Red Cliff Air Station
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Red Cliff Air Station (1951-1961) - A Cold War Pinetree Line Air Force Radar Station first established in 1951 near Pepperrell Air Force Base, Newfoundland. Named Red Cliff Air Station after the location. Initially assigned a temporary station ID of L-22 that later became N-22 and finally C-22. Abandoned in 1961. OriginsConstruction began on Red Cliff Air Station in 1951 but it was not completed until 1954. The site was located on a hill above the red cliffs, and the weather conditions made construction difficult. The first AC&W squadron did not arrive until March 1952 and the site was not ready for occupancy so they were quartered at the nearby Pepperrell Air Force Base. 108th AC&W SquadronThe 108th AC&W Squadron of the New York Air National Guard activated an advanced party of 13 officers and 83 enlisted men on 1 Jun 1951. The remainder were called up on 1 Aug 1951 and that is the date the unit was federalized for 24 months of federal service. The unit was moved to Grenier Air Force Base in September 1951. At Grenier AFB the unit packed their equipment for shipment to Newfoundland and in March 1952 they boarded the USNS Samuel Heintselman for St. John's, Newfoundland. The 108th AC&W arrived at Pepperrell Air Force Base in March 1952 and began the installation of their equipment at Red Cliff Air Station. The permanent site at Red Cliff was not completed so a temporary "Lashup site" L-22 was established below the permanent site where a World War II gun emplacement had been located. The temporary site, L-22, housed a CPS-5 search radar, an MPS-14 height finder and a small operations building. In late 1952 the squadron moved into quarters at Red Cliff AS and as the CPS-6B installation was brought on-line both the L-22 site and the main site N-22 were operational. The L-22 site became a backup to the main N-22 site as confidence in the CPS-6B installation grew. On 1 Aug 1953 the 108th AC&W Squadron was released from federal duty and returned to the New York Air National Guard. The 642nd AC&W Squadron was activated at Red Cliff AS on that date operating the N-22 site with a CPS-6B search radar. 642nd AC&W SquadronThe main site at Red Cliff Air Station was completed and became operational in June 1954 with a designation of N-22. 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. The initial equipment was a CPS-6B search radar and a TPS-502 height finder radar. Red Cliff AS and the 642nd AC&W were deactivated on 1 Oct 1961.
Gap FillersRed 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.
Physical PlantThe 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.
Current StatusAbandoned near Pepperrell Air Force Base, Newfoundland and Labrador.
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