Historic California Posts, Camps,
Stations and Airfields
Table Mountain Radio Replay Annex
(Norton Air Force Base Radio Relay
Annex No. 2)
US Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles
District History (1992)
Location: Table Mountain, California, approximately 6 miles northwest
of Wrightwood, California.
Site History: On 9 January 1956, the U.S. Department of Agriculture
granted a special use permit (LA-925) to Norton Air Force Base
for operation of the Norton Radio Relay Annex No.2.
Consent of the Smithsonian Institute was also provided by a permit
(LA-926) on 23 January 1956. This 0.25-acre facility was used
as a radio relay station for air defense until 9 January
1962.
Records from Norton Air Force Headquarters indicate that they
had requested the remodeling of two buildings, a wood frame building
and a lean-to. The wood frame building required
reroofing, weather stripping, leveling of the building, and reflooring.
The lean-to allegedly had asbestos sheeting throughout its interior
to be used as fireproofing. In addition, an unconnected Edison
meter and an electrical one phase system were located in one
of the buildings.
Representatives of the Department of Agriculture were contacted
by Mittelhauser Corporation on 13 January 1992 regarding former
Norton air defense radio relay activities as well as current
onsite activities. Both recall that the Army operated radio relay
operations in the two onsite facilities.
Annually, the Army would set up and operate a portable low frequency
radio in what is now known as the Big Pine Office of the U.S.
Forest Service. Another building, which was constructed of clap
board and run by electric power, was continuously used as a relay
facility. The agriculture representatives mentioned that asbestos
had not been observed in either building.
The clap board building was renovated in 1962. It is currently
used jointly by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S.
Department of Forestry in operating their radio equipment. No
building debris resulted from the renovation. with the exception
of two antenna poles, all Norton Air Force equipment was removed.
The two antenna poles were considered expendable and left in
place onsite at the request of the U.S. Forest Service. The U.S.
Forest Service concluded that the subject land occupied by the
Department of the Air Force was left in satisfactory condition.
The subject land was relinquished back to the Smithsonian Institute
on 19 January 1962.
From 1962 to the present, Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) has
been contracted by the National Atmospheric Scientific Association
(NASA) to perform astronomical and atmospheric
studies. An observatory operated by Clairmont Colleges in Pomona
is also presently onsite.
US Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles
District History (1995)
1. On 9 January 1956, the U.S. Department of Agriculture granted
a special use permit (LA-925) for the transfer of a 0.25-acre
site to the 27th Air Division (Air Defense), Norton Air Force
Base. Consent of the Smithsonian Institute, Permittee of the
U.S. Forest Service (Table Mountain Field Station), Department
of Agriculture, was obtained by Permit No. LA-926 on 23 January
1956.
Records show that the Norton Radio Relay Annex No.2 was to be
used by the 27th Air Division as a radio relay station for air
defense. Suggested improvements to an existing wood-frame building
were made, including reroofing, reflooring, leveling the building,
and weather stripping the windows and door. A lean-to building
was to have had asbestos sheeting applied throughout the interior
for fireproofing requirements. These structures are no longer
at the site.
The Norton Radio Relay Annex No.2 was initially declared excess
to requirements on 15 November 1961. Permits No. LA-925 and LA-926
for the 0.25-acre site were relinquished and
retransferred to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (Forest Service)
on 9 January 1962. The Smithsonian Institute released the Government
from any further actions, liabilities or claims on
19 January 1962. The current owner is the U.S. Forest Service.
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