 lthough a young child then, I
vividly recollect the missile scare days
of the early Sixties. It was a widely
held notion on The Ridge that, should the
Soviets attack America, Joelton Air Force
Station, located on Morgan Road, would be
one of their first targets! This was,
folks hereabouts said, because of its
importance in communications.
I clearly recall as a child of about
seven thinking, "The Russians say
they are going to bury us and you think
they're going to start with Joelton?"
Since the world wide web is leaving no
informational stone unturned, it isn't
surprising that a new online museum is
paying homage to those who served in
vital positions in those early days of
the Cold War at air defense radar
stations like the one that was here in
Joelton. Online
Air Defense Radar Museum has some
limited historical information about the
Joelton base posted on the site, but more
information is wanted.
Museum "curator" Tom Page is
asking anyone who has any old
photographs, documents, or memories from
the Joelton Air Force Station to share
them for inclusion in the museum. If you
have any such bits of nostalgia, please
let him know by e-mailing him at tepage@hotmail.com
To find Joelton Air Force Station in the
museum, visit http://www.radomes.org/museum On the menu on
the left side, click on the link titled
"Radar Sites." A search window
will appear. Type in "Joelton."
Another link will appear that reads
"Joelton AFS, TN." Click on
that link and the information page for
Joelton AFS will then appear.
Page notes that the FAA still operates
long-range surveillance radar at the old
air force station, whose institutional
green buildings still look very much as
they did 40 years ago. The white covering
on top of the tower is known as a radome,
and it simply protects the rotating radar
antenna inside from high winds, rain,
snow, and other elements. The radome is
made of fiberglass, and is actually
transparent to radio and radar signals.
Joelton folks were not the only ones
speculating on their fate in case of a
Soviet military strike against the United
States. Page's recollections are similar
to my own and he sums up the times very
well:
"Your comments about the Cold War
Era are all too familiar to me. I grew up
near Charleston, South Carolina, where a
number of military bases were (and still
are) located (including a radar base
similar to Joelton AFS).
"I was 7 in 1960, and I also heard
that we were a 'No. 1 target' for when
the Russians attacked. I guess that was
just part of the anti-Communism paranoia
of the day! Maybe everybody was a 'No. 1
target'??!"
--Mauna Faye
Crabtree
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Thank
you for visiting Joelton.com!
Email joelton@att.net
Copyright
2006 Mauna Crabtree
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