I wish these were included in the last post, but I forgot I even had them. Last post was from my phone. These were from a DLR, which was later destroyed when I left it on the roof of Ms. Jeepy and drove off from a location in Pittsburgh. Fortunately, I was able to return and find it in the road, and the SD card survived. See previous post under the same title, albeit misspelled, for more.

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re abandoned installation. There are a number of office building and barracks. The barracks are being used for a paint ball park....

Very cool. The silos make it obvious that this is the launch site, but is any part of the control site still abandoned? Most Nike sites had some distance between the two to make them harder to destroy. It sounds like at least some of the control site was repurposed, given that the barracks would be part of it- but was the whole thing repurposed?

Posted by Aran Very cool. The silos make it obvious that this is the launch site, but is any part of the control site still abandoned? Most Nike sites had some distance between the two to make them harder to destroy. It sounds like at least some of the control site was repurposed, given that the barracks would be part of it- but was the whole thing repurposed?

The control site with barracks is about 1 mile away, with open farm field in between. Those buildings are in much better shape (as best I could see from the parking lot), but are currently leased to a paint ball wars company. I tried to get a peek, but they wouldn't let me in without full paint ball gear as "war" was in session. Since they are undoubtedly coated with paint ball goo, I would have to assume there is nothing inside any of the buildings other than hay bales and empty barrels to hide behind....

Here is a link to an article on this particular site: https://www.nps.go...ssile-site-c47.htm

Continued Googling with key words from article will surely turn GPS coordinates, with which you can check out satellite images of the site.

Thanks for checking out my post! Lots more I have to upload yet from my 12 state urbex/rurex tour from Wisconsin to the east coast....

I've explored some of these myself. It was exciting to see the hatch open, until thee obvious flooding. Normally these are welded shut or filled in. There is a lot left in regards to the above ground areas. Neat find.

Posted by Desertify Urbex I've explored some of these myself. It was exciting to see the hatch open, until thee obvious flooding. Normally these are welded shut or filled in. There is a lot left in regards to the above ground areas. Neat find.

I can't tell you excited I was to pull up and see those doors open, only to have my heart sink as I approached and saw the water. Each of the 3 massive silo doors had a triangles cut into them, and then folded in. It appears these were intentionally flooded to keep people out. Really makes a guy wish he had scuba gear....

Posted by Desertify Urbex I've explored some of these myself. It was exciting to see the hatch open, until thee obvious flooding. Normally these are welded shut or filled in. There is a lot left in regards to the above ground areas. Neat find.

The launcher magazine doors had to be welded shut by treaty (SALT2?)

The personnel hatches in most of these were not welded shut by the Army/Air Force but these are private property now in most cases so anything could be welded even some gates.

In above ground Nike launch sites with no magazine the launcher bases were removed.

The underground ones all flood without operational pumps over the last 50 years.


National Park service page

https://www.nps.go...ssile-site-c47.htm

Posted by 2Xplorations The launcher magazine doors had to be welded shut by treaty (SALT2?) The personnel hatches in most of these were not welded shut by the Army/Air Force but these are private property now in most cases so anything could be welded even some gates. In above ground Nike launch sites with no magazine the launcher bases were removed. The underground ones all flood without operational pumps over the last 50 years. National Park service page https://www.nps.go...ssile-site-c47.htm

Thanks for the info! I am familiar with the link - I even posted it above, but I must have missed some info within - maybe skipped a paragraph. Flooding without a pump makes sense. All the homes in the surrounding area have basements with sump pumps... It is awful tempting to take a pump and genset, but that is sure to attract a ticket. Or at least an angry neighbor whose backyard I would end up flooding. That said, not a good idea....

Posted by Aran Very cool. The silos make it obvious that this is the launch site, but is any part of the control site still abandoned? Most Nike sites had some distance between the two to make them harder to destroy. It sounds like at least some of the control site was repurposed, given that the barracks would be part of it- but was the whole thing repurposed?

IFC & launch battery sites were physically separated because the distance was needed so that the missile tracking RADARs could physically track the Nike missiles when launched. Also, they wanted high ground for the IFC, so the various RADARs had better line of sight, whereas the launch batteries didn't need it.

Barracks were usually at the Admin Area, which could have been at/adjacent to IFC or Launch Battery, or farther way, but the sites usually had a "Ready Room" where personnel who needed to be at the site but not at their duty position, could go hang-out, sleep, use the bathroom, etc.

/-/ooligan

Posted by 2Xplorations The launcher magazine doors had to be welded shut by treaty (SALT2?) The personnel hatches in most of these were not welded shut by the Army/Air Force but these are private property now in most cases so anything could be welded even some gates. In above ground Nike launch sites with no magazine the launcher bases were removed. The underground ones all flood without operational pumps over the last 50 years.

Underground magazine elevator doors did not have to be welded shut, they weren't inspected by any Soviets, Soviet satellite imagery capabilities at the time would not have detected the welds, etc. There's actually a couple inch gap in-between closed doors that was filled with a heavy-duty rubber type weather seal. That clearly shows up in some of the photos above.

SALT had nothing to do with Nikes -- SALT = Strategic Arms Limitation Talks, and the Nike program was tactical, not strategic. I assume you're kinda sorta thinking about the ABM Treaty, but even that didn't impact (pun intended) the Nike program because ABM = Anti-Ballistic Missile (a missile system to destroy incoming ICBMs/re-entry vehicles) whereas Nike-Ajax & Nike-Hercules were not designed to be an anti-ballistic missile system, it was designed in the 1940s to shoot down bombers, though it did have an air to ground capability that was pretty highly classified, and there was research into whether a Nike-Hercules nuclear airburst in the vicinity of an inbound ICBM or group of ICBMs/MIRVs would be effective.

What killed the Nike sites was rising costs of the war in Vietnam, the reality that the Nike program was designed for Soviet bombers but the more modern & realistic threat was Soviet ICBMs.

The Nike sites that didn't have the underground missile storage magazines (temporary sites, or "SAC Style" sites that protected Strategic Air Command bases) did not HAVE to be demilitarized by removal of "launcher bases" either.

Keep in-mind that even as Nike sites were being phased-out in the USA in the early to mid-1970s (if not earlier) a few sites (Alaska & Florida) stayed active until 1979 PLUS the Nike system was sold to & continued to be in-operation by several other countries. So as-was the US military's standard operating procedure, in-addition to the classified & other common-sense stuff being removed as the sites were decommissioned, plenty of other stuff was removed to go sit in some Army Depot for storage & possible re-use elsewhere. After that, GSA sold some sites to people who simply bought them because of all the metal that was left, they tore the sites apart (including parts of the launch rails, erectors, etc.) for the scrap-metal value, then abandoned the site, and as scrap metal value increased over the decades, new sets of scrappers would come in & remove stuff. Thankfully, there are numerous instances where the GSA sold the sites back to the original landowners (they usually had first-dibs, depending on where the site was) & some of them didn't allow scrapping, which is why some sites today are in better condition than others.

And, you're also wrong about "all" sites flooding unless someone kept the sump-pumps powered up over the years, though it's certainly true that many underground storage magazines partially below a water table and/or whose access doors were left open for periods of time would have some degree of flooding.


Not trying to slam you -- I'm glad you're interested in Nike stuff, but PLEASE read-up on it some more so that you're not passing on misinformation.

http://ed-thelen.org/
https://www.amazon...ref=dp_ob_title_bk
www.blastcamp.com


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/-/ooligan

So cool! I know where this is and it's on my list for summer! Now I'm definitely more excited to go after seeing how open it is.