Santa Rosa Island Air Force Station ( ADC ID: P-15) is a closed

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

General Surveillance Radar station. It is located southwest of the Santa Rosa Island dock,

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. It was closed in 1963.

History

Santa Rosa Island AFS was one of 28 stations built as part of the second segment of the

Air Defense Command Aerospace Defense Command was a major command (military formation), command of the United States Air Force, responsible for continental air defense. It was activated in 1968 and disbanded in 1980. Its predecessor, Air Defense Command, was est ...

permanent radar network. Prompted by the start of the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

, on July 11, 1950, the Secretary of the Air Force asked the Secretary of Defense for approval to expedite construction of the permanent network. Receiving the Defense Secretary’s approval on July 21, the Air Force directed the Corps of Engineers to proceed with construction. Santa Rosa Island AFS was one of two offshore radar stations built off the Southern California coast, the other being on

San Clemente Island San Clemente Island (Tongva: ''Kinkipar''; Spanish: ''Isla de San Clemente'') is the southernmost of the Channel Islands of California. It is owned and operated by the United States Navy, and is a part of Los Angeles County. It is administered b ...

. The

669th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron The 669th Radar Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. It was last assigned to the 27th Air Division, Aerospace Defense Command Aerospace Defense Command was a major command of the United States Air Force, responsible for co ...

was initially assigned by the

27th Air Division The 27th Air Division was a United States Air Force numbered air division and the geographic Air Defense Command region controlled by the 27th AD. Its last assignment was with Air Defense Command (ADC)'s Tenth Air Force, at Luke Air Force Base, ...

to Santa Rosa AFS on 11 February 1952. The squadron initially used an AN/CPS-6B radar which allowed for the shutdown of the temporary Lashup sites at Camp Cooke (L-41) and

Port Hueneme Port Hueneme ( ; Chumash: ''Wene Me'') is a small beach city in Ventura County, California, surrounded by the city of Oxnard and the Santa Barbara Channel. Both the Port of Hueneme and Naval Base Ventura County lie within the city limits. Port ...

(L-42), and initially the station functioned as a Ground-Control Intercept (GCI) and warning station. As a GCI station, the squadron's role was to guide interceptor aircraft toward unidentified intruders picked up on the unit's radar scopes. Later in 1952 the squadron received two AN/FPS-10 radars at this island location. In 1955 the Air Force added an

AN/FPS-3 The AN/FPS-20 was a widely used L band early warning and ground-controlled interception radar system employed by the United States Air Force Air Defense Command, the NORAD Pinetree Line in Canada, the USAF CONAD in the continental United States, a ...

search radar to the facility. During the following year, an

AN/GPS-3 The AN/FPS-8 Radar was a Medium-Range Search Radar used by the United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Aerial warfare, air military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight ...

search radar was also added. 1958 saw the addition of an

AN/MPS-14 The AN/FPS-6 Radar was a long-range height finding radar used by the United States Air Force's Air Defense Command. The AN/FPS-6 radar was introduced into service in the late 1950s and served as the principal height-finder radar for the United St ...

long-range height-finder radar. In 1958, plans were made to relocate the 669th AC&W Sq from Santa Rosa Island to the mainland. Operations ceased on 31 March 1963 due to budget reductions, and the squadron moved to

Lompoc AFS Santa Rosa Island Air Force Station (ADC ID: RP-15, NORAD ID: Z-15) is a closed United States Air Force General Surveillance Radar station. It is located south-southwest of Lompoc, California. It was closed in 1968 by the Air Force, and turned ...

(RP-15), where support could be provided to the site by

Vandenberg AFB Vandenberg Space Force Base , previously Vandenberg Air Force Base, is a United States Space Force Base in Santa Barbara County, California. Established in 1941, Vandenberg Space Force Base is a space launch base, launching spacecraft from th ...

. Today the site of the former Santa Rosa Island Air Force Station has been obliterated, the land returned to its natural state by the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propertie ...

References

* A Handbook of Aerospace Defense Organization 1946 - 1980, by Lloyd H. Cornett and Mildred W. Johnson, Office of History, Aerospace Defense Center, Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado * Winkler, David F. (1997), Searching the skies: the legacy of the United States Cold War defense radar program. Prepared for United States Air Force Headquarters Air Combat Command.
Information for Santa Rosa Island AFS, CA
{{Aerospace Defense Command, state=collapsed Installations of the United States Air Force in California Buildings and structures in the Channel Islands of California Military installations closed in 1963 Radar stations of the United States Air Force

History

See also

References