Benton Air Force Station Benton Air Force Station was a Cold War era Aerospace Defense Command radar facility in Colley Township , Sullivan County , Pennsylvania . The station was operational from 1951 until 1975 . The radar at Benton Air Force Station scanned skies in the United States from Massachusetts south to Virginia and east over the Atlantic Ocean . The station was manned by airmen from the 648th Aircraft Control Squadron at Fort Indiantown Gap . Benton Air Force Station was converted to the Red Rock Job Corps Center in 1978 and is now part of Ricketts Glen State Park a Pennsylvania state park . History . Benton Air Force Station ( Also known as Mud Pond ) was part of the last batch of twenty - three radar stations constructed as part of the Air Defense Command permanent network . Construction on the facility began in 1950 and was completed on September 21 , 1951 . Earlier stationed at Mud Pond , Pennsylvania , the 648th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron began operations with AN / CPS - 6 B radar scanners and barracks for the airmen or " scope dopes " who operated the radar station . The radar operators worked around the clock and could scramble jets from Air Forces bases in New York and New Jersey . The facility was moved to Ricketts Glen State Park , Pennsylvania by 1 February 1952 . On 1 December 1953 , the Ricketts Glen facility was redesignated as Benton Air Force Station . Upgrades to the station in 1958 made it possible for Benton AFS to join the Semi Automatic Ground Environment ( SAGE ) system , initially feeding data to DC - 02 at Stewart AFB , New York . After joining , the squadron was re - designated as the 648th Radar Squadron ( SAGE ) on 1 February 1959 . In August 1958 , the SAGE information feed was switched to DC - 03 at Syracuse AFS , then in September 1963 SAGE data was sent back to DC - 02 . The system connected a series of long - range radar stations such as the one at Benton Air Force Station with control centers by sending data through the telephone system . Data collected at the control center was sent back to the stations in images on cathode ray tube s . Further improvements in the 1960s included the installation of an AN / FPS - 35 radar atop a five - story structure that still stands . The new unit weighed 70 tons and was painted in a red / white checkerboard pattern . In addition to the main facility , Benton operated two unmanned AN / FPS - 14 ( P - 30E ) and AN / FPS - 18 ( P - 30F ) Gap Filler sites : The gap fillers covered areas of mountainous Pennsylvania that could not be scanned by the facilities at Benton Air Force Station . Both building and radar towers are still extant . The AN / FPS - 35 was one of the most powerful radar units in the world at the time . But it was not foolproof . Once the AN / FPS - 35 was jammed and the men stationed at Benton could not figure out why . Officials from the U . S . government and Sperry Corporation , the manufacturer , had to be called to Colley Township to investigate the situation . Sperry thought that it was impossible to " jam " the radar , but once almost every morning for a half - hour , the " scopes would light up like light bulbs . " The jamming of the radar made it impossible to read the radar . Investigators stopped traffic on nearby Pennsylvania Route 487 and questioned drivers . Ultimately , direction - finding equipment pointed to a malfunctioning UHF tuner on a television set in the housing area where " the lady of the house sometimes watched a soap opera on one of the local channels " . The UHF tuner was replaced . The power to the radar facilities was separated from the power to the housing and , coupled with the new UHF , the jamming problem was solved . Closing and conversion . Benton Air Force station was deactivated in June 1975 . The radar facilities remain and are operated by the Federal Aviation Administration as an auxiliary service for the nearby Wilkes - Barre / Scranton International Airport . The remaining buildings and barracks were converted to the Red Rocks Job Corps Center which is part of the Job Corps , a program administered by the United States Department of Labor that offers free - of - charge education and vocational training to youth ages 16 to 24 . Air Force units and assignments . Units : Assignments :