Peterson Air and Space Museum

FIGHTER FRIDAY!

On June 20th, 1951, the first F-89 Scorpion all-weather interceptors entered USAF service. The F-89B's were assigned to the 84th Fighter Interceptor Squadron at Hamilton AFB, California and supported the Western Air Defense Force.

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This week's installment of The Streets of Peterson Space Force Base talks about Perrin Street, named for the former Perrin Air Force Base in Grayson County, Texas. First established as a U.S. Army Air Forces flying training facility in 1941, Perrin continued its mission of pilot and weapons controller training for the U.S. Air Force's Air Defense Command throughout the Cold War until its inactivation in 1971.

During the spring of 1941, leading citizens of Grayson County, Texas discussed the possibility of acquiring a tract of land to lease to the Federal Government for a government installation. At first, they considered the feasibility of a powder manufacturing munitions plant.

In March 1941, County Judge Jake J. Loy went to Washington, D.C., to further the project idea. As he discussed it with various officials, an idea developed. In cooperation with the United States Army Air Corps expansion program, Judge Loy secured favorable consideration for a basic flying training school in Grayson County.

By December 1941, Perrin Field was under construction, and early cadres were in place getting equipment and support services set up for the opening of the flying school. Perrin was one of the first basic flying training schools to become operational following the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, thrusting the U.S. into World War II.

By November 1941, five airplanes had been assigned to the field. They were Vultee BT-13 "Valiant" trainer aircraft. Large groups of men started arriving from school squadrons for aircraft maintenance, training duties, medical services, weather forecasters, communications technicians, food service personnel, and quartermaster duties.

In spite of the difficulties in training facilities and construction activities, the first class of cadets graduated on schedule on February 23, 1942. The first graduating class was also the occasion for the official dedication of the new school as Perrin Field in honor of the late Lieutenant Colonel Elmer Daniel Perrin. Perrin was a native of Boerne, Texas, he was killed on June 2, 1941, in a crash of a B-26 Marauder medium bomber. He was on a test flight from the Glenn L. Martin plant near Baltimore, Maryland where he was assigned as military liaison to the manufacturer.

Perrin Field was deactivated on November 30, 1946, after graduating over 10,000 flight students. The base was then reactivated on April 1, 1948 and resumed an essential element to National Defense as the Korean War heated up. In December 1951, it was determined that Perrin Field’s would become a training base for all-weather fighter interceptor crews, a new mission for the Air Training Command.

Perrin Field was designated a permanent United States Air Force installation on July 17, 1952, and officially changed to Perrin Air Force Base. Since its inception, Perrin trained pilots in aircraft such as BT-13’s, AT-6’s, B-26’s, and, moving into the Jet Age, T-33’s, F-86’s (D’s and L’s) as well as the delta-wing F-102 Delta Dagger interceptor.

Beginning in June 1962, Perrin was assigned to the USAF's Air Defense Command (ADC). Perrin’s last operational wing was the 4780th Aerospace Defense Wing. The wing absorbed the personnel of the Air Training Command’s 3555th Flying Training Wing.

While Perrin trained pilots for ADC, (later renamed Aerospace Defense Command), it also manned its own Aerospace Defense Alert Unit with members of its permanent party rotating from training assignments to serve on air defense alert duty. F-102’s stood on ‘hard alert’ equipped with AIM-4 missiles and air-to-air rockets.

As an added mission, Perrin was the Aerospace Defense Command’s Life Support School established nearby Lake Texoma. Pilots were trained in ejection seat procedures as well as parachuting into and recovering from water landings. These pilots were from the Command and Air National Guard pilots assigned to the Aerospace Defense Command’s mission. Many astronauts also attended the Life Support School at Perrin’s site.

Perrin Air Force Radar Station was established during the Korean War in 1952. 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. In 1962 operation of the radar site was transferred to ADC and Perrin Air Force Station was established as an annex of Duncanville AFS, TX. It was equipped with an AN/FPS-20 search radar and an AN/FPS-6 height-finder radar.

Perrin Air Force Base’s closure on June 30, 1971, was a result of changes in pilot training missions, phase out of the F-102 fighter interceptor, and the crowded air space when Dallas-Fort Worth International airport opened.

After the closure of Perrin AFB, Grayson County gained most of the airport facilities. Grayson County College acquired approximately 400 acres as their “West Campus”. In 2007, the Grayson County Airport Board succeeded in getting the airport designated as North Texas Regional Airport – Perrin Field. Many businesses now reside on the former base grounds as well as commercial aviation operations.

ON THIS DAY IN U.S. AIR FORCE HISTORY: 1997 - A C-5A Galaxy from the 436th Airlift Wing, Dover AFB, Delaware flew from Andrews AFB, Maryland to Tashkent, Uzbekistan, on the 500th humanitarian airlift mission supporting Operation PROVIDE HOPE.

Operation PROVIDE HOPE was a multi-phase humanitarian operation conducted by the U.S. Air Force to provide food and medical equipment/supplies to former Soviet republics following the break-up of the Soviet Union in late 1991.

See the link in the comments for a capsule history of this massive operation written by Air Force historian Dan Haulman.

Speaking of satellite communications in the past, this is what the future holds.

Production is set to begin on the first two satellites of our PTS-G system, a key component of the 's resilient SATCOM architecture.

Tactical warfighters will receive critical communication to existing legacy wideband users as well as anti-jam satellite communications to counter threats and ensure connectivity in denied environments. Read more about our global developments in Protected Tactical Satellite Communications: https://www.ssc.spaceforce.mil/Newsroom/Article/4512873/us-space-force-advances-satellite-communications-modernization-awards-contracts

🛰️🛰️🛰️Space Heritage Spotlight!🚀🚀🚀

On June 13th, 1968, a Titan IIIC launch vehicle placed eight Initial Defense Communication Satellite Program (IDCSP) jam-proof satellites into an equatorial orbit, for a total of 27, to extend the system’s life span. The launch from Cape Kennedy, Florida also ended the IDCSP program.

IDCSP was the first stage in the Defense Communications Satellite Program (DCSP) commissioned by United States Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara in 1962. Under the DCSP, several increasingly sophisticated satellite series would test and provide long-range communications between "fixed, transportable or shipboard terminals".

This decision came on the heels of the cancellation of Project ADVENT, the first attempt at a military geosynchronous communications satellite system, begun February 1960.

Pictured are a set of IDCSP satellites in the truss of a Titan IIIC transtage.

Space weather isn't just a concern for astronauts; it can impact life here on Earth.

Solar flares and geomagnetic storms can disrupt GPS navigation, satellite communications, radio signals, and even power grids. Monitoring space weather helps protect the critical systems that support military operations, emergency services, transportation, banking, and everyday communications.

Space weather awareness = mission readiness, technological resilience, and a safer connected world.

🕯️ Her final act was ensuring others survived.

On this day in 2002, SSgt Anissa Shero was killed when MC-130H Combat Talon II Chariot-55 crashed in Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom.

Moments before impact, Shero secured two unrestrained soldiers, actions that saved their lives.

One of only nine female loadmasters in AFSOC at the time, she became the first female Airman killed during Operation Enduring Freedom.

Even in her final moments, she put others first.