Tin City Air Force Station
| Tin City Air Force Station Tin City Long Range Radar Site   
|
|
|---|---|
| Part of Eleventh Air Force (PACAF) | |
Tin City Air Force Station
|
|
 Tin City AFS
Location of Tin City AFS, Alaska
|
|
| Coordinates | 65°34′33″N 168°00′43″W / 65.57583°N 168.01194°WCoordinates: 65°34′33″N 168°00′43″W / 65.57583°N 168.01194°W |
| Type | Air Force Station |
| Site information | |
| Controlled by |
 United States Air Force
|
| Site history | |
| Built | 1951 |
| In use | 1953-Present |
| Garrison information | |
| Garrison | 710th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron (1953-1983) |
Tin City Long Range Radar Site is a United States Air Force radar station. It is located 106.3 miles (171.1 km) west-northwest of Nome, Alaska. It is the former Tin City Air Force Station (AAC ID: F-04, LRR ID: A-11).
The radar surveillance station was closed on 1 November 1983, and was re-designated as a Long Range Radar (LRR) site as part of the Alaska Radar System. Today, it remains active as part of the Alaska NORAD Region under the command of the 611th Air and Space Operations Center, Elmendorf AFB, Alaska.
Tin City AFS was a continental defence radar station constructed to provide the United States Air Force early warning of an attack by the Soviet Union on Alaska. It was one of the ten original radar surveillance sites constructed during the early 1950s to establish a permanent air defense system in Alaska.
The station was located at the westernmost tip of the Seward Peninsula, also the most westerly point of land on the North American continent. Two small islands, the Little and Big Diomedes, are located in the Bering Straits 25 miles west of the station. Little Diomede Island is part of the United States, while Russia claims Big Diomede, making it the closest Russian territory to the United States. The Asian mainland of Siberia is 48 miles to the west of the station. On a clear day, both islands and the Siberian coastline are visible. The radars were located on the southern base Cope Mountain, at an elevation of 2,275 feet.
Construction of the station, first designated Cape Prince of Wales AFS (after the geographic location Cape Prince of Wales), began on 9 September 1950 and was completed in late 1952. The Army Transportation Corps undertook the project, code name Mona Lisa, of getting the initial supplies and equipment to the construction site. The only means of getting construction materials and supplies to the site was by barge or Navy LSTs, however this was restricted to when the sea was not frozen and had to be unloaded 3 miles from the proposed site. Initially, there were no roads, which had to be built as part of the construction effort. Each item had to be hauled along the beach 65°33′33″N 167°57′01″W / 65.55917°N 167.95028°W to the area nearest the construction site, then inland to the permanent storage area.
...
Wikipedia