Adair Air Force Station

Adair Air Force Station (1958-1969) - A Cold War Air Force Station established in 1958 in present-day Adair Village, Benton County, Oregon. Adair Air Force Station was named after Lt. Henry Rodney Adair, a West Point Graduate (Cullum 4309), who was killed 21 Jun 1916 during Gen. Pershing's incursion into Mexico. The Air Force Station was abandoned in 1969 and returned to civilian control. Adair AFS Blockhouse and Power Buildings. Former Adair AFS Dining Hall Building. Former Adair Air Force Station Headquarters Building now a High School. History Former Adair AFS Barracks Buildings. Former Adair AFS Motor Pool Area. The Portland Air Defense Sector (POADS) at Adair Air Force Station was activated on 8 Jun 1958 and on 15 Mar 1960 it assumed control over five radar sites and two fighter groups in Washington and Oregon. Adair Air Force station was the headquarters of POADS. By 18 Jun 1960 POADS had reached full operational status with the Air Defense Command (ADC) and the North American Air Defense System (NORAD) with two fighter groups, five radar sites, and eleven unmanned gap-filler radar sites. The mission of POADS at Adair was to process data from the five radar sites and the eleven gap-filler radar sites and to direct fighter-interceptor aircraft to intercept any potential enemy aircraft. Adair AFS had three functional areas, an operational area, a cantonment area and a married personnel housing area. The operational area was dominated by a three-story windowless concrete blockhouse that housed the computer and communications equipment and the personnel that operated them. This blockhouse was known as Adair SAGE Direction Center DC-13. Behind the direction center was a long building housing the six, 650KW diesel generators that ran the site. The cantonment area housed the headquarters, unaccompanied personnel quarters for officers and airmen, dining halls, recreational facilities, and other support facilities. The base housing area had 150 family housing unit for accompanied married personnel. Adair AFS had some 860 Air Force officers and enlisted men and 150 civilian support personnel when fully manned. With no nearby military support base the station was completely self-sufficient with barracks, dining halls, housing, commissary, and base exchanges. Advances in technology and the enormous cost of running the SAGE system resulted in a number of reorganizations and consolidations within the SAGE system. Adair AFS was designated for eventual closure in 1966 but remained operational until 15 Sep 1969. With the closure of the Air Force Station, the facilities and land were returned to civilian control and the site became a part of the Adair Village community. Adair Air Force Station Partial Commanders List (edit list) Assumed Relieved Rank Name Cullum Notes 1958-06 1959-10-26 Lt Colonel Brown, Stacey E. N/A First Commander 1959-10-26 1961-01-29 Lt Colonel Phillips, John E. N/A 1961-01-29 1961-04-01 Lt Colonel Bennett, John R. N/A 1961-04-01 1964~ Lt Colonel Neblett, Murrell F. N/A 1966~ Lt Colonel Brown, Harold L. N/A 1969~ Major Levy, John N/A Dates are formatted in yyyy-mm-dd to sort correctly. The Cullum Number is the graduation order from the United States Military Academy by year and class rank and links to a page for the officer on the website version of the Cullum Register. Listings without a Cullum Number indicate that the person was not a graduate of the United States Military Academy. Current Status Now within the community of Adair Village. Many of the cantonment area buildings remain intact but repurposed for use by the Santiam Christian School and other organizations. In the operations area, the three-story concrete SAGE building remains in use by a private company and as a storage site. The large generator power building in the back of the SAGE building is in use by the 4 Spirits Distillery. The base housing area is under individual private ownership. Location: Adair Village, Benton County, Oregon. Maps & Images Lat: 44.67203 Long: -123.21731 Multi Maps from ACME Maps from Bing Maps from Google Elevation: 320' GPS Locations: 44.67203,, -123.21731 Adair Air Force Station See Also: SAGE System Adair SAGE Direction Center DC-13 Camp Adair Sources: Winkler, David F., Searching the Skies: the Legacy of the United States Cold War Defense Radar Program, USAF Hq Air Combat Command, 1997, 192 pages, Pdf, page 150. Cornett, Lloyd H. & Johnson, Mildred W., A Handbook of Aerospace Defense Organization (1946-1980), Office of History ADC, Peterson AFB, Colorado, 31 Dec 1980, 179 pages, Pdf, page 68. USGS Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) Database Entry: 1162688 Links: Wikipedia - Adair Air Force Station Newspapers.com - Albany Democrat-Herald 21 Nov 1959 Adair Issue Fortification ID: OR0003 - Adair Air Force Station Visited: 16 Aug 2015, 23 Sep 2007