Madera Air Force Station (ADC ID: P-74, NORAD ID: Z-74) is a closed

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

General Surveillance Radar station. It is located north-northeast of

Madera, California Madera (Spanish language, Spanish for "Wood") is a city and county seat of Madera County, California, Madera County, California. As of the 2020 United States census, the city's population was 66,224. Located in the San Joaquin Valley, Madera i ...

. It was closed in 1966.

History

Madera AFS 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 continental air defense. It was activated in 1968 and disbanded in 1980. Its predecessor, Air Defense Command, was est ...

permanent radar network. Prompted by the start of the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

, on July 11, 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 July 21, the Air Force directed the Corps of Engineers to proceed with construction. The 774th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron was activated at the new station on 27 November 1950, and assumed the coverage of a temporary "Lashup" site at

Fort MacArthur Fort MacArthur is a former United States Army installation in San Pedro, Los Angeles, California (now the port community of Los Angeles). A small section remains in military use by the United States Air Force as a housing and administrative annex ...

(L-43) operating an

AN/TPS-1 The AN/TPS-1 Radar was an early warning and tactical control radar developed by Bell Labs and the MIT Radiation Laboratory during World War II. Initially used by the US Army, it was later used by the United States Air Force Air Defense Command, an ...

B 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 squadron began operating

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 States, a ...

and

AN/FPS-4 The AN/FPS-4 Radar was a Height-Finder Radar used by the United States Air Force Air Defense Command Aerospace Defense Command was a major command (military formation), command of the United States Air Force, responsible for continental air ...

radars from Madera AFS in January 1952. In 1958 the height-finder radar was replaced by

AN/FPS-6 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 Sta ...

and AN/FPS-6A radars. In 1959 an

AN/FPS-20 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 States, a ...

search radar superseded the AN/FPS-3. In 1960 the Air Force upgraded an AN/FPS-6A to become a -6B. During 1961 Madera AFS joined the

Semi Automatic Ground Environment The Semi-Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) was a system of large computers and associated networking equipment that coordinated data from many radar sites and processed it to produce a single unified image of the airspace over a wide area. S ...

(SAGE) system, feeding data to DC-18 at

Beale AFB Beale Air Force Base (AFB) is a United States Air Force base located approximately east of Marysville, California. It is located outside Linda, about east of the towns of Marysville and Yuba City, and about north of Sacramento. The host ...

, California. After joining, the squadron was redesignated as the 774th Radar Squadron (SAGE) on 15 January 1961. 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. In August 1963, the SAGE data feed was reassigned to DC-17 at

Norton AFB Norton Air Force Base (1942–1994) was a United States Air Force facility east of downtown San Bernardino in San Bernardino County, California. Overview For the majority of its operational lifetime, Norton was a logistics depot and heavy-li ...

. The Air Force upgraded the search radar, first to an

A, and then to an

AN/FPS-66 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 States, ...

. By 1963 this AN/FPS-66 search radar operated in conjunction with AN/FPS-6 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 Sta ...

height-finder radars, and on 31 July 1963, the site was redesignated as NORAD ID Z-74. Reductions in ADC funding led to Madera Air Force Station being inactivated on June 25, 1966. Today, the site remains largely intact, although at some point, the radar towers had been removed. When the station was shut down, it was handed over to a Native American group which operated the property as a vocational technology center. The site was sold off to someone else & used for unknown purposes, and then the current owner bought it in the late 1980s or early 1990s.

Air Force units and assignments

Units

* Constituted as the 774th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron on 14 November 1950 : Activated at Madera AFS on 27 November 1950 : Redesignated 774th Radar Squadron (SAGE) on 15 January 1961 : Discontinued and inactivated on 25 June 1966

Assignments

542d Aircraft Control and Warning Group The 542d Aircraft Control and Warning Group is an inactive United States Air Force unit. It was last assigned to the 28th Air Division, stationed at Hamilton Air Force Base, California. It was inactivated on 6 February 1952. This command and con ...

, 27 November 1950 *

28th Air Division The 28th Air Division is an inactive United States Air Force organization. Its last assignment was with Air Defense Tactical Air Command at Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma. It was inactivated on 29 May 1992. History Established in December 1 ...

, 6 February 1952 *

San Francisco Air Defense Sector The San Francisco Air Defense Sector (SFADS) is an inactive United States Air Force organization. Its last assignment was with the 28th Air Division, being stationed at Beale Air Force Base, California. The sector was established in February 19 ...

, 1 July 1960 *

Los Angeles Air Defense Sector The Southwest Air Defense Sector (SWADS) is an inactive United States Air Force organization. Its last assignment was with the First Air Force, being stationed at March Air Force Base, California. It was inactivated on 31 December 1994. Lo ...

, 1 August 1963 *

26th Air Division The 26th Air Division (26th AD) is an inactive United States Air Force organization. Its last assignment was with Air Defense Tactical Air Command, assigned to First Air Force, being stationed at March Air Force Base, California. It was inacti ...

, 1 April 1966 – 25 June 1966

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 Madera AFS, CA

External links

{{Aerospace Defense Command, state=collapsed Installations of the United States Air Force in California Semi-Automatic Ground Environment sites Aerospace Defense Command military installations Military installations closed in 1966 1950 establishments in California 1966 disestablishments in California Military installations established in 1950