Red Bluff Air Force Station

 (1956-1970) - A Cold War Air Force Radar Station first established in 1956 near Red Bluff, Tehama County, California. Named Red Bluff Air Force Station after the location. Initially assigned a Permanent ID of SM-157 and later a Sage ID of Z-157. Abandoned by the Air Force in 1970. A portion continues today as Red Bluff FAA Radar Site, FAA ID of RBL.

History
Established in 1956 and became operational in 1956 as Red Bluff Air Force Station manned by the 859th AC&W Squadron. The station initially had both a Ground-Control Intercept (GCI) and early warning mission. The early warning mission involved tracking and identifying all aircraft entering their airspace while the GCI mission involved guiding Air Force interceptors to any identified enemy aircraft. Controllers at the station vectored fighter aircraft at the correct course and speed to intercept enemy aircraft using voice commands via ground-to-air radio.

Initial equipment included one MPS-8 height-finder radar and one MPS-11 search radar.

SAGE System Operation
The site began operation as a SAGE site in 1960 initially feeding the Adair SAGE Direction Center DC-13. The search radar was upgraded to one FPS-67, one FPS-6 height-finder and one FPS-90 height-finder radar. In 1964 Red Bluff became a Joint Use FAA/ADC facility.

Closure
The Pentagon announced the closure of Red Bluff AFS and the deactivation of the 859th Radar Squadron on 5 March 1970. The official deactivation date was 30 Sep 1970. A small portion of the site was transferred to the FAA (see below). By the end of 1972, the remainder of the station was transferred to Tehama County, who developed it into Ridgeway County Park. The station's family housing annex was auctioned off to private parties.

Red Bluff FAA Radar Site
In 1971, the GATR site and the operations portion of the main station, including the search radar tower and the operations building, were transferred to the FAA who continued to operate the FPS-67B search radar as part of the Joint Surveillance System (JSS) into the 1990s.

By 1990 the site was equipped with an FPS-67B search radar and a CD-2A Common Digitizer. The Red Bluff CD-2A was scheduled to receive an upgrade kit to implement three level weather data processing in June 1992.

CARSR Radar
At the time of the CARSR changeout, the legacy radar in place was still the FPS-67B and the CARSR conversion included a 1561 Antenna. The secondary radar for the site is the Mode S Beacon set.

Gap Fillers
Red Bluff AFS was responsible for the maintenance of three remote unattended gap-filler radar sites. The Red Bluff AFS gap-filler radars were located at Janesville, Whitmore, and Hayfork, all in California

Physical Plant
The physical plant of the site was divided into the main site, a cantonment area, a housing area, and a radio site. The main site housed the operations buildings, the radar towers, and the backup generators. The cantonment area housed the enlisted barracks, the bachelor officer's quarters, the orderly room, the dining hall, the motor pool, and other support buildings. Apart from the main site was a small 16 unit housing area for married personnel and the Air Force leased an additional 20 homes in Red Bluff.

Recreational facilities included a small swimming pool, a baseball diamond, an NCO club, and a recreation hall/gym.

A separate radio site housed the radio equipment for directing aircraft intercepts.

Current Status
Abandoned as an Air Force Station. The old cantonment area is now Ridgeway park and the operations area is an FAA Radar Site. The housing area is in private hands and is a part of a larger housing complex. The GATR radio site is intact but repurposed.

The metal cantonment area buildings (Butler type buildings) were largely sold off and removed when the site transitioned to the FAA. The foundations remain for the most part. The old-style barracks buildings were totally removed with no remains. The firehouse and the recreation building remain in use.



See Also:
 * SAGE System
 * BUIC System
 * JSS System
 * Permanent System Radar Sites
 * US Radar Sets
 * Hamilton Manual Direction Center P-48
 * McChord Manual Direction Center P-4
 * Adair SAGE Direction Center DC-13
 * Luke SAGE Direction Center DC-21
 * Oakland ARTCC

Sources:
 * , page 172.
 * , page 105.



Links:
 * Radomes - Red Bluff Air Force Station
 * Wikipedia - Red Bluff Air Force Station
 * California Military Museum - Red Bluff Air Force Station