Red Cliff Air Station

Red Cliff Air Station (1951-1961) - A Cold War Pine Tree Line Air Force Radar Station first established in 1951 near Pepperrell Air Force Base, Newfoundland and Labrador. Named Red Cliff Air Station after the location. Initially assigned a Permanent ID of N-22 and Later C-22. Abandoned in 1961. History of Red Cliff Air Station Established in 1951 and became operational in June 1954 as Red Cliff Air Station manned by the 108th 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 CPS-5 search radar and an TPS-1D height finder radar. The search radar was later upgraded to a CPS-6B and then to an FPS-502. A TPS-502 height finder radar was installed. On 1 Apr 1957 the 642nd AC&W Squadron was activated at Red Cliff AS replacing the 108th AC&W Squadron. Red Cliff AS was responsible for the maintenance of one remote manned gap filler radar site. 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. The Red Cliff AS gap filler radar site was located at Elliston Ridge Air Station and manned by detachment 1, 642nd AC&W Squadron. Red Cliff AS and the 642nd AC&W were deactivated on 1 Oct 1961. The physical plant of the site was divided into a main site, a cantonment area, a housing area and a radio site. The main site housed the operations buildings, the radar towers, and the backup generators. The cantonment area was adjacent to the main site and housed the enlisted barracks, the bachelor officer's quarters, the orderly room, the dining hall, the motor pool and other support buildings. Red Cliff AFS Major Equipment List Search Radar HF Radar Data Systems CPS-5 CPS-6B FPS-502 MPS-4 TPS-502 Unit Designations 108th Aircraft Control & Warning (AC&W) Squadron (1951-1957) 642nd Aircraft Control & Warning (AC&W) Squadron (1957-1961) 108th AC&W Assignments 1 Sep 51 Federalized in the ANG at Grenier AFB, NH, as the 152nd AC&W Group. 6 Feb 52 Transferred to 32nd Air Division. 7 Apr 52 Transferred to NEAC. 642th AC&W Assignments 1 Apr 1957 Assigned at Redcliff Air Station, Newfoundland (N-22), as the 4731st Air Defense Group. 6 Jun 1960 Transferred to Goose ADS. 1 Oct 1961 discontinued. Current Status Abandoned near Pepperrell Air Force Base, Newfoundland and Labrador. {"selectable":false,"width":"500"} Location: Pepperrell Air Force Base in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. Maps & Images Lat: 47.63889 Long: -52.66723 Multi Maps from ACME Maps from Bing Maps from Google Elevation: .....' See Also: Permanent System Radar Sites US Radar Sets 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 97, 108. Links: Radomes - Red Cliff Air Station Wikipedia - Red Cliff Air Station Roots Web - 642nd AC&W Squadron Visited: No