The Miles City Air Force Station

The station's end was announced years before it came. The Air Force named Miles City for closure in November 1964, with a target of July 1, 1967, but the 902nd was not deactivated until June 18, 1968. By then it had been renamed a SAGE radar squadron, in 1961, and had reported to the direction center at Malmstrom since 1963. It also kept two unattended gap-filler radars, one of them at Brockway to the north. The station itself stood southwest of Miles City, about fourteen miles east of this rest area.

What the plaque says

The Miles City Air Force Station In the years following the Korean War, tensions heightened between the United States and Soviet Union. To prevent a surprise communist attack, the U.S. Air Force established a network of radar stations to protect American air space. Using the most sophisticated radar technology available, dedicated airmen manned the stations in some of the most isolated places in the country. The Miles City Air Force Station was one of eight radar stations in Montana. Established in 1954, it was the home of the 902nd AC&W (Aircraft Control and Warning) Squadron. Located in the badlands near Miles City, the station played an important role during the Cold War. The complex's three radar domes tracked both friendly and enemy aircraft with the military's most modern equipment. The station was a self-contained community with administrative and support facilities as well as communications, recreational, supply buildings, and quarters for single and married airmen. Nature constantly intruded on the station with hot summers, brutally cold winters, rattlesnakes, and an abundance of Black Widow spiders. Despite that, the 902nd efficiently carried out its mission until the Air Force changed its priorities and closed the station in 1968.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Fort Keogh — 20 mi
  Nelson Miles's post at the mouth of the Tongue, built after the Little Bighorn, a remount depot by 1909 and a range lab since 1924.
• Miles City Bucking Horse Sale — 22 mi
  A sale of bucking stock that began with thirty-five unwanted horses in 1950 and became eastern Montana's biggest weekend.

More markers nearby

• Rosebud — 1.4 mi
• Cattle Brands — 1.4 mi
• The Hell Creek Formation — 1.4 mi
• Join the Voyage of Discovery — 1.4 mi