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THE ASTORIAN • SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2022
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REMEMBERING
AIR STATION
NASELLE
Revisiting a historic
Cold War-era site
By RON BALDWIN
For The Astorian
I
t is a foreboding winter night on Wash-
ington’s isolated southern coastline. The
wind’s eerie howl and torrents of rain have
pummeled the iconic domes of Air Station
Naselle for days.
An a irman has been at his post for nine
hours and he’s questioning his eyes. A screen
shows a low altitude blip representing an object
approaching the coast, just north of Willapa
Bay, so the newly arrived offi cer sets in motion
a chain of events, sending four Convair F-102A
Delta Dagger jets from McChord Air Force
Base toward the bay. In a fl ash, the jets pass
over the coastline when an order comes over
the radio. The blip the offi cer saw was, in fact,
a large concentration of birds. More sophisti-
cated radars would later be installed at Naselle,
but these early models had some quirks.
The early 1950s were a scary time for Amer-
icans. Soviet Union dictator Joseph Stalin led
his country into the nuclear age, threatening any
country that opposed him. Congress authorized
nuclear weapons programs, missiles and detec-
tion technology to deter any possible attack.
U.S. Sen. Joseph McCarthy accused the
Truman administration of allowing Soviet spies
to take over the State Department.
One Academy Award winning 1966 Nor-
man Jewison fi lm, “The Russians Are Coming,
The Russians Are Coming ,” alludes to Paul
Revere’s ride while mocking the military-in-
dustrial complex and an outsized fear of the
Russian menace. It became highly infl uential
in the late 1960s peace movement. The nuclear
threat itself was in everyone’s mind.
It was in these times that Air Station Naselle
and others like it were built. Construction began
in early 1950s and the station came online in
December 1951. At fi rst, it had two missions;
to detect and track aircraft entering its airspace
and to direct interceptor aircraft to those sus-
pected enemy planes.
Fast-forward to October 1962. The nucle-
ar-armed ballistic missile had become the
weapon of the day, capable of destroying entire
regions with many millions of people. In the
summer of 1962, American intelligence dis-
covered that Nikita Khrushchev ordered nucle-
ar-armed missiles installed in its client state,
Cuba, 90 miles off the southern United States
coastline. Later that year, President John F.
Kennedy implemented a complete naval block-
ade of the island nation. After a full-force threat
from Kennedy, Khrushchev agreed to disman-
tle the missiles and sites in Cuba.
In 1960, Air Station Naselle , now known
by the military radio sign Ground Photo Timo-
thy, became a vital part of the Semi-Automatic
Ground Environment network. This network
of stations throughout the Pacifi c Northwest
and beyond were uniquely connected through
an early computer network. Items they used,
Photos by Ron Baldwin
TOP: The narrow road to Radar Ridge in Naselle gains nearly 800 feet in just 2.5 miles. The Naselle Youth
Camp is the site of what was once Air Station Naselle. ABOVE: Eagle Lodge is one the last remaining
barracks from the Air Station Naselle era.
like modems and teleprinters, were then still
unknown to most Americans.
Then 18-year-old Bob Davis was typical
of the installation’s enlisted men. Fresh out of
high school when he arrived in October 1962,
smack in the middle of the Cuban Missile Cri-
sis, his rank was Airman 3rd class.
His job description was civil engineering,
which meant that he was in maintenance. Secu-
rity at the base was very strict because every-
thing was so top secret.
“I did not have the proper clearance to enter
any of the radar facilities. These guys in radar
were very intelligent. They were dealing with
computers way before Gates and Allen discov-
ered Microsoft,” Davis said.
He would remain at Naselle for a year before
transferring to Portland Air Base.
“We played a lot of cards in our spare time
and on our days off , most of us headed to Port-
land,” Davis said. “But a lot of guys liked to
hunt and fi sh so they stayed there as long as
they could.”
Advances in technology were fast and bold.
By 1966, detection and deterrence were
accomplished by satellite imagery and the
need for the Semi-Automatic Ground Environ-
ment network and its bases were deemed less
vital. The Department of Defense then chose
to decommission the Naselle Air Station along
with most others in the state, transferring own-
ership to the s tate , as it remains today.
The a ir s tation’s facilities are now the site
of the Naselle Youth Camp, a medium secu-
rity residential rehabilitation facility. The radar
domes and equipment at the top of what airmen
called Mt. Timothy have been removed over the
years, and the old radar domes are mingled in
with modern communications towers. On clear
days, a spectacular valley view is available.
These sites and their surrounding forests
are now accessible to the public as part of the
Washington Department of Natural Resources.
Two small lakes, stocked with c utthroat trout,
are surrounded by developed campgrounds sit-
uated just down the mountain, open for fi sh-
ing and camping year-round. The area provides
a plethora of recreation opportunities includ-
ing hunting, fi shing, gathering, hiking and
camping.
A few of the remaining barracks from the
site’s Air Force days are still there. These bar-
racks, along with the former offi cers’ apart-
ments, are the only structures left from the
site’s military days, when upwards of 150 men
were assigned there .
THESE SITES AND THEIR SURROUNDING FORESTS ARE NOW ACCESSIBLE TO THE
PUBLIC AS PART OF THE WASHINGTON DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES.
TWO SMALL LAKES, STOCKED WITH C UTTHROAT TROUT, ARE SURROUNDED BY
DEVELOPED CAMPGROUNDS SITUATED JUST DOWN THE MOUNTAIN, OPEN FOR FISHING
AND CAMPING YEAR-ROUND. THE AREA PROVIDES A PLETHORA OF RECREATION
OPPORTUNITIES INCLUDING HUNTING, FISHING, GATHERING, HIKING AND CAMPING.