Campion Air Force Station

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Campion Air Force Station was an Alaskan Air Command radar site located on the north side of the Yukon River some seven road miles [dirt road] east of the military/civilian air strip at the village of Galena. The station was named for a USAF pilot Roger Campion killed in a crash near the radar site. Just west of the station itself, the dirt road to Galena ran parallel to a short dirt landing strip that saw air traffic only on very rare occasions.

The station buildings were, except for the NCO club, connected by heated hallways. As a result, personnel stationed there, with only very few exceptions, were able to wear "summer" uniforms year round, unless they had a need to go outside during the winter season. The coverings of the station's three radar towers were heated from within to keep the covering from becomming brittle from extreme cold, and thus subject to being damaged or destroyed by high winds. Station equipment consisted of one search radar and two height finder radars. USAF fighter aircraft controlled by intercept directors at Campion were usually those aircraft deployed to the forward operating base at the Galena airport. In the 1966-1967 time frame, these were either AAC F-102 aircraft from Elmendorf AFB or F-106 aircraft deployed from a variety of CONUS-based interceptor squadrons.

[edit] Sources

Alaskan Air Command Guide to Remote Radar Sites, published by AAC in either 1961 or 1962. A photocopy of the page on Campion AFS MAY be available from the AAC historical section.