Gunter AFB, AL
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xptwo
N 32° 24.208 W 086° 14.483
16S E 571340 N 3585411
This SAGE Direction Center was activated on September 8, 1957 and ceased operations on December 31, 1969.
Waymark Code: WMDGW1
Location: Alabama, United States
Date Posted: 01/14/2012
Views: 15
Gunter Air Force Base was redesignated as Maxwell AFB, Gunter Annex, in 1992, long after this building had ceased to be used for the purposes for which it was built. It now houses the local Defense Information Systems Agency. It has been used for computer-related functions since the early 1970s. In the late 1980s I was assigned to the Standard Systems Center and worked across the street, although I did go to the building at times. We decided that it would be the safest place on base if a tornado hit.
Gunter Air Force Base was named for William Gunter, the mayor of Montgomery who worked to establish an airport at the site. The Army leased the facility to train pilots during World War II and kept the base open after the war.
The history of the SAGE site found at the category recommended site is limited: "Activated on September 8, 1957, this SAGE Direction Center controlled operations within the Montgomery Air Defense Sector. On 1 April 1966, the Direction Center also became a SAGE Combat Center (SCC). SAGE operations ceased 31 Dec 1969." (
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In 1957 a Semi Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) Data Center (DC-09) was established at Gunter AFB. The SAGE system was a network linking Air Force (and later FAA) General Surveillance Radar stations into a centralized center for Air Defense, intended to provide early warning and response for a Soviet nuclear attack. It was initially under the Montgomery Air Defense Sector (MoADS), established on on 8 September 1957. On 16 December 1960, the SAGE facility at Gunter controlled two BOMARC-B missiles launched from Eglin AFB, Florida, and directed their interception of a QB-47E Stratojet drone flying at 500 mph at 30,000 feet.[1] MoADS was inactivated on 1 April 1966, and re designated as the 32d Air Division. DC-09 with its AN/FSQ-7 computer remained under the 32d AD until it, and the Air Division was inactivated on 31 December 1969 when technology advances allowed the Air Force to shut down many SAGE Data Centers.
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