CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
EN/FR
Search
Menu
Research dossier · General Reference

776th Radar Squadron

military unit

Cross-disciplinary reference desk with index cards, atlas, dictionary and catalogue
General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJun 25, 2026
Entity authorityQ4643559 ↗
Source-derived summary

The 776th Radar Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. It was last assigned to the Northeast Air Defense Sector, Air Combat Command, stationed at Bangor Air National Guard Base, Maine, where it was inactivated on 6 September 1991.

From 1951 to 1980, the unit was a General Surveillance Radar squadron providing for the air defense of North America. From 1985 to 1991, it operated Over The Horizion Backscatter(OTH-B) radar for Tactical Air Command.

Lineage

Constituted as the 776th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron on 14 November 1950

Activated on 27 November 1950

Redesignated 776th Radar Squadron (SAGE), 15 January 1961

Redesignated 776th Radar Squadron on 1 February 1974

Inactivated on 30 September 1980

Activated 1 October 1985

Inactivated 6 September 1991

Assignments

542d Aircraft Control and Warning Group, 27 November 1950

28th Air Division, 6 February 1952

San Francisco Air Defense Sector, 1 July 1960

Portland Air Defense Sector, 1 August 1963

26th Air Division, 1 April 1966

27th Air Division, 15 September 1969

26th Air Division, 19 November 1969 - 30 September 1980

24th Air Division 1 October 1985

Northeast Air Defense Sector, 1 December 1987 - 6 September 1991

Stations

Point Arena Air Force Station, California, 1 January 1951 – 30 September 1980

Bangor Air National Guard Base, Maine, 1 October 1985 – 6 September 1991 (HQ Site)

Moscow Air Force Station, Maine (OTH-B Transmitter site)

Columbia Falls Air Force Station, Maine (OTH-B Receiver site)

See also

Over-the-horizon radar

List of United States Air Force aircraft control and warning squadrons

References

Notes

Explanatory notes

Citations

Bibliography

This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency

Cornett, Lloyd H; Johnson, Mildred W. (1980). A Handbook of Aerospace Defense Organization, 1946 - 1980 (PDF). Peterson AFB, CO: Office of History, Aerospace Defense Center. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 November 2006. Retrieved 23 March 2012.

Winkler, David F.; Webster, Julie L (1997).

Editorial summary

“776th Radar Squadron” enters the record as military unit. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what 776th, Radar and Squadron can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA practical starting point whose main value is the path it opens into stronger specialist and primary sources. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1991, 1951, 1980, 1985—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its strongest next move is a source search built around 776th, Radar and Squadron.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“776th Radar Squadron” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, 776th, Radar and Squadron provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 25, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4643559. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1991, 1951, 1980 and 1985.

Critical limits

The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “776th Radar Squadron”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow 776th Radar Squadron primary sources, 776th Radar Squadron archive and 776th research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “776th Radar Squadron”?
  2. What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
  3. Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “776th Radar Squadron” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.