Madera AFS was one of twenty-eight stations built as part of the second segment of the Air Defense Command permanent radar network.

Receiving the Defense Secretary's approval on 21 July, the Air Force directed the Corps of Engineers to proceed with construction.

As a GCI station, the squadron's role was to guide interceptor aircraft toward unidentified intruders picked up on the unit's radar scopes.

During 1961 Madera AFS joined the Semi Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) system, feeding data to DC-18 at Beale AFB, California.

When the station was shut down, it was handed over to a Native American group which operated the property as a vocational technology center.