Established in October 1957 assuming control of former ADC Central Air Defense Force units with a mission to provide air defense of most of Minnesota and western Wisconsin. The organization provided command and control over several aircraft and radar squadrons.
In October 1962, during the Cuban Missile Crisis, a guard at the Direction Center mistakenly identified a bear trying to climb the security fence as a saboteur and rang the alarm, which automatically triggered similar alarms at other bases in the region. A faulty alarm system at Volk Field in Wisconsin led to nuclear-armed interceptor aircraft nearly being launched.[1]
Inactivated April 1966 as part of ADC reorganization and consolidation, the command being redesignated as the 29th Air Division. The SAGE building was remodeled and, in 1985, given to the University of Minnesota Duluth to house the Natural Resources Research Institute signed into legislation to address the struggling economy during the early 1980s recession.
Lineage
Established as Duluth Air Defense Sector on 1 October 1957, Inactivated on 1 April 1966
A Handbook of Aerospace Defense Organization 1946 - 1980, by Lloyd H. Cornett and Mildred W. Johnson, Office of History, Aerospace Defense Center, Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado
Winkler, David F. (1997), Searching the skies: the legacy of the United States Cold War defense radar program. Prepared for United States Air Force Headquarters Air Combat Command.
Maurer, Maurer (1983). Air Force Combat Units Of World War II. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History. ISBN0-89201-092-4.
Ravenstein, Charles A. (1984). Air Force Combat Wings Lineage and Honors Histories 1947–1977. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History. ISBN0-912799-12-9.
