San Pedro Hill Air Force Station
San Pedro Hill Air Force Station (1961-1976) - A Cold War Air Force Radar Station first established in 1961 near San Pedro, Los Angeles County, California. Named San Pedro Hill Air Force Station after the location. Initially assigned a Permanent ID of RP-39 and later a Sage ID of Z-39. Became an FAA site in 1976 with USAF Height finders manned by a USAF detachment.
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History of San Pedro Hill Air Force Station
Established in 1960 as a joint use (FAA/USAF/Army) site and became operational in 1961 as San Pedro Hill Air Force Station manned by the 670th AC&W Squadron. Initial equipment included an FAA ARSR-1C search radar, a USAF FPS-6 height finder and a USAF FPS-26 height finder.
The 670th AC&W Squadron moved from San Clemente Island to new facilities on San Pedro Hill to begin SAGE operations. The SAGE system used the FST-2 coordinate data transmitter to digitized the radar returns and transmitted them 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.
The FST-2 was a very large digital system using vacuum tube technology. Over 6900 vacuum tubes were used in each FST-2 requiring 21 air conditioned cabinets, 40 tons of airconditioning, 43.5 kva of prime power and usually a large new addition to the operations building. The FST-2B modification added two more cabinets but with newer solid state (transistor) technology to process coded responses from aircraft transponders. The T-2 was replaced in the 1970s by the FYQ-47/Common digitizer.
The site began operation as a SAGE site in 1961 initially feeding the Norton SAGE Direction Center DC-17. With the closure of DC-17 on 25 Jun 1966 control was transferred to Luke SAGE Direction Center DC-21 at Phoenix, Arizona.
San Pedro Hill AFS and the 670th were deactivated 1 Apr 1976 and the site was turned over to the FAA. The height finder radars were then operated by a USAF detachment headquartered at Luke AFB, AZ. Became joint use site JSS J-31. Replaced by site J-31A (Navy ARSR-4) on San Clement Island in the JSS system. Now data tied into the JSS system.
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Current Status
FAA Joint Use site J-31 on San Pedro Hill in Los Angeles County, California.
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Location: San Pedro, Los Angeles County, California. Maps & Images Lat: 33.746111 Long: -118.336111 |
See Also:
- Permanent System Radar Sites
- US Radar Sets
- Norton SAGE Direction Center DC-17
- Luke SAGE Direction Center DC-21
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 159
- 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 103
Links:
Visited: Area 5 Oct 2014