Texas Tower 3 | |
|---|---|
| Part of Air Defense Command (ADC) | |
| Nantucket shoals | |
 Image of Texas Tower 3 | |
 Location | |
| Coordinates | 40°45′00.00″N 69°19′0.00″W / 40.7500000°N 69.3166667°W |
| Type | Long Range Radar Site |
| Site information | |
| Open to the public | No |
| Site history | |
| Built by |  United States Air Force |
| In use | 1958-1963 |
| Demolished | 1963 |
Texas Tower 3 (ADC ID: TT-3) was a former United States Air Force Texas Tower General Surveillance Radar station, first operational in November 1956. The radar station was 50 miles (80 km) southeast of the coast of Nantucket, Massachusetts, in 80 feet of water. The tower was closed in 1963 and dismantled.[1]
Located in Nantucket Shoals, Texas Tower 3 was one in a series of crewed radar stations that were so named because they resembled the oil-drilling platforms of the Gulf of Mexico. Air Defense Command (ADC) estimated that the Texas Towers would help extend contiguous East Coast radar coverage some 300 to 500 miles seaward. In terms of Soviet military capabilities, this would provide the United States with an extra 30 minutes of warning time in the event of an incoming bomber attack.
- ^ "The Texas Towers". Archived from the original on 25 July 2011. Retrieved 20 June 2009.