Point Arena Air Force Station

 (1951-1998) - A Cold War Air Force Radar Station first established in 1951 near Point Arena, Mendocino County, California. Named Point Arena Air Force Station after the location. Initially assigned a Permanent ID of P-37, later a Sage ID of Z-37 and a JSS ID of J-34. Abandoned in 1998.

History
Established in 1951 and became in operational December 1951 as Point Arena Air Force Station manned by the 776th 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 FPS-3 search radar and one FPS-4 height-finder radar. In 1955 a FPS-8 search radar was installed and later upgraded to become a GPS-3. One FPS-20 search radar and one FPS-6 height-finder replaced the original sets in 1958. A FPS-6B height-finder was added 1960, completing the basic configuration needed for SAGE System operation, one long-range search radar and two long-range height-finder radars.

SAGE System Operation
The site began operation as a SAGE site in 1960 initially feeding the Beale SAGE Direction Center DC-18. The FPS-20 was replaced with a FPS-24 frequency diversity radar in 1961.

The two FPS-6 height-finder radars were upgraded in 1963. One FPS-6 height-finder radar was replaced by a FPS-26A and one was upgraded to become a FPS-90.

The FPS-24 was replaced with an FPS-93A about 1976. In 1979 the site was operating one FPS-91A and one FPS-116 as JSS site J-34.

776th Deactivation
The 776th Radar Squadron was deactivated in 1980 but elements of the 26th Air Defense Squadron continued operations at the site. In 1980 the military scope operators were replaced with civil service personnel. In 1986 the last military personnel left the site, leaving 40-50 civilians manning an operational USAF installation with no military members assigned. In 1987 the site came under the Southwest Air Defense Sector of the 25th Air Division. On 30 Jun 1997 the site surveillance mission was assumed by the FAA/USAF JSS Rainbow Ridge FAA Radar Site, J-83A, equipped with a new ARSR-4 radar. At closure, the site employed some 22 civil service personnel with a civil service commander, Tim Hayes.

Closure
The final retreat ceremony for Point Arena AFS was held on 30 Sep 1998 by members of the 9th Communications Squadron from Beale Air Force Base. Photos indicated that the site was operated at closure by OL A 9th Communications Squadron (ACC).

Gap Fillers
Point Arena AFS was responsible for the maintenance of one remote unattended gap-filler radar site. The Point Arena AFS gap-filler radar was located at Laytonville, 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 27 unit housing area for married personnel.

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

Current Status
Still a USAF facility under caretaker status as of 2013. Some buildings, two radar towers, the operations buildings and GATR site remain in place.

See Also:
 * SAGE System
 * JSS System
 * Permanent System Radar Sites
 * US Radar Sets
 * Beale SAGE Direction Center DC-18
 * Adair SAGE Direction Center DC-13
 * Luke SAGE Direction Center DC-21

Sources:
 * , page 167.
 * , page 102-103
 * Point Arena radar station winding down, Independent Coast Observer (Gualala, California), 6 Jun 1997, Page 1,11.


 * , page 82.

Links:
 * Radomes - Point Arena Air Force Station
 * Wikipedia - Point Arena Air Force Station