Cold Bay Air Force Station

Cold Bay Air Force Station Cold Bay Long Range Radar Site
Part of Eleventh Air Force (PACAF)
Cold Bay AFS Location of Cold Bay AFS, Alaska
Coordinates	55°14′42″N 162°46′12″W / 55.24500°N 162.77000°W / 55.24500; -162.77000 (Cold Bay AFS F-26)Coordinates: 55°14′42″N 162°46′12″W / 55.24500°N 162.77000°W / 55.24500; -162.77000 (Cold Bay AFS F-26)
Type	Air Force Station
Site information
Controlled by	United States Air Force
Site history
Built	1958
In use	1959-Present
Garrison information
Garrison	714th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron (1954-1983)

Cold Bay Air Force Station (AAC ID: F-26, LRR ID: A-08, DEW ID: COB-MAIN) is a closed United States Air Force General Surveillance Radar station. It is located 625 miles (1,006 km) southwest of Anchorage, Alaska.

The ground control intercept (GCI) station F-26 was closed on 1 November 1983. A new minimally attended Long Range Radar (LRR) site, A-08 was built about 5 miles to the southeast of the closed Air Force Station as part of the Alaska Radar System. Today, it remains active as part of the Alaska NORAD Region under the jurisdiction of the 611th Air Support Group, Elmendorf AFB, Alaska.

Cold Bay AFS was a continental defense radar station constructed to provide the United States Air Force early warning of an attack by the Soviet Union on Alaska.

Planning for a surveillance station at Cold Bay began in July 1956 and construction commenced later that year. Not part of the first 25 Aircraft Control and Warning (AC&W) radar stations, Cold Bay AFS was added as part of the Aleutian extension of the Distant Early Warning Line (DEW Line). The radar station and support base was located at the southwest end of the Aleutian Peninsula, about 7 miles west-northwest of the former Fort Randall Army Air Base (later Thornbrough Air Force Base). The airport facilities were used as a logitics support terminal during the construction of the site, which was completed in September 1958.

The station consisted of a power/heating plant, water and fuel storage tanks, gymnasium and other support office buildings. Two other buildings contained living quarters, work areas, and recreational facilities plus opportunities for such sports as skiing, skating, horseshoes, and basketball. The station buildings were, except for the civil engineering building connected by heated hallways. As a result, personnel stationed there, with only very few exceptions, were able to wear "summer" uniforms year round, unless they had a need to go outside during the winter season. The coverings of the station's three radar towers were heated from within to keep the covering from becoming brittle from extreme cold, and thus subject to being damaged or destroyed by high winds. Tours at the station were limited to one year because of the psychological strain and physical hardships.