Base History
The site for the St. Albans Air Force station was secured on Bellevue Hill on August 1st 1949.
Construction was started on May 8th 1950 and was completed by Janurary 15, 1951. It was inspected
and accepted on April 4th 1951. It was officially considered activated as the 764th Aircraft control
and Warning Squardron on 27 November 1950 under Headquarters, Eastern Air Defense Force,
Stewart Air Force Base, Newburgh, NY. The 764th remained under control of the 32nd Air Division
until August 1958, whenit was assigned to the 26th Air Division(SAGE). The Major electronic
installation was not completed until July 1951. The equipment was calibrated on July 23td 1951 and
accepted as functional in September 1951. The primary radar was the AN/CPS-6B.
The following names appear among those personnel that were members of the contingent
assigned to the facility. Joseph Mecure, Norman Weber, Norman Audette and Matthew Parisi.
September 1961 quarterly reports note that installation was completed on the AN/FPS-7C Radar. The
system was one of the new breed of radar sets that incorporated special devices to combat electronic
jamming. This document also reported the completion of a building at Blue Mountain Gap Filler by
base civil engineering to serve as sleeping quarters for maintenance techinicians. December 1961
report indicates the following numbers of assigned personnel under the Command of Major Curtis
H. Keeler.
Officers 7
Airmen 143
Civilians 12
Electronic equipment at the base included the AN/CPS-6B search radars, Two A/FPS-6 height
finders radars, Two AN/FPS-18 gap filler radars, AN/FST-2 digital data processor and ground/Air
radio facilities.
On Janurary 1st, 1962 the AN/FPS-7 completed testing by Western Electric and was accepted
into the Sage system. On June 30th of that tear a two lane bowling alley was opened on the base, that
was equiped with automatic pin setters. It was used regularly by base personnel and their families.
In September 1962 the AN/CPS-6B was removed. December 1962 the AN?FPS-26 was operat-
ional. March 1963 the base dining hall was awarded the Hennessy trophy as the outstanding food
service facility in the Air Division. This was the culumination of months of preparations by food
service and civil enineering, doing such things as installing picture windows in the dinning area,
painting, cutting trees to open the view and much more. In June of 1963 the Air Force beach was
opened on a piece of land that was leased by the Air Force on the west side of Hathaway Point.
This beach featured a snack shack, bath houses, a privy, Volleyball and boats for the use by squar-
dron personnel and their families. December 1964 the base gym was opened. It offered a weight
training room, handball court, a shower room, and exercise equipment. It was built in the former
radio transmitter building near the top of the hill.
In July 1965 the base closed out an era when the Blue Mountain Gap filler site was shut down.
Three years later April 3td 1968 the Malone Gap filler was closed.
A sidelight to the history was that the NCO Club which occupied the old caretakers house on Bell-
vue Hill , burned twice, the first time in 1957 and again in 1970. It was restored each time
through the efforts of base personnel.
Key personnel------December 1965
Major William Cooke Commander
1st Lt. Malcolm Graham Suppy Officer
1st Lt. Bernard Pett C&E Officer
2nd Lt. Mark Peacock Adminastrative Services
Mr. Allen Brooks Civil Engineering Supervisor
Msgt. Thomas Scalise 1st SGT
Msgt. James Kuhn NCOIC Operations
SMsgt. Walter Allen NCOIC C&E
Msgt. Jerom,e Kugler QC Inspector
Tsgt. Roger Spaulding NCOIC AN/FST-2
SMsgt. Robert Mansfield NCOIC GATR
Tsgt. Norman Cobb NCOIC Medical facility
Tsgt. Richard Lemieux NCOIC AN/FPS-26
Tsgt. John Huber NCOIC AN/FPS-7
Tsgt. James Jones C&E Workload Control
Tsgt. Leland Richards NCOIC Supply
Tsgt. Edward Mercure NCOIC Dining Hall
Ssgt. Billy Gavin NCOIC Training Control
Ssgt. Mark Niles NCOIC Air Police
Sgt. Willie Grey NCOIC Motor Pool
A1C Roger Keck NCOIC Personnel Services
Ssgt. Clyde Harris NCOIC Personnel Admin. inspected and accepted
This concludes a chapter on the History of the 764th Radar Site in St. Albans, Vt.