Flying Training: Point Arguello Offshore Gunnery Range; SACR 51-1/15AF Sup 2 17 September 1962
March Air Force Base, CA: United States Air Force, Headquarters Fifteenth Air Force, 1962. Presumed First Edition, First printing. Three-hole punched. Format is 8 inches by 10.5 inches. 2 pages. Printed on pink paper. Minor wear and soiling noted. This supplements SACR 51-1 of 18 September 1961. This supplement supersedes SACR 51-1/15AF Sup 2 31 January 190, and C1, 31 January 1960. The purpose of this supplement is to provide a source of information for the description and location of the W-281 Point Arguello Offshore Gunnery Range and to establish policies and procedures for its use. The guidance addressed routine training sorties, special missions, range control procedures and safety procedures. The former Point Arguello Radar Site B-30 is located 10 miles southwest of Lompoc in Santa Barbara County, California. The radar site is a restored Army Air Forces Aircraft Warning Service (AWS) facility. The site is now a part of Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB).
War Department interest was originally obtained by lease on 28.86 acres in 1941.
The property was leased from the Sudden Estate Company, which had some farm buildings on the site. The purpose of the site was to establish a secret long-range radar site along the Central California coast during World War II. The initial installation was an SCR-270B radar facility located just east of Red Roof Canyon and operated by the AWS. Some sources indicate that an SCR-271 series radar set may have also also operated at this site. The site was garrisoned by the 654th Signal Aircraft Warning Company and later the 659th Signal Aircraft Warning Company. Both units were under control of the Los Angeles Control Group.
The facility was used until the end of World War II and the two leases were terminated on 24 July 1947 and 15 June 1948. The site was reacquired by US Air Force in 1966, when the Sudden Ranch was purchased and incorporated into VAFB.
A parking lot and part of the northwestern facilities of the Space Shuttle complex at Space Launch Complex 6 were built over the radar site in 1980. None of the former facilities have been in evidence during the last 30 years. The Army reportedly conducted a full restoration of the site following the radar station's deactivation after World War II. Condition: Good.
Keywords: Fifteenth Air Force, March Air Force Base, Point Arguello Offshore Gunnery Range, SACR 51-1/15AF Sup 2, Military Training, Flight Training
[Book #80191]
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