Custer Air Force Station

Custer Air Force Station
Part of Air Defense Command (ADC)
Custer AFS Location of Custer AFS, Michigan
Coordinates	42°20′32″N 085°16′49″W / 42.34222°N 85.28028°W / 42.34222; -85.28028 (Custer AFS P-67)Coordinates: 42°20′32″N 085°16′49″W / 42.34222°N 85.28028°W / 42.34222; -85.28028 (Custer AFS P-67)
Type	Air Force Station
Site information
Controlled by	United States Air Force
Site history
Built	1952
In use	1952–1965
Garrison information
Garrison	781st Aircraft Control and Warning (later Radar) Squadron

Custer Air Force Station (ADC ID: P-67 DC-6, NORAD ID: Z-67, DC-6) is a closed United States Air Force General Surveillance Radar and Direction Center station. It is located 5.3 miles (8.5 km) west-northwest of Battle Creek, Michigan. It was closed in 1969.

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 second segment Air Defense Commands permanent radar network. Receiving the Defense Secretary’s approval on July 21, the Air Force directed the Corps of Engineers to proceed with construction of what became the network of Semi Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) sites. The SAGE system was a network linking Air Force (and later FAA) General Surveillance Radar stations into a centralized center for Air Defense, intended to provide early warning and response for a Soviet nuclear attack.

The SAGE site that would become Custer Air Force Station was carved out of the eastern side of the Army's Fort Custer Training Center near Battle Creek, Michigan. The site was officially established on 18 April 1953. However, the 781st Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron (AC&W Sq) began operations with AN/FPS-3 and AN/CPS-4 radars at the site in April 1952. 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 unidentified intruders picked up on the unit's radar scopes.

The site was renamed Custer Air Force Station on 1 July 1956. An AN/FPS-4 replaced the AN/CPS-4 in 1956 and an AN/FPS-6 superseded this unit two years later. Also in 1958 an AN/FPS-20 replaced the AN/FPS-3 search radar. This radar was upgraded to an AN/FPS-66 in 1961. A second height-finder radar was installed in 1959. On 31 July 1963, the site was redesignated as NORAD ID Z-67.