Ent Air Force Base Ent Air Force Base was a United States military installation during World War II and the Cold War along the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains . In addition to the ADCOM & NORAD operations centers and the SPADATS Operation Center , the installation was the site of command headquarters of ADCOM , ARAACOM , and NORAD ; as well as the Fifteenth Air Force of Strategic Air Command and the Fourteenth Aerospace Force of Aerospace Defense Command . Colorado Springs Tent Camp . The Colorado Springs Tent Camp was established in 1943 , and by 15 July 1944 , the " 2nd Air Force " at " Colorado Springs " was under the command of " Brig . Gen . U . G . Ent " . Post - war the Tent Camp gained the 1946 Fifteenth Air Force headquarters for bomber operations , and " Colorado Springs " had the 206th Army Air Force Base Unit organized on 6 June 1945 and initially controlled RBS detachments at Kansas City and Dallas Love Field ( transferred in August to Mitchel Field as the 63rd AAFBU ) . A November 1946 US defense plan " recommended moving ADC Headquarters from Mitchel Field to a more central location … in a protected command center … designed to withstand attack by all foreseeable weapons " ( e . g . , " German A - 4 type " missiles ) . Air Force Base . In 1949 the installation was renamed Ent Air Force Base and the 15AF moved to March AFB ( the " HQ Sq , Fifteenth AF " arrived on 7 Nov 1949 . ) On 10 November 1950 , Generals Vandenberg and Twining notified General Whitehead that " the Air Force had approved activation of a separate Air Defense Command [ from CONAC ] with headquarters on Ent " . Air Defense Command . The ADC Major Command was re - established on 1 January 1951 , the date the nearby Peterson Field was reactivated as a sub - base of Ent AFB . The former ADC headquarters at Mitchel Field began operations " in its new location , Ent Air Force Base , " by 8 January 1951 . Mitchel ' s Army Anti - Aircraft Artillery Command headquarters moved to one room at Ent in January 1951 and in February , the ARAACOM commander ' s staff began using the downtown Antlers Hotel until August 1953 ( eventually moving to tbd street across from the site used for the 1963 Chidlaw Building . ) Ent ' s building used for the 1951 air defense command post was replaced in May 1954 with a " much improved 15 , 000 - square - foot concrete block " Combat Operations Center ( COC ) . By 1961 , an image of the COC ' s " Plexiglass plotting board " was being transmitted to SAC ' s underground command post at Offutt AFB . The Ent AFB location was within city limits when Colorado Springs annexed an eastern area in tbd . Continental Air Defense Command ( CONAD ) was " activated in Colorado Springs " after the Joint Chiefs of Staff agreed to establish a " joint service command for air defense " . CONAD had " control of Air Force Air Defense Command forces , Army Anti - Aircraft Command forces , and Naval air defense forces " on 1 September 1954 ( CONAD and ADC formally separated in 1956 ) . Ent AFB had a golf course by 1954 , and the Ent Rod & Gun Club had sanctioned trapshoots by 1958 . NORAD . In 1957 " on 6 September , CONAD advised all appropriate agencies that NORAD was to be established at Ent Air Force Base effective 0001 Zulu 12 September " with " integrated headquarters " of NORAD / CONAD / ADC and RCAF ADC . Colorado Springs had 1957 " monitor machines on the four DEW Line main circuits " , and Ent became a " master station " of the 1958 Alert Network Number 1 ( effective 10 June 1958 , Colorado was the only state completely in the 34th NORAD Region . ) Despite a 1958 JCS study group ' s recommendation that a new COC be in an Ent basement / sub - basement , the JCS on 18 March 1959 selected Cheyenne Mountain . After deployment of the Semi - Automatic Ground Environment computer network , Ent ' s command center received data from the AN / FSQ - 8 centrals at Combat Centers . Adjacent to Ent ' s NORAD center was the SPADATS Operation Center with 496L Space Detection and Tracking System that began operations July 1961 in building P4 ' s annex , a former hospital building . Some of Ent ' s operations / units moved to the partially - underground 1963 Chidlaw Building ½ mi ( ¾ km ) south - southeast of Ent . ( e . g . , the COC moved to the 1963 NORAD " Combined " Operations Center . ) A cable between the Cheyenne Mountain nuclear bunker was connected with Ent AFB in April 1965 , and the SPADATS mission remaining at Ent began the move to the Cheyenne Mountain " Group III Space Defense Center " in April 1966 ( fully operational at 0001Z , 6 February 1967 ) . ADCOM ' s " Interceptor " safety magazine was being published at Ent in 1968 , and " 12 . 28 acres " had been planned for closure in fiscal year 1974 ( Ent Gun Club hosted the 1974 Armed Forces Skeet Championship . ) Ent Annex . Renamed the " Ent Annex " on April 1 , 1975 , the annex was assigned to the custody of Peterson AFB on 18 July 1975 , and the installation was to be vacated by 30 June 1976 . Fourteenth Aerospace Force inactivated at Ent on October 1 , 1976 - - Fourteenth Air Force ( Reserve ) activated at Dobbins Air Force Base on October 8 , 1976 . Ent ' s off - base barracks ( ) at 3920 Marion St ( now E San Miguel St ) were modified in the late 1970s for a retirement community and Ent Gun Club moved to Peterson Air Force Base . Ent land totalling was transferred in 1977 for the United States Olympic Training Center , and the golf course was sold to the city . For the 1979 ADCOM breakup , on 1 October Colorado Springs ' 425th Munitions Support and 4614th Contracting squadrons were respectively reassigned to TAC and SAC ( the 4603rd Management Engineering Flight was inactivated ) — the ADCOM headquarters in the Chidlaw Building was " inactivated at Colorado Springs " on 31 Mar 1980 . Ent AFB Defense Area . Ent ' s Federal Building remained a military computer facility and was shared with the United States Census Bureau for the 1990 United States Census — military units of the United States Army and other services later moved from the Federal Building to Peterson AFB building 2 which had recently opened . The Ent AFB Defense Area was designated a Formerly Used Defense Site . Units . 47th Communications Group , 1963 - 1972 ( to Peterson AFB ) < br > 615 Infirmary / 615 USAF Dispensary ( 1958 ) < br > 1151st Special Activities Squadron < br > Canadian Force Support Unit ( 1971 ) Air Force Systems Command References . < nowiki > * < / nowiki > The 4608 Support Squadron had detachments at numerous USAF bases , e . g . , Tyndall AFB and Detachment 20 at Oxnard Air Force Base ( 1 July 1965 ) .