The United States Army activated Cudjoe Key Air Force Station in 1959. It was to track missiles traveling through the Eglin Gulf Test Range. The Air Force took over operations the next year. After this, it became a detached installation of Homestead Joint Air Reserve Base. The station flies a white radar aerostat. It is known locally as "Fat Albert". This is used for drug interdiction missions by the Drug Enforcement Administration. On April 20, 2007 a Cessna 182 crashed after its left wing struck the tether anchoring "Fat Albert" . The aerostat is marked on air navigation charts inside a restricted area. The area has the warning, "Caution: Unmarked balloon on cable to 14,000 [feet]."