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Opana Radar Station

These white domes as seen in the photos are for satellite communications, but are located on the historic site of Opana Radar Station. Several radar antennas were installed here on Thanksgiving Day 1941. This came after the U.S. had been setting up their Aircraft Warning System since 1939. The original antennas, which are no longer there, were part of 6 mobile radar detectors on O'ahu, with these antennas initially located at Schofield Barracks before being moved to Opana, a high altitude location above sea level.

On December 7, 1941, the Opana Radar Station was manned by Privates Lockard and Elliot, who detected aircraft at 7:02 am. The men reported their observations to Fort Shafter, but were ignored several times, reasoning that these were American B-17s. The attack on Pearl Harbor followed shortly afterwards.

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Source

  • Text: TracesOfWar
  • Photos: Anne Bolijn

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