Klamath Air Force Station

 (1950-1981) - A Cold War Air Force Radar Station first established in 1950 near Klamath, Del Norte County, California. Named Klamath Air Force Station after the location. Initially assigned a Lashup-Permanent ID of LP-33, later a Permanent ID of P-33, a Sage ID of Z-33 and finally a JSS ID of J-83. Manned by the 777th AC&W Squadron that later became the 777th Radar Squadron (SAGE). Deactivated as a USAF facility in 1981 and turned over to the National Park Service and the FAA. The FAA continued operation of the site until 1997 as Crescent City FAA Radar Site. Also known as Requa Air Force Station.

History
Established in 1950 and became operational in April 1952 as Klamath Air Force Station manned by the 777th 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.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) provides a slightly different view of the site name and origins: "'Requa Air Force Station was established and activated on 1 Jun 1949 and assigned to the Tenth Air Force, with logistical support from Kinsley Field. The property was originally leased in 1950 and then acquired from P.J. Murphy, et al., by condemnation filed on 3 Aug 1955. Approximately 43 acres were acquired in fee and an additional 10 acres of easement interests were also acquired from the Murphy's. The Air Force constructed 64 buildings and 27 family housing units on the Requa sites, totaling 141,000 square feet.'"

The Lashup-Permanent site operated the outdated TPS-1B combination search and height-finder radar as early as April 19site'sThe permanent site initial equipment included the FPS-3 search radar and FPS-4 height-finder radar became operational in April 1952.

In 1956 a GPS-3 was added to the facility. By 1958 the configuration included an FPS-20A search radar and an FPS-6 height-finder. In 1959 an FPS-6A height-finder radar was added, and that established the initial configuration for SAGE operation, one long-range search radar, and two height-finders.

SAGE System Operation
The site began operation as a SAGE System radar site in 1960 initially feeding the Adair SAGE Direction Center DC-13.

By the end of 1961, the FPS-20A had been upgraded and redesignated as an FPS-66. By 1966 there was an FPS-27 long-range search radar in place, and a FPS-26A height-finder radar in operation there.

Site radar operation was taken over from USAF by FAA in 1978. The site came under TAC jurisdiction beginning in 1979.

Closure
Klamath AFS and the 777th were deactivated on 30 Sep 1981. Forty-one acres of the property was turned over to the National Park Service (NPS) by the GSA on 10 Mar 1983. Two acres surrounding the FPS-27 radar tower were transferred to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) as a Joint Surveillance System (JSS) site. The FAA renamed the new facility as Cresent City FAA Radar Site. Some specific functions, including height-finder operations and the GATR site, were continued by Air Force personnel operating as an Operating Location (OL). The last Air Force personnel reportedly left the site in 1990.

Crescent City FAA Radar Site
In 1979 the FAA assumed operation of the site as a JSS site and the FPS-27A search radar was removed and replaced with an FPS-64A search radar intended for unattended operation. In 1981 the two acres around the old FPS-27 tower were transferred to the FAA. Included in the transfer were several buildings including building #98 the former FPS-27 tower, an admin building #106, a service garage building #102 (old Powerhouse), and two concrete slabs. Building #106 became an FAA dorm and the old powerhouse became an FAA garage and storage building.

By 1990 the site was equipped with an FPS-66A search radar and a CD-2A Common Digitizer. The Crescent City CD-2A was scheduled to receive an upgrade kit to implement three level weather data processing in May 1992.

The radar site data was available to the USAF/NORAD operations centers at McChord AFB and Luke AFB as well as the FAA Seattle ARTCC (ZSE), Oakland ARTCC (ZOA), and adjacent ARTCCs.

The Crescent City FAA Radar Site continued in operation until the FAA/USAF joint-use Rainbow Ridge FAA Radar Site (J-83A), with its then state of the art ARSR-4 radar, was operational on 30 Jun 1997.

Gap Fillers
Klamath AFS was responsible for the maintenance of one remote unattended gap-filler radar site. The Klamath AFS gap-filler radar was located at Capetown, California.

Physical Plant
The geography of Klamath AFS dictated a number of unusual features for this type of radar site. The hilly terrain and lack of contiguous flat space resulted in the construction of two separate housing areas and construction of multi-family housing. The physical plant of the site was divided into a small hilltop main operations area, a lower cantonment area, the two housing areas, and three radio sites. The main operations area 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 were the two housing areas for married personnel. The housing areas had five, fourplex buildings for enlisted family quarters, three duplex officer's quarters, and the commanding officer's single quarters for a total of 27 housing units. Separate roads led from the housing areas to a common junction with the road to the cantonment area but there was not a direct road from the housing areas to the cantonment area.

A separate radio site housed the radio equipment for directing aircraft intercepts. The Klamath GATR site was consolidated into the former receiver site located in a separate fenced compound about 1/4 mile southeast of the operations area. The vacant transmitter building became the commissary building after modifications and additions.

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Current Status


The former Klamath AFS has been completely demolished except for the TELCO building. Satellite views indicate that even building foundations have been removed. Both housing areas have been demolished along with the roads leading to both sites. The GATR site building appears to be intact and repurposed on current satellite views. There are a couple of later communications structures and antennas in place. Entry is prevented by a locked bar gate across the access road.

See Also:
 * SAGE 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
 * McChord SAGE Direction Center DC-12
 * Rainbow Ridge FAA Radar Site
 * Oakland ARTCC
 * Seattle ARTCC

Sources:
 * , page 167.
 * , page 102.
 * Strategic Project Implementation Plan for the Yurok Tribe, Draft March 2004, Prepared for: The Yurok Tribal Council Klamath, California and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Sacramento, California, Prepared By Yurok Tribe Environmental Program, 65 pages, Pdf.

Links:
 * Radomes - Klamath Air Force Station
 * Wikipedia - Klamath Air Force Station
 * Yurok Tribe - Requa Air Force Station