"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
After the U.S. Forest Service
issued a special use permit on 2 June 1958 to the U.S. Air Force,
the Yreka GFA was built on Gunsight Peak. The former Yreka GFA
was used to relay radar data from blind spots back to Keno Air
Force Station in Oregon. The former Yreka GFA was an unmanned
post with a 70 foot steel antenna, a generator and equipment building,
and a 5,000-gallon UST. By 1961, technological advances had eliminated
the need for gap filler facilities, and the former Yreka GFA was
recommended for disposal.
Source: Sacramento
District, US Army Corps of Engineers
