Rye AFS was part of the planned deployment of 44 mobile radar stations by
Air Defense Command in 1952 to provide protection for
Strategic Air Command Bases (such as the nearby
Pease Air Force Base) and to support the
permanent deployment of the 75 stations of the ADC radar network around the perimeter of the country. This deployment had been projected to be operational by mid-1952. Funding, constant site changes, construction, and equipment delivery delayed deployment. Constructed at the former
Fort Dearborn coastal artillery site, the station became operational in 1956 when the
644th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron activated an
AN/TPS-1D radar at the site, 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 intruders picked up on the unit's radar scopes. It was soon closed due to a budget reduction in 1957. The site was re-equipped with an
AN/FPS-14 and became an unmanned Gap Filler for
North Truro AFS, Massachusetts, as site
Fort Dearborn, P-10B. It was finally closed in June 1968. Today, the site is the location of
Odiorne Point State Park. Many former parts of Fort Dearborn remain. Rye AFS has been obliterated. ==See also==