Makah Air Force Station (ADC ID: P-44, NORAD ID: Z-44) is a closed

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

General Surveillance Radar station. It is located south of

Neah Bay, Washington Neah Bay is a census-designated place (CDP) on the Makah Reservation in Clallam County, Washington, United States. The population was 935 at the 2020 census. It is across the Canada–US border from British Columbia. Europeans originally call ...

. It was closed in 1988 by the Air Force, and turned over to the

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is a Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government agency within the United States Department of Transportation, U.S. Department of Transportation that regulates civil aviation in t ...

(FAA). Today the site is part of the

Joint Surveillance System The Joint Surveillance System (JSS) is a joint United States Air Force and Federal Aviation Administration system for the atmospheric air defense of North America. It replaced the Semi Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) system in 1983. Overvie ...

(JSS), designated by

NORAD North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD ; , CDAAN), known until March 1981 as the North American Air Defense Command, is a combined organization of the United States and Canada that provides aerospace warning, air sovereignty, and pr ...

Western Air Defense Sector The Western Air Defense Sector (WADS) is a unit of the Washington Air National Guard located at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Tacoma, Washington. As a state militia unit, the Western Air Defense Sector is not in the normal United States Air Force ch ...

(WADS) Ground Equipment Facility J-80.

History

Makah Air Force Station was one of twenty-eight stations built as part of the second segment of the

Air Defense Command Aerospace Defense Command was a major command (military formation), command of the United States Air Force, responsible for air defense of the continental United States. It was activated in 1968 and disbanded in 1980. Its predecessor, Air De ...

permanent radar network. Prompted by the start of the

Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

, on 11 July 1950, the Secretary of the Air Force asked the Secretary of Defense for approval to expedite construction of the permanent network. Receiving the Defense Secretary's approval on 21 July, the Air Force directed the Corps of Engineers to proceed with construction. The land for this site was leased from the

Makah The Makah (; Makah: ') are an Indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast living in Washington, in the northwestern part of the continental United States. They are enrolled in the federally recognized Makah Indian Tribe of the Makah I ...

Indian tribe. The 758th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron (AC&W Sq) was activated at Bahokus Peak on 27 November 1950, which assumed coverage from the temporary "lashup" site L-34 at Neah Bay. The 758 AC&W Sq started operating an

AN/FPS-3 The AN/FPS-20 was a widely used L band early warning and ground-controlled interception radar system employed by the United States Air Force Air Defense Command, the NORAD Pinetree Line in Canada, the USAF CONAD in the continental United State ...

long-range search radar and an AN/CPS-4 height-finder radar, and initially the station functioned as a Ground-Control Intercept (GCI) and warning station. As a GCI station, the squadron's role was to guide interceptor aircraft toward unidentified intruders picked up on the unit's radar scopes. The station was renamed Makah AFS on 1 December 1953. During 1960, Makah AFS joined the

Semi Automatic Ground Environment The Semi-Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) was a system of mainframe computer, large computers and associated computer network, networking equipment that coordinated data from many radar sites and processed it to produce a single unified image ...

(SAGE) system, feeding data to DC-12 at

McChord AFB McChord Field (formerly and still commonly known as McChord Air Force Base) is a United States Air Force base in the northwest United States, in Pierce County, Washington. South of Tacoma, McChord AFB is the home of the 62nd Airlift Wing, ...

, Washington. After joining, the squadron was redesignated as the 758th Radar Squadron (SAGE) on 1 April 1960. The radar squadron provided information 24/7 the SAGE Direction Center where it was analyzed to determine range, direction altitude speed and whether or not aircraft were friendly or hostile. During the 1960s, this site saw a variety of radars. By 1963, the squadron operated an

AN/FPS-7 The AN/FPS-7 Radar was a Long Range Search Radar used by the United States Air Force Air Defense Command. In the mid-1950s General Electric developed a radar with a search altitude of 100,000 feet and a range of 270 miles. This radar was signific ...

A search radar and

AN/FPS-90 The AN/FPS-6 Radar was a long-range height finding radar used by the United States Air Force's Air Defense Command. The AN/FPS-6 radar was introduced into service in the late 1950s and served as the principal height-finder radar for the United S ...

and

AN/FPS-26 The Avco AN/FPS-26 Radar was an Air Defense Command height finder radar developed in the Frequency Diversity Program with a tunable 3-cavity power klystron for electronic counter-countermeasures (e.g. to counter jamming). Accepted by the Rome Ai ...

A height-finder radars. Over the years, the equipment at the station was upgraded or modified to improve the efficiency and accuracy of the information gathered by the radars. In the 1970s, the AN/FPS-7A was modified to an AN/FPS-107V1. Circa 1977 the AN/FPS-90 height-finder radar was modified to an

AN/FPS-116 The AN/FPS-6 Radar was a long-range height finding radar used by the United States Air Force's Air Defense Command. The AN/FPS-6 radar was introduced into service in the late 1950s and served as the principal height-finder radar for the United S ...

. In October 1979, Makah came under

Tactical Air Command Tactical Air Command (TAC) is an inactive United States Air Force organization. It was a List of Major Commands of the United States Air Force, Major Command of the United States Air Force, established on 21 March 1946 and headquartered at Lang ...

(TAC) jurisdiction with the inactivation of Aerospace Defense Command and the creation of

ADTAC Air Defense, Tactical Air Command (ADTAC) was a Named Unit of the United States Air Force, and operated at the Numbered Air Force echelon of Tactical Air Command. It was responsible for the air defense of the United States, and was last statione ...

. Circa 1980 the AN/FPS-107V1 was replaced with an AN/FPS-91A search set, with an

AN/TPS-43 The AN/TPS-43 is a transportable air search 3D radar produced in the United States originally by Westinghouse Electric Corporation's Defense and Electronic Division, which was later purchased by Northrop Grumman. It is used primarily for early w ...

E search radar temporarily operating atop the old AN/FPS-26A tower during the radar change-over. On 15 June 1988, the 758th Radar Squadron was inactivated and the Air Force reduced its presence at Makah Air Force Station, closing most facilities. The radar site was turned over to the FAA, however a small detachment from

was assigned to maintain the radars. The AN/FPS-116 was retired c. 1988. In the latter 1990s, the AN/FPS-91A was replaced by an FAA-operated

ARSR-4 The Air Route Surveillance Radar is a long-range radar system. It is used by the United States Air Force and the Federal Aviation Administration to control airspace within and around the borders of the United States. The ARSR-4 is the FAA's mos ...

radar. The FAA now the radar at the site as part of the

(JSS). The station and housing were turned over to the Makah people, and the former Air Force station now is the Makah Tribal Council Center. It is well maintained and in use by the tribe.

Air Force units and assignments

Units

* Constituted as the 758th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron on 14 November 1950 : Activated at Bohokus Peak, WA on 27 November 1950 : Site renamed Neah Bay Air Force Station on 1 December 1953 : Site renamed Makah Air Force Station on 25 March 1958 : Redesignated 758th Radar Squadron (SAGE) on 1 April 1960 : Redesignated 758th Radar Squadron on 1 February 1974 : Inactivated on 30 June 1988

Assignments

505th Aircraft Control and Warning Group 5 (five) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number, and cardinal number, following 4 and preceding 6, and is a prime number. Humans, and many other animals, have 5 digits on their limbs. Mathematics 5 is a Fermat pri ...

, 27 November 1950 *

25th Air Division The 25th Air Division is an inactive United States Air Force intermediate echelon command and control organization. It was last assigned to First Air Force, Tactical Air Command (ADTAC). It was inactivated on 30 September 1990 at McChord Air ...

, 6 February 1952 *

4704th Defense Wing The 4704th Defense Wing is a discontinued United States Air Force organization. Its last assignment was with the 25th Air Division of Air Defense Command (ADC) at McChord Air Force Base, Washington, where it was discontinued in 1954. It was est ...

, 1 January 1953 * 25th Air Division, 8 October 1954 *

Seattle Air Defense Sector The Western Air Defense Sector (WADS) is a unit of the Washington Air National Guard located at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Tacoma, Washington. As a state militia unit, the Western Air Defense Sector is not in the normal United States Air Force com ...

, 1 March 1960 * 25th Air Division, 1 April 1966 – 30 June 1988

References

* Cornett, Lloyd H. and Johnson, Mildred W.,
A Handbook of Aerospace Defense Organization 1946–1980
', Office of History, Aerospace Defense Center, Peterson AFB, CO (1980). * Winkler, David F. & Webster, Julie L.,
Searching the Skies
', The Legacy of the United States Cold War Defense Radar Program, US Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratories, Champaign, IL (1997).
Information for Makah AFS, WA
{{Aerospace Defense Command, state=collapsed Installations of the United States Air Force in Washington (state) Semi-Automatic Ground Environment sites Aerospace Defense Command military installations Makah 1951 establishments in Washington (state) Military installations established in 1951 1988 disestablishments in Washington (state) Military installations closed in 1988

History

Air Force units and assignments

Units

Assignments

See also

References