World War II Radar Station B-71

This compact World War II coastal early-warning station sits on a bluff about two miles south of the Klamath River mouth. Its two concrete-block buildings were shaped to look like a farmhouse and a barn, making this a quick but unusual historic stop on Coastal Drive. Expect an outdoor visit focused on the weathered exteriors, not a museum-style interior tour.

From Klamath Beach Road, Coastal Drive reaches the station on its northern one-way, unpaved section. Park at the roadside pull-off by the WWII Radar Farmhouse Trailhead, read the interpretive panel, then follow the short, steep path down. The park says motorhomes and vehicles with trailers are not suited to this stretch, so plan the drive accordingly.

Look closely at the power building's fake windows and dormers, and at the operations building's barn-like siding and simulated hay-hoist roof extension. The disguises were built into the structures: false timber walls cover concrete blocks, and the farmhouse dormers do not open through the roof. From the access path, frame the rooflines and false openings together to show how convincingly the station borrowed farm shapes.

After attacks along the Pacific coast in 1942, the Army proposed a chain of 72 coastal radar stations; 65 were built. A November 1942 command memo called the Klamath post “Trinidad.” It became California's northernmost coastal station in that network, keeping watch from this bluff near the river mouth.

About 35 Army Air Corps personnel were needed to run the station through the day and night, quartered near Klamath. Three anti-aircraft guns were part of the defense; two circular gun positions are known at the site. In 1944, the station shifted from air warning to emergency air-sea rescue work, and it was among 22 Pacific Coast radar stations that remained active until the end of the war.

The station later stood abandoned, returned to private ownership, and eventually became part of Redwood National Park. Its National Register listing recognizes both its architecture and military history. Coastal moisture, runoff and erosion have worn at the siding and ground around the buildings, so the exposed, weathered look is part of the site's story.