From the “Half Moon Bay Review,”1960s
“Expansion of the present missile tracking station on Pillar Point will be started soon, a reliable report said this week.
“At present the station is regarded as a key observation spot for tracking missiles on the Pacific area. Equipment can also be used for space ship tracking.
“Half Moon Bay is on the ‘great circle route’ between Camp Vandenberg in Southern California and the missile target area in the South Pacific.
“The locally operated equipment has been used to track long-range missiles fire from Vandenberg to an area near Ulithi and other points such as Eniwietok atoll in the South Pacific.
“Among the various types of missiles tracked by the local station is ‘Honest John’ which had a range of 8000 miles.
“The station located on the north end of Half Moon Bay was built in the summer of 1962 and became operational in Sept. Original equipment was built by Radio Corporation of America and civilian operators under U.S. Navy supervision operated the station at the start. The civilian employees were hired by Federal Electric.
“Improvements reported for the present local electronic equipment include two new “dish-type” antennas. One of the largest “dish-type” structures is the million-dollar radio telescope built on Stanford campus to track space ships.”