Historic California Post Camp
Stations and Airfields
Hayfork Gap Filler Annex SM-157C
Typical AN/FPS-14
Gap Filler Radar
"During the late 1950s another area
of progress was the development and deployment of AN/FPS-14 and
AN/FPS-18 gap-filler radars. Having a range of around sixty-five
miles, these radars were placed in areas where it was thought
enemy aircraft could fly low to avoid detection by the longer-range
radars of the permanent and mobile radar networks. Gap-filler
radar deployment peaked in December 1960 at 131 sites throughout
the continental United States. Because the introduction of gap-filler
radars alleviated the need for civilians to scan the skies for
enemy bombers, the ADC disestablished the Ground Observer Corps
on January 31, 1959."
Searching The Skies
USAF Air Combat Command
June, 1997
Typical floorplan
of a Gap Filler Annex
SITE NAME(S): Hayfork
Gap Filler Annex. The site was also known as Hayfork Gap Filler
Annex (SM-157C) Military Reservation.
LOCATION: The
site is located in Trinity County, California and is situated
approximately six miles north of Hayfork on top of Hayfork Bally.
SITE HISTORY:
In 1958, the U.S. Government acquired 0.23 permit acre from the
Department of Agriculture, U.S. Forest Service (USFS). It was
used as an unmanned gap filler radar station by the U.S. Air
Force. The improvements were one concrete block building for
equipment and generator, two 15,000 gallon underground fuel storage
tanks, a steel antenna tower, a woven wire fence, and a gravel
surfaced road. In 1963, the 0.23 permit acre was retransferred
to USFS. The site is currently being used by Trinity County as
an unmanned communications station and by USFS as a fire watch
station.
The site was the third of three unmanned
radar stations that provided coverage for those areas not covered
by the radar located at Red Bluff
Air Force Station. The other two were located at Janesville
(Site SM-157A) and Whitmore (Site SM-157B)
Source: Sacramento District,
US Army Corps of Engineers
Search
our Site!
Questions and comments concerning
this site should be directed to the Webmaster
