quote:

Originally posted by 229DAK:
Sigmund loves this stuff. I'm sure he will be along shortly.

Yes, he does! Old air bases, missile sites (Nike, BOMARC, Safeguard, Atlas, Titan, Minuteman, it doesn't matter), ammo depots, coast defense batteries, I like them all! I'm now retired, but my last 25 years of work was environmental research on military sites. In fact, I worked on the same program as Sig 2340!

Here's a small sample of the many sites I enjoy:

http://atlasbases.homestead.com/

http://www.airfields-freeman.com/

https://www.missilebases.com/

http://nikealaska.org/

https://substreet.org/tag/ammunition-plants/

https://www.onlyinyourstate.co...doned-radar-base-vt/

https://rafbarnham-nss.weebly.com/history.html

http://www.all-hazards.com/loring/legends/q_areas.pdf

http://raf-upper-heyford.org/

https://maunsellseaforts.com/

http://www.dhc-2.com/Monthan_Memories.html

https://cdsg.org/

https://coldwar-c4i.net/

quote:

Originally posted by Sigmund:

quote:

Originally posted by 229DAK:
Sigmund loves this stuff. I'm sure he will be along shortly.

Yes, he does! Old air bases, missile sites (Nike, BOMARC, Safeguard, Atlas, Titan, Minuteman, it doesn't matter), ammo depots, coast defense batteries, I like them all! I'm now retired, but my last 25 years of work was environmental research on military sites. In fact, I worked on the same program as Sig 2340!

Here's a small sample of the many sites I enjoy:

http://atlasbases.homestead.com/

http://www.airfields-freeman.com/

https://www.missilebases.com/

http://nikealaska.org/

https://substreet.org/tag/ammunition-plants/

https://www.onlyinyourstate.co...doned-radar-base-vt/

https://rafbarnham-nss.weebly.com/history.html

http://www.all-hazards.com/loring/legends/q_areas.pdf

http://raf-upper-heyford.org/

https://maunsellseaforts.com/

http://www.dhc-2.com/Monthan_Memories.html

https://cdsg.org/

https://coldwar-c4i.net/

Very cool, I’ve spent a bit of time on a few of those websites but others were new to me. You might enjoy my write up of the Black Hills Ordnance Depot: https://www.coldwartourist.com...hills-ordnance-depot

My unit took over an old mostly abandoned Air station in Germany called “Sembach” place was in the sticks but had lots of old abandoned bunkers from the Cold War that we used to find a way to get into an explore, some of them still had furniture and office equipment like file cabinets and phones in them.

quote:

Originally posted by Chris42:
Looks interesting.
I have had the opportunity to walk around a Nike missle base in NJ some 50 years ago. Was also able to walk part of Raritan Arsenal at the same time. Both interesting but you had to work to see anything. Lots of large underground munitions bunkers at the Arsenal.

IF you went up they road the old Nike silos were right behind the Hadley mall which was the Hadley airport at the time so they built these right on civilian airport property to hide them in plain sight.

Thanks for sharing the website, intriguing info.

Around 2005, I was surprised, and delighted, to learn of the former S-13 and S-14 double launch site, in Redmond, WA.
The launch site is now private property by 95th Ave and 195th NE.
Just fenced off, a small historical marker.

The current FEMA/Army Reserve site in Kenmore was an S-03 site.

I learned that there are a lot of former Nike sites in WA state, Fort Lewis and McChord AFB.

Been to Hanford, but not an inside tour.

There are a few good books about missiles.

Defend and Deter, All US missiles (includes Snark which is on the cover!):

http://www.holeintheheadpress.com/dandd.html

Defend and Deter in poor quality pdf:

https://minutemanmissile.com/d...gacyOfTheColdWar.pdf

Air defense (mainly Nike):

http://www.holeintheheadpress.com/ringsofsteel.html

Nike site SF-88 (restored and open to visitors):

http://www.holeintheheadpress....st_missile_site.html

Report on SF-88L

https://www.nps.gov/goga/learn...What%20We%20Have.pdf

Titan II:

https://titan2handbook.com/



Ed Thelen's Nike locations:

http://www.ed-thelen.org/loc.html

Ed's Nike home page:

http://www.ed-thelen.org/index.html#loc



And speaking of Black Hills Ammo Depot:

http://www.airfields-freeman.c..._SD_W.htm#blackhills

https://www.terravivos.com/secure/vivosxpoint.htm

Ten or more years ago I was delivering PODS to a PODS warehouse on Mare Island near Vacaville, CA. The guy unloading me pointed to part of the floor and said “That’s where one of the A-bombs sat before shipping out for Japan. That warehouse over there is where they’d store bodies coming back from Pacific combat. Very surreal.

Much of the base was still intact then. It still looked like a military post, with most of the housing and admin buildings still intact, and the warehouses, of course. It’s going fast, though. Last time I was there a few years ago, the civilian world was repurposing it very quickly. I hope some of its history gets remembered.

quote:

Originally posted by ArtieS:
Very cool stuff! I follow a lot of this content as I grew up in New England where there were a ton of bases, almost all of which are now closed. Nike installations, DEW installations, airbases, naval facilities, etc.

Thanks for posting this.


A

I stumbled across the Nahant, MA Nike complex a few years ago.

I not only found an old photo, I finally figured out how to upload photos. Yea!

Here is from some time ago at the Titan Missile Museum in Sahuarita AZ, just south of Tucson.

Great place, if you're in the area you should tour a place of American History.

I wish you good luck on your project. I can't help because none of the places I served still have anything left behind.

flashguy

This is an interesting topic and discussion because when things calm down I want to spend some time researching this facet of military history.

I was watching the local news here in Bismarck and they had a segment on a former Sprint Missile site for sale.

"A Unique opportunity to own a bit of Cold War history! Located in Fairdale ND, this Walsh County Sprint Missile site offers a nostalgic Cold War experience. Site needs some repair, but could provide that extra privacy, security and protection when needed. The site is surrounded by dual fences and sits on 3 parcels totaling 49.48 acres.” The site also features a command bunker and 14 sprint launch tubes."

I visited the Nike-Ajax Missile Site N-75 at the Carrollton-Nike Park, Isle of Wight County, Virginia.

When my dad returned from Vietnam he was assigned to guard the Nike Missile Site CD-27 in Wilmington OH. Looking back he states it was an interesting assignment but a definite 180 from the year + working with/assigned to an armored cav unit in Vietnam.


Rick Lee:
If you would have not stated where this picture was taken, I would have sworn you were standing in front of at least two areas in Southern Afghanistan. One was by the Kandahar Airport and the other was about a dozen (guesstimate) miles South of the City of Kandahar itself

thank You for the link! VI

quote:

Originally posted by Blackmore:
New England is littered with de-commissioned Nike sites.

This one is about 15 minutes from where I grew up.

Avon/Simbury, CT Nike Site

Thanks for this one - I live in Simsbury, about 3 miles from this former site...

This popped up on the suggested videos side of my YouTube viewing.

This video has no narration but it does show some views I've never seen before, especially the view of the bottom, below the missile.

The music is a bit creepy. BTW one of my ham radio club members was a young crew member in the Titan silos. He doesn't talk much about it but has told a few stories about his USAF tour of duty.




Link to original video: https://youtu.be/3LRBfHVYgPE
.

quote:

Originally posted by Blackmore:
New England is littered with de-commissioned Nike sites.

This one is about 15 minutes from where I grew up.

Avon/Simbury, CT Nike Site

Yup, same with SF Bay Area, most were scrapped-off the Earth but, some were built within or, around former coastal defense batteries.
Golden Gate NRA Nike Missle Site has operational elevators and erectors which they put on a display a few times each month.

Former Naval Shipyard Mare Island, was the main West Coast submarine center, before submarines, MINSY was the oldest shipyard on the West Coast.

quote:

Originally posted by OKCGene:
This popped up on the suggested videos side of my YouTube viewing.

This video has no narration but it does show some views I've never seen before, especially the view of the bottom, below the missile.

The music is a bit creepy. BTW one of my ham radio club members was a young crew member in the Titan silos. He doesn't talk much about it but has told a few stories about his USAF tour of duty.




Link to original video: https://youtu.be/3LRBfHVYgPE
.

Been there,very cool...

Awesome video, Gene. The guy compressed a five hour top to bottom tour into five minutes. I took that incredible tour a few years ago, we went all the way down into the flame pit. Our tour guide was the legendary Chuck Penson who wrote this fine book about the complex:

https://titan2handbook.com/

https://www.amazon.com/Titan-I...004U8PPQ2/ref=sr_1_1

This is a big picture book about the entire program:

https://www.amazon.com/Titan-I...id=1604407213&sr=8-2

I LOVE THIS STUFF!!!

Maine used to be a key point of the CONUS defense program, and now we are just a last point of refueling.

We had Over-the-horizon Backscatter radar, SAGE radar, BOMARC sites, NIKE sites, and the Eastern-Most B52 base (Loring).

It is neat to remember the sites for what they were, while seeing their use today. The BOMARC site in Bangor (ex Dow AFB) is used by a shipping company, a meat processor, and an auto shop. The old coffin launchers come in handy for many uses!

As kids, we explored an old cement building/bunker in Old Town that was used as a Civil Defense command point, then as an auxiliary Women's prison before being abandoned.

For anyone who is planning a trip to Tucson, the Boneyard tours have been suspended. Last time I looked into it, they were booked out about six months in advance. Now they're on hold. But the Pima Air Museum across the street is still open and well worth a visit. I work in Tucson a lot now and the skies are always full of A-10s in that area. You can see plenty of the Boneyard from outside the perimeter fence.

I was stationed at the former Griffiss AFB in Rome NY for 15 years. Cold war history there...