local demolition of SAGE building

[Mike Loewen]

On Tue, 19 Jul 2005, Chuck Swiger wrote:

> I'm following the links from radomes.org and reading with interest about 
> SAGE.
> At mitre.org it says:
>
> -When complete, the AN/FSQ-7 weighed 250 tons, and required a 3,000kW
> -power supply and over 49,000 vacuum tubes. When SAGE became fully
> -operational, it relied on 24 AN/FSQ-7s; they remained in service
> -until the Air Force ended the SAGE program in 1983.
>
> Is this TRUE? Did they actually use  vacuum tube computers up untill 1983?

    You betchum.  I worked on the one at McChord AFB (25AD) from January 
until August of 1983.  It was shut down shortly after that.  Even more 
amazing, it was still doing the job up until the end.  By using both 
active and standby system, we had the ability to cover the airspace from 
California up to British Columbia.


Mike Loewen				mloewen at cpumagic.scol.pa.us
Old Technology	http://ripsaw.cac.psu.edu/~mloewen/Oldtech/