under the jurisdiction of 30th Air Division, Air Defense Command and was planned as a fighter-interceptor base to provide air defense for Sault Ste Marie and the upper Great Lakes. In October, 1952, the 4685th Air Base Squadron was assigned to the reactivated Kinross AFB. A month later the unit was redesignated as the 91st Air Base Squadron. Much construction was necessary to bring the World War II auxiliary airfield up to postwar USAF standards. Additional land surrounding the base was appropriated for military facilities and extended runways. A 7,000-foot jet runway (16/34) was laid down along with accompanying taxiways, concrete block buildings and other support facilities to replace the existing structures that were viewed as substandard for a permanent Air Force base. On 16 February 1953, the first operational ADC unit, the 534th Air Defense Group was activated at Kinross AFB. It was assigned to the 4706th Defense Wing at O'Hare International Airport, Illinois. The 438th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron was activated at the new base on 27 April, equipped with first-generation Lockheed F-94B Starfire jet interceptor aircraft. That same month, the base was closed to private noncommercial aviation because of the interceptor aircraft being flown off the field by the pilots of the 438th. The 438th FIS was upgraded quickly to new Northrop F-89D Scorpion interceptors as soon as they could be delivered and the F-94Bs were transferred to the Air National Guard. Flying out of Kinross in 1953, pilot Felix Moncla and Radar Operator Robert Wilson and their plane disappeared while pursuing a UFO over the Soo Locks and Lake Superior. Kinross was considered a vital Air Defense Command base, an alert-status military base equipped with interceptors ready 24/7 to respond to unknown aircraft picked up by Ground Control Radar stations in the Great Lakes region. Upon activation, Kinross-based interceptors were directed to intercept unknown aircraft by ADC surveillance Radars at Sault Sainte Marie AFS (P-86); Grand Marais AFS (M-109); Calumet AFS (P-16); Alpena AFS (M-105) and Empire AFS (P-34). On 18 August 1955, the 534th ADS was inactivated and immediately replaced by the 507th Fighter Group (Air Defense) in a name-only re-designation. This was part of the ADC "Project Arrow" program, which was designed to bring back on the active list the fighter units which had compiled memorable records in the two world wars. The 438th FIS was unaffected by this re-designation, and was transferred to the 507th