 as a temporary Lashup radar site, being designated L-15. It installed AN/CPS-5 and AN/CPS-4 radars when the air force authorized the Air Defense Command to put thirteen radar stations in operation in the Northeastern United States. This temporary system was named Lashup to distinguish it from the interim system for which the air force was seeking appropriations. The 771st Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron was activated to operate the site. A small airfield was established near the station, to provide logistical support due to its isolated location at the southern end of the Delmarva Peninsula.
L-15 was designated as Cape Charles Air Force Station, and it was one of twenty-eight stations built as part of the second segment of the permanent radar network. Prompted by the start of the Korean War, on July 11, 1950, the Secretary of the Air Force asked the Secretary of Defense for approval to expedite construction of the permanent network. Receiving the Defense Secretary’s approval on July 21, the air force directed the Corps of Engineers to proceed with construction. Because of difficulties with the new radar equipment, Cape Charles AFS initially received its radar equipment from the former Fort Curtis Lashup site to expedite operational status. Thus it was redesignated as LP-56. The 771st AC&W Squadron, continued operating the AN/CPS-4 and as of April 1952 an AN/FPS-3 radar as well. The AN/FPS-3 remained operational until 1962. Initially the station functioned as a ground-control intercept (GCI) and warning station. As a GCI station, the squadron's role was to guide interceptor aircraft toward intruders picked up on the unit's radar.
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