{{Short description|Closed United States Air Force General Surveillance Radar station}} {{no footnotes|date=December 2012}} {{Use American English|date=January 2024}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2023}} {{Infobox military structure | name=Port Isabel Air Force Station | ensign=Air Defense Command.svg | ensign_size=60px | partof=Air Defense Command (ADC) | location= | image= | caption= | pushpin_map= Texas | pushpin_label_position=top | pushpin_label=Port Isabel AFS | pushpin_mapsize=300 | pushpin_map_caption=Location of Port Isabel AFS, Texas | coordinates={{Coord|26|09|20|N|097|20|16|W|name=Port Isabel AFS TM-190|display=inline,title}} | type=Air Force Station | code= | ownership= | controlledby={{air force|USA}} | condition= | built=1958 | builder= | used=1958-1961 | materials= | demolished= | battles= | events= | past_commanders= | garrison=811th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron | occupants= }} {{kml}} '''Port Isabel Air Force Station (ADC ID: TM-190)''' is a closed United States Air Force General Surveillance Radar station. It is located {{convert|18.7|mi|km}} north-northeast of Brownsville, Texas. It was closed in 1961.
==History== Port Isabel Air Force Station came into existence as part of Phase III of the Air Defense Command Mobile Radar program. On 20 October 1953 ADC requested a third phase of twenty-five radar sites be constructed.
The 811th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron was moved to the former Port Isabel Auxiliary Naval Air Station on 1 January 1958. It operated an AN/FPS-3A search radar and an AN/FPS-6 height-finder radar at the site, and 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 Air Force inactivated Port Isabel AFS on 1 June 1961 due to budgetary constraints. Today the site is part of the Port Isabel-Cameron County Airport and the Port Isabel Detention Center.
==Air Force units and assignments ==
===Units=== * Constituted as the '''811th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron''' : Activated on 8 November 1956 at Oklahoma City AFS, OK (not equipped or manned) : Moved to Port Isabel AFS on 1 January 1958 : Discontinued and inactivated on 1 June 1961
===Assignments=== * 33d Air Division, 1 January 1958 * Oklahoma City Air Defense Sector, 1 January 1960 – 1 June 1961
==See also== * List of USAF Aerospace Defense Command General Surveillance Radar Stations
==References== {{Air Force Historical Research Agency}} {{Reflist}} * Cornett, Lloyd H. and Johnson, Mildred W., ''[http://www.usafpatches.com/pubs/handbookofadcorg.pdf A Handbook of Aerospace Defense Organization 1946 - 1980] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160213173347/http://www.usafpatches.com/pubs/handbookofadcorg.pdf |date=13 February 2016 }}'', Office of History, Aerospace Defense Center, Peterson AFB, CO (1980). * Winkler, David F. & Webster, Julie L., ''[http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bn/GetTRDoc?Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf&AD=ADA331231 Searching the Skies]{{dead link|date=January 2025|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}'', The Legacy of the United States Cold War Defense Radar Program, US Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratories, Champaign, IL (1997). * [http://www.radomes.org/cgi-bin/museum/acwinfo2x.cgi?site=%22Port+Isabel+AFS,+TX%22&key=PortIsabelAFSTX&pic=PortIsabelAFSTX&doc=PortIsabelAFSTX Information for Port Isabel AFS, TX]
==External links== {{Aerospace Defense Command|state=collapsed}}
Category:Radar stations of the United States Air Force Category:Installations of the United States Air Force in Texas Category:Aerospace Defense Command military installations Category:1958 establishments in Texas Category:1961 disestablishments in Texas Category:Military installations established in 1958 Category:Military installations closed in 1961