William B. Lewis

WW2 Oregon Coast Mystery Solved

Oregon Coast WW2 Mystery Solved

By William B. Lewis (Original unedited version)

       Enemy aircraft during WW2 could freely bomb the Oregon coast with little chance of detection.  During the first part of WW2 there existed a blind radar gap between Cape Perpetua and Fort Brag California; the Japanese took advantage of this radar gap.    

     To close the gap General DeWitt, under orders from the war department directed the installation of radar units on the west coast.   This was a direct response to Chief Flying Officer Nobuo Fujita’s bombing of Mt. Emily near Brookings Oregon on September 9 1942 with a 170-pound incendiary device.  He flew a Japanese Yokosuka E-14-Y-1 “Glen” seaplane launched from the Japanese submarine I-25 on September 9 1942.     Nobuo is the only enemy aviator to have dropped bombs on the continent of the United States.  The Japanese objective was to counter the Lieutenant Colonel James Doolittle raid with submarine operations on the Pacific Coast.   The 16 U.S. Army B-25 twin engine aircraft launched 600 miles from mainland Japan off the deck of the USS Hornet on April 18, 1942 to bomb enemy targets.  The Doolittle raid was the U.S. response to the attack on Pearl Harbor.   

     For years rumors and speculation have surrounded the Cape Perpetua radar mystery.    Cape Perpetua is a park managed by the Siuslaw National Forrest and is located three miles south of the city of Yachats Oregon at an elevation of 715 feet.  The beautiful 15-minute drive up the winding road to the top of Cape Perpetua is breathtaking.   At the peak of Cape Perpetua is a rock shelter built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1935 and a short 15-minute walk from the parking lot.  The picturesque views up and down the Oregon coast from these heights are magnificent.  Visitors can see 37 miles up and down the coast line.  This is the perfect spot for a radar unit!
      Declassified documents show that radar was installed and used at Cape Perpetua during WW2.  Radar was also operational in other areas of the Oregon Coast including Tillamook, Siletz Bay, Cape Arago and Cape Sebastian. These radar units operated 24 hours a day, seven days a week according to the Pearl Harbor 1946 Congressional Investigation.  The regiment of soldiers who operated the Cape Perpetua Radar used the old skating rink on West Fourth St. in Yachats, Oregon as a barracks.  The Army used the grassy area in front of the current Adobe Resort as parade grounds.    

    The Army and Navy designation for the radar was SCR-270B.  The Cape Perpetua radar was long-range radar built by Westinghouse and used before the Pearl Harbor attack.  The company delivered approximately 112 of these radar sets to the department of defense prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor.   The exact location of the Cape Perpetua radar is not known.      

          The fact that there was a secret SCR-270B radar unit operating from Cape Perpetua during WW2 was not known until recent research.  The Cape Perpetua radar was installed 200 feet higher in elevation than the radar at Opana Point, Hawaii giving the radar a better “view”.    

      The citizens of the city of Yachats hosted the Army personnel who manned and protected the Cape Perpetua radar during WW2.  The fixed version of the radar was designated as SCR-271.    The SCR-270B had a range of about 80 miles; however some units were successful at detecting aircraft at a range of 150 miles.   At Iba Field on Luzon in the Philippines in October 1941 Air Warning personnel detected aircraft at a range of 120 miles.    The range depends upon the elevation of the radar, therefore making Cape Perpetua a perfect location.    The radar rotates on a 360-degree arc so it is easy to conclude that the radar was not located near the CCC rock shelter at Cape Perpetua.    According to the Coast Guard in a 1946 after action report on WW2 beach patrols, the rock shelter was not used as an aircraft warning service site or a submarine lookout. 

     Transporting and operating the Oregon coast radar units required four trucks.  The stake body truck (K-33), Antenna Trailer (K22-B), primary mover truck to tow the trailer (K-32), power supply truck (K-31) and the K-30 operating truck. The operating truck consisted of the radar indicator which is a five inch oscilloscope for operators to view radar echoes and make approximate distance determinations of incoming targets.  Extra receivers and spare scopes were transported with the trucks.    

    The radar site at Cape Perpetua was an Army operation, and the mission at Cape Perpetua was to detect and report incoming aircraft.  Since interceptor aircraft were not available, the purpose of the radar was to alert forestry and fire fighting personnel.  Even selected high school students were being trained to fight fires.  At Eugene High School for example, students trained after school and had firefighting clothing in lockers at school.  They were not informed of the potential fire they were being trained to crew.    Luckily the Cape Perpetua SCR-270B radar never detected a single enemy aircraft. 

   The site at Cape Perpetua was used for detection of enemy aircraft and not submarines.  Submarine detection was the realm of  navy communication intercept stations at Crescent City, California and Bainbridge Island, Washington.  The SCR-270B radar was designed for air search.    Western Defense Commander, General DeWitt believed that by the end of 1941 there was no danger of large enemy landings along the beaches of the west coast.    This is why the mission of the Army contingent in Yachats was to operate and protect the radar from small enemy forces or saboteurs.  Since the radar was classified, civilians knew very little about the operation. Along the Pacific Coast to include sites in Mexico,  there were approximately 25 radar units.   With the help of the USGC beach patrols, the Army’s radar installation at Cape Perpetua was well protected.  

     According to the official website of the City of Yachats there was a gun installation located at Cape Perpetua.  There is no real evidence of any large caliber artillery installation at Cape Perpetua.  However, along the Pacific Coast the Western Defense Command under General De Witt did have 14 portable antiaircraft regiments.  The Cape Perpetua site was not easily accessible from the beach and this is why Army units prepared defensive positions along Ocean Drive in Yachats.   Priority locations for antiaircraft regiments were Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego. 

    One local Yachats citizen, Mr. Kitchen, wrote an official complaint about all the soldiers at Yachats and Cape Perpetua.  Captain William Rogers of the Oregon Defense Council responded to the complaint in a letter to Mr. Jerry Whitlock, Coordinator of Lincoln County Defense Council:   “… Between us, I would advise Mr. Kitchen to keep pretty well away from that Yachats outfit unless they get definitely out of line as it is a secret installation and anybody that fools around there apparently runs a very good chance of geting (sic) themselves punctuated someplace between the knees and top of their head...”  

    The Oregon Coast mystery of the Cape Perpetua radar and the troops stationed at Yachats during WW2 is now solved.  During the early part of WW2 the Oregon coast was vulnerable from the air and sea.   Oregonians were issued food and gas ration cards and were required to obey Western Defense Command dim-out regulations.    WW2 was an era when fear was replaced by valor.  American WW2 veterans are passing away at the rate of 1,200 per week and all their exploits, including the important work at Cape Perpetua should be remembered and cherished for years to come.