History of Point Arena AFS, CA

Point Arena AFS was first called Hill Peak Road, designated as Lashup-Permanent site LP-37, operating an AN/TPS-1B radar. By December 1951 the 776th AC&W Squadron was operating AN/FPS-3 and AN/FPS-4 radars at this site located near the coast 120 miles north of San Francisco. In 1955 the 776th received an AN/FPS-8 that subsequently was converted to an AN/GPS-3. In 1958 AN/FPS-20 and AN/FPS-6 radars had replaced the original sets. An AN/FPS-6B joined the site in 1960, the year the site came into the SAGE system. Point Arena AFS replaced its AN/FPS-20 with an AN/FPS-24 radar in 1961 (the first production model). By 1963 the 776th Radar Squadron (SAGE) had replaced its AN/FPS-6 height-finder radars with AN/FPS-26 and AN/FPS-90 models. (The AN/FPS-26 was, at one time, planned to become an AN/FSS-7 SLBM radar, but the one at Mill Valley AFS was converted instead.) The 776th held additional responsibilities during the 1960s as Point Arena was designated as a Backup Intercept Control site for both the BUIC I and BUIC II programs. The AN/FPS-24 was replaced with an AN/FPS-93A model circa 1976. In 1979 the site came under TAC jurisdiction, operating AN/FPS-91A and AN/FPS-116 radars under the JSS program. The 776th subsequently was deactivated and an element of the 26th Air Defense Squadron continued operations. A reorganization in 1987 placed the site under the Southwest Air Defense Sector of the 25th Air Division. The site is now closed, replaced by FAA/USAF JSS site at Rainbow Ridge, CA (J-83A), with an ARSR-4 radar.

References: "Searching the Skies"; misc. ADCOM documents; eyewitness accounts.


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