North Bend Air Force Station

North Bend Air Force Station (1951-1980) - A Cold War Air Force Radar Station first established in 1951 near North Bend, Coos County, Oregon. Named North bend Air Force Station on 1 Dec 1953 after the nearby town. Initially assigned a Permanent ID of P-12 and later a Sage ID of Z-12. Abandoned in 1980 and turned over to the State of Oregon. North Bend AFS 1960s History of North Bend Air Force Station SSGt John Stanton showing off the FST-2. Established in 1951 with the 761st AC&W Squadron assigned to the newly constructed radar station. Initial equipment included the FPS-8 search radar and an FPS-4 height finder radar. The radar equipment evolved into an FPS-7 search radar with two FPS-6 height finder radars while the site was still a manual Ground Control Intercept (GCI) site. The physical plant of the site was divided into a main site, a housing area and a radio site. The main site housed the operations building, the radar towers, the enlisted barracks, the bachelor officer's quarters, the orderly room, the chow hall, the motor pool and the backup generators. Apart from the main site was a small housing area for critical married personnel. A separate radio site housed the radio equipment for directing aircraft intercepts. The transition to the automated SAGE system began with instation of the FST-2 installation and search radar upgrades. The FST-2 equipment digitized the radar returns and transmitted the digital returns to the SAGE direction center. Under the SAGE system interceptor aircraft were directed to their targets by the direction center computers and controllers greatly reducing the need for local controllers and equipment at every radar station. North Bend AFS was responsible for the maintenance of three remote unattended gap filler radar sites. The gap filler sites were place in locations where the main search radar lacked coverage. These sites sent digitized radar target data directly to a direction center. Maintenance teams were dispatched from North Bend AFS for regularly scheduled maintenance or when fault indicators suggested the site had problems. The site began operation as a SAGE site March 1960 initially feeding the direction center DC-13 at Adair AFS. The search radar was upgraded to an FPS-7 and an FPS-26A height finder radar was installed. North Bend AFS and the 761st Radar Squadron were deactivated on 11 Feb 1980 and the site was subsequently turned over to the State of Oregon. North Bend AFS Major Equipment List Search Radar HF Radar Data Systems FPS-8/GPS-3 FPS-3 FPS-7 FPS-107 FPS-4 FPS-6 FPS-6B FPS-90 FPS-26A FST-2/A/B BUIC-II Unit Designations 761st Aircraft Control & Warning (AC&W) Squadron (1951-1960). 761st Radar Squadron (SAGE) (1960-1974). 761st Radar Squadron (1974-1980). 761st Assignments 7 Feb 1951 - Activated at Reedsport, OR, assigned to 505th AC&W Gp. 6 Feb 1952 - Transferred to 25th AD. Jan 1953 - Transferred to 4704th Def Wg. 1 Dec 1953 - Site redesignated to North Bend AFS, OR. 8 Oct 1954 - Transferred to 25th AD. 1 Mar 1960 - Transferred to Portland ADS. 15 Jul 1960 - Redesignated from AC&W Sq to 761st Radar Sq (SAGE). 1 Apr 1966 - Transferred to 26th AD. 15 Sep 1969 - Reassigned to 25th AD. 1 Feb 1974 - Redesignated 761 Radar Sq. 8 Oct 1954 - Transferred to 25th AD. Oct 1979 - Transferred to Air Defense, Tactical Air Command (ADTAC) 31 Mar 1980 - Final Closure. North Bend AFS Gap Filler Radar Sites (edit list) ADC NORAD Location State Type From To GPS Notes P-12A Z-12A Port Orford Oregon FPS-14, FST-1 1957 1967 42.73694, -124.50972 P-12B Z-12B Disston Oregon FPS-18, FST-1 1960 1965 43.58583, -122.6525 Fairview Mountain P-12C Z-12C Placer Oregon FPS-18, FST-1 1960 1965 42.69190, -123.23038 King Mountain North Bend Air Force Station Partial Commanders List (edit list) Assumed Relieved Rank Name Cullum Notes 1960 1962-12-20 Major Schmidt, Simon H. N/A 1962-12-20 1965-09-24 Major Stiles, Kenneth C. N/A 1965-09-24 1967-05-19 Major Schrick, Robert E. N/A 1967-05-19 1968-07-30 Major Perry, Crawford N/A Retired as a Lt. Colonel 1968-07-30 1969-07-23 Major Morrison, Jack H. N/A 1969-07-23 1970-07 Lt. Colonel Jampsa, Walter C. N/A 1973-07-13 Major Parker, Charles E. N/A 1973-07-13 1975-04-26 Major Farman, Michael S. N/A 1975-04-26 1977-06 Major Stewart, Samuel P. N/A 1977-06 1979 Major Jones, William E. N/A 1979~ 1980 Captain Thomas, Roy N/A Dates are formatted in yyyy-mm-dd to sort correctly. The Cullum Number is the graduation order from the United States Military Academy by year and class rank and links to a page for the officer on the website version of the Cullum Register. Listings without a Cullum Number indicate that the person was not a graduate of the United States Military Academy. Current Status Currently operated by the State of Oregon as the Shutter Creek Correctional Institution (minimum-security prison) in North Bend, Coos County, Oregon. Some buildings remain, no public access. {"selectable":false,"width":"500"} Location: North Bend, Coos County, Oregon. Maps & Images Lat: 43.53333 Long: -124.17639 Multi Maps from ACME Maps from Bing Maps from Google Elevation: 735' See Also: Adair SAGE Direction Center DC-13 Permanent System Radar Sites SAGE System Sources: Cornett, Lloyd H. & Johnson, Mildred W., A Handbook of Aerospace Defense Organization (1946-1980), Office of History ADC, Peterson AFB, Colorado, 31 Dec 1980, 179 pages, Pdf, page 165. Winkler, David F., Searching the Skies: the Legacy of the United States Cold War Defense Radar Program, USAF Hq Air Combat Command, 1997, 192 pages, Pdf, page 149. NORAD/CONAD Historical Summary Jan-Dec 1966, dated 1 May 1967, Command History Division, HQ NORAD/CONAD, Unclassified (originally classified Secret), pdf, pages 28-31, Backup Intercept Control Systems USGS Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) Database Entry: 2089734 Links: Radomes - North Bend Air Force Station Wikipedia - North Bend Air Force Station Visited: No