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To: Impala64ssa

” wonder if this mysterious building at Sterwart Airport had something to do with this”

There is nothing at all mysterious about this building. What you are looking at, is (or was, rather) quite literally, a computer system. I guess now you are just looking at the computer case, as it were, repurposed for other uses.

The SAGE computer system was used to track incoming aircraft, and allow for control of air defenses. It is a fascinating system, built of thousands of vacuum tubes, and all interconnected with each other and NIKE missile sites by Bell Telephone System lines via modems. In the 50s. That building, and a number of others around the nation exactly like it housed the SAGE computer, actually two computers with one always running as a “hot backup”. The system was so big that the entire building was required to house it all.

There are many many sites and pages on the web dedicated to the history and technical details of the SAGE system. I highly recommend doing a google search and read up on it if you have any interest in history and technology. It is a fascinating subject.


33 posted on 06/27/2014 9:42:48 PM PDT by Nik Naym (It's not my fault... I have compulsive smartass disorder.)
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To: Nik Naym
The SAGE computer system was used to track incoming aircraft, and allow for control of air defenses.
Yes, this building is still standing, there is an attempt to have it declared an historic landmark, possibly converting it into a Cold War museum. I worked not too far from it at the west end of Stewart Airport.
35 posted on 06/27/2014 10:07:51 PM PDT by Impala64ssa (You call me an islamophobe like it's a bad thing.)
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