Mount Laguna Air Force Station
Mount Laguna Air Force Station (1952-1981) - A Cold War Air Force Radar Station first established in 1952 on Mount Laguna, San Diego County, California. Named Mount Laguna Air Force Station after the location. Initially assigned a Permanent ID of P-76 and later a Sage ID of Z-76. Abandoned by the Air Force in 1981 and transferred to the FAA.
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History of Mount Laguna Air Force Station
Established in 1952 and became operational in 1952 as Mount Laguna Air Force Station manned by the 751st AC&W Squadron. The station initially had both a Ground-Control Intercept (GCI) and early warning misssion. The early warnng mission involved tracking and identifing 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.
Initial equipment included the FPS-3 search radar and a CPS-4 height finder radar.
The transition of the manual GCI system to the automated SAGE system began with the installation of the FST-2 coordinate data transmitter 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.
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 air conditioning, 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 site began operation as a SAGE site in 1961 initially feeding the Norton SAGE Direction Center DC-17. The search radar was upgraded to an FPS-7C with a pair of FPS-6 height finder radars. One FPS-6 was later upgraded to an FPS-90. With the closure of the Norton SAGE Direction Center DC-17 in 1966, Mount Lauguna AFS began to feed data to the Luke SAGE Direction Center DC-21.
Mount Laguna AFS was responsible for the maintenance of five remote unattended gap filler radar sites (a sixth never became operational). The gap filler sites were placed 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 Mount Laguna AFS for regularly scheduled maintenance or when fault indicators suggested the site had problems.
In 1962 Mount Laguna became a joint use (FAA/USAF) site feeding radar data to the Palmdale FAA Center. In 1964 the FPS-6 Height finder was replaced by an FPS-26A Height finder which was upgraded in 1966 to an FSS-7 Submarine Launched Ballistic Missile (SLBM) detection radar operated by Detachment 4, 14 Missile Warning Squadron (MWS) from 8 Jul 1972 to 15 Sep 1980.
Mount Laguna AFS became a BUIC I GCI site in 1962 and went operational as a BUIC II site on 1 Apr 1966. It later became a BUIC III site and the unit designation was changed in 1970 from the 751st Radar Squadron (SAGE) to the 751st Air Defense Group (BUIC). The BUIC III system provided a backup for a SAGE direction center and provided the ability to display sector wide radar data on consoles for local weapons controllers. The system duplicated the functionality of the vacuum tube direction center computers with more up-to-date computers and replaced the FST-2 with a more up-to-date coordinate data transmitter, the FYQ-47. As the threat from a soviet bomber fleet lessened the decision came to mothball the BUIC system in 1974. The 751st Air Defense Group (BUIC) became the 751st Radar Squadron in 1974.
In 1979 Mount Laguna AFS came under TAC jurisdiction and was subsequently closed and abandoned on 30 Sep 1981. The Air Force maintained an Operating Location Alpha Delta (OL-AD) responsible for the height finder operations on the main site until they were deactivated.
The physical plant of the site was divided into an upper main site, an upper GATR radio site, a lower cantonment area and a lower housing area. The main site housed the operations buildings, the radar towers and the backup generators. The cantonment area housed the four enlisted barracks, the medical/dental clinic/bachelor officer's quarters, the orderly room, the dining hall, a small commissary, motor pool and other support/recreational buildings. Apart from the main site was a small housing area for critical married personnel. A separate upper radio site housed the GATR radio equipment for directing aircraft intercepts. The lower sites were connected by a road system to the upper sites and busses were used to transport personnel at shift change times. A 60kw solar farm was install in 1975 just below the main site. At the peak level of operations during the BUIC III years over 500 personnel were assigned to the station.
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| ADC | NORAD | Location | State | Type | From | To | GPS | Notes |
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| P-76A | Z-76A | Tecate | CA | FPS-14, FST-1 | 1957 | 1961 | 32.579444, -116.688889 |
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| P-76B | Z-76B | San Ysidro | CA | FPS-1?, FST-1 | 32.561667, -117.035 |
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| P-76C | Z-76C | Tierra del Sol | CA | FPS-1?, FST-1 | 32.648056, -116.317222 |
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| P-76D | Z-76D | Coyote Wells | CA | FPS-14, FST-1 | 1958 | 1960 | 32.690833, -115.889167 |
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| P-76F | Z-76F | Joshua Tree | CA | FPS-18, FST-1 | 1960 | 1961 | 34.155, -116.202361 |
Current Status
Abandoned in Mount Laguna, San Diego County, California. The FAA maintains an ARSR-4 3D radar on the upper site.
USGS Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) Database Entry: 2512297
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Location: Mount Laguna, San Diego County, California. Zoom out to view the GATR site map point. Maps & Images Lat: 32.87667 Long: -116.415 |
See Also:
- SAGE System
- BUIC System
- SLBM Detection Systems
- 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 86, 163.
- 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 104.
- 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
Links:
- Radomes - Mount Laguna Air Force Station
- Wikipedia - Mount Laguna Air Force Station
- Radomes - Mt. Laguna AFS Revisited Nov 1987 Article
- Radomes - Mt. Laguna AFS Common Digitizer March 1973 Article
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