North Truro Air Force Station North Truro Air Force Station ( AFS ) is a closed United States Air Force General Surveillance Radar station . It is located east of North Truro , Massachusetts . Most of the site was inactivated by 1994 and turned over to the National Park Service , the radar site remainder becoming an Federal Aviation Administration ( FAA ) VHF omnidirectional range / Tactical air navigation system ( VORTAC ) and radar site , part of the Joint Surveillance System ( JSS ) , designated by NORAD as Northeast Air Defense Sector ( NEADS ) Ground Equipment Facility J - 53 . Overview . The former North Truro AFS is the site of a radar station and several abandoned buildings including barracks , a library , a bar , a bowling alley and a family housing area located to the south . NTAFS has been redeveloped into The Highland Center . It is also the site of the Jenny Lind Tower . History . North Truro AFS was one of the first of twenty - four stations of the permanent Air Defense Command ( ADC ) radar network . On 2 December 1948 , the Air Force directed the Army Corps of Engineers to proceed with construction of this and twenty - three other sites around the periphery of the United States . The 762d Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron ( AC & W Sq ) began operations with a pair of World War II Air Transportable Search and Detection AN / CPS - 3 radars at North Truro in 1951 and assumed radar coverage previously covered by a temporary Lashup Radar Network site at Otis Air Force Base ( L - 5 ) , 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 intruder s picked up on the unit ' s radar scopes . In 1955 these units were joined by an AN / FPS - 8 model . Eventually converted to an AN / GPS - 3 , this radar left service in 1960 . In 1956 a GE CPS - 6B search radar was the main search radar . North Truro AFS was the operational parent station for Texas Tower 2 ( TT - 2 ) offshore in the Atlantic Ocean from May 1956 - 15 January 1963 . TT - 2 was operated as an annex of the 762d AC & W Sq , its offshore personnel assigned to a flight of the 762d , although the facility was logistically supported by the 4604th Support Squadron ( Texas Towers ) at Otis AFB . The years 1958 and 1959 saw the arrival of AN / FPS - 6 and 6A height - finder radars . During 1958 North Truro AFS joined the Semi Automatic Ground Environment ( SAGE ) system , feeding data to DC - 02 at Stewart AFB , New York . After joining , the squadron was redesignated as the 762d Radar Squadron ( SAGE ) on 15 December 1958 . The radar squadron provided information 24 / 7 the SAGE Direction Center where it was analyzed to determine range , direction altitude speed and whether or not aircraft were friendly or hostile . In 1960 the 762d started operating an AN / FPS - 7 radar . In 1963 the height - finder radars were replaced by AN / FPS - 26A and AN / FPS - 90 sets . In 1966 , after the installation of a Burroughs AN / GSA - 51 computer system , North Truro AFS became the first ADC installation configured as a Backup Interceptor Control ( BUIC ) BUIC II site . BUIC II radar sites were capable of incorporating data feeds from other radar sectors directly onto their radar screens . In 1968 , North Truro also became the first radar station to be designated a BUIC III installation . These sites hosted the more capable Burroughs D825 digital computer and could support operations at eleven control consoles . During the early 1970s two BUIC sites were designated to serve as backup to each of the remaining six SAGE centers . The 762nd Radar Sq was inactivated and replaced by the 762d Air Defense Group in March 1970 . The upgrade to group status was done because of North Truro AFS ' status as a Backup Interceptor Control ( BUIC ) site . It utilized BUIC III equipment ( Burroughs D828 Computer system ) for command and control of air defense aircraft in the event that the SAGE Direction Center at Hancock Field , NY was inoperable . The unit commander and in times of Level IV operations , overall air defense commander for the NORAD region , was Col . Alva D . Henehan ( 1969 – 71 ? ) . The group was inactivated and replaced by the 762nd Radar Squadron again in 1974 as BUIC sites were being removed from service . as defenses against manned bombers were reduced . The group was disbanded in 1984 . In addition to the main facility , NTAFS operated three unmanned AN / FPS - 14 Gap Filler sites : Fort Dearborn was the former Rye AFS , which had closed in 1957 . Westboro closed in June 1962 , the others in June 1968 . Over the years , the equipment at the station was upgraded or modified to improve the efficiency and accuracy of the information gathered by the radars . Routine operations continued and in 1979 the site came under Tactical Air Command jurisdiction as a result of the inactivation of Aerospace Defense Command and the site became part of ADTAC . By 1985 AN / FPS - 107 had been replaced by an AN / FPS - 91 A search set operated by the FAA . The AN / FPS - 116 was removed c . 1988 Operation Have Horn . In 1969 North Truro Air Force Station was the location of Operation Have Horn , the launching of sounding rockets under project Nike Hydac . On completion of the operation in 1970 , the used devices and equipment were returned to the White Sands Missile Range . Closure . At the end of the Cold War in 1994 , the Air Force closed down operations at North Truro and most of the land was sold to the National Park Service . In the late 1990s , an ARSR - 4 replaced the AN / FPS - 91A . when it joined the Joint Surveillance System ( JSS ) . Several of the facilities have fallen into disrepair while some are in the process of renovation . The Gap Filler at Westboro is intact and has what appears to be a water tower and several radio broadcasting towers . The other two Gap Filler sites have been obliterated and redeveloped . The former Texas Tower No . 2 ( TT - 2 ) troposcatter communications site , just south of the housing area , is also accessible on foot . All that remain of the tropo facility are the building foundation ( a concrete pad with a few floor tiles ) and three - each concrete footings for the three tropo dish antennas . At the main site , the fence around the former cantonment and technical areas has a gate on the ocean - facing side . All of the original USAF radar towers are gone . The only radar tower now is the ARSR - 4 . The buildings are each in various conditions , however all are in derelict condition with the exception of the few buildings that are being repaired . The homes in the family housing area are falling apart and some have been vandalized . A few buildings had been torn down , including the station chapel . The former GATR site located approximately 1 . 2 miles southeast of the base at Longnook Beach has been demolished , and all of the radio poles have been removed . The site is now home to an FAA NAVAID station . Redevelopment . NTAFS itself was given to the Cape Cod National Seashore and is now being redeveloped into the Highlands Center . This project includes the building of a performing arts center , and other facilities to meet the needs of the National Park Service as well as the community . It is also home to an FAA long - range radar site . In October 2008 , a bus driver was indirectly struck by lightning while closing a gate at the center . From 2012 to 2013 , the former station was home to a Department of Energy study by the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Climate Research Facility along with the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory on air particles over the region . References . Bibliography . Further Reading