It was a fascinating part of history. One of my jobs was decoding flash traffic in the wee hours of a West German winter night. The message usually began " Russian batallions invade Fulda Gap. " One never knew if it was the real deal or not until the Officer on duty decoded his "cookie".....
my teacher told us stories of when he was little he went inside of the misile silos and it was like people droped everything where they were and just left....everything was ther......it was like the power went out
The base in the Watchung, NJ mountains was flooded underground and sealed long before being converted to a stable. In S.Plainfield (or is it Piscataway), where the Hadley Shopping Mall now stands was anothe Nike base. Explored the above grounds sections of it long before it was razed. You could just walk right in from a suburban road, the fence had long ago fallen down.
how come america has alot of history involving war and some other kool things and all that canada has is hockey history? dont get me wrong i love hockey and i am proud to be canadian but it is nice to see and learn about history other then hockey, but we have nothing up here :(
@Jsouthwell2006 Actually, you do. Though Canada adopted a no-nuclear weapon position, Canadian forces served and continue to serve as one-half of a most unusual and unprecedented bi-national military command, the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD). You also have the Canadian Mounties. Way cool.
The one that used to give me nightmares growing up was the Minute Man project. I was on a army base in Fort Belvoir. Thats where I first learned about the hidden silo's around the country. Sad part is how many nuclear exercises were carried out on our population unbeknown to them to see the effects of even low level radiation. You can find some of it on the EPA site. In Report #11, #2, #7. We are still dealing with the effects of radiation even today from spills, test detonations, etc.
I was stationed at the Highlands NJ AADCP and visited both of these sites in 1969-70. Actually, they both had control and missile launch areas and the NYC missile sites (17?) were controlled by the AADCP control center located in the hills south of Highlands. I was in the commander's van shown at Sandy Hook many times. I too saw the chain link fence that separated the base from the school at Rocky Point when I was there and wondered if they knew we had nukes just underground.
The 1963 aerial recon image of my nearby Nike site shows regular power lines. Anyone know if the strategic defense of the continental USA was compromised whenever the thunderstorms knocked out rural power stations? Zero defense of the actual base. Guard house, chain-link, and then nukes.
@matt605 Commercial power was used for normal operations but we had our own generators and 3 self-contained methods of communicating between operational areas for tactical operations. In the Ice Storm of '73 we had no commercial power on the 'Hook for days. The site stayed up and maintained its readiness.
You, me, anyone alone and unauthorized, unaccompanied and unbadged would be German Shepard poop if we tried to penetrate the Exclusion Area.
Even as a child in the sixties, I wondered what good it would do to "duck and cover". If you see the flash of a nuck going off, you are a goner. Government school stupidity at it finest.
If you want to see some of these and live near one, do it soon. Several were near my house as little as ten years ago, but have been paved over and developed since. If you google "Eds Nike Page" you'll find a guy who's done a lot of Nike research, and among his site (it's a little cluttered) is a KMZ file you can load into Google Earth to show you all of the known former Nike locations - there's likely one nearby you wherever you are.
I was stationed at the Belin/Clementon Nike Missile Site in 1957-1958. Actually it was in Dicktown. Although I live in South Jersey, I haven't been over to see it for more than 30 years. Is there anything left?
There is one in the San Fransico area run by the National Park service. The site number was SF-88. SF-88 is open for visiting from Wednesday to Friday of every week as well as the first Saturday of every month. Visiting hours are from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. My understanding is that it is staffed by former crew members on a volunteer basis as guides.
@rocksmeller99 There are two that I know of open for tours - one in San Francisco and another in the Florida Everglades. I agree though. The history of these sites is very interesting, but at the time this wasn't considered, and our government seems to have a penchant for dismantling buildings and installations once its finished with them.
There's one close to my house. I've gone and taken a look, it's pretty cool. I didn't go that deep, me and my friends didn't think to bring a flashlight, and technically I shouldn't be back there (there's a hole in the fence). It's been a while since I was last there, but I think a lot of people played paintball in there (lots of tanks for the guns) and I'm pretty sure a hobo or something lived back there, but that was really just a rumor.
yes, there is a launch site within an 1/8 of a mile of my house and the control center is a couple of miles up the road. its pretty cool, the sites name is BG-80 still a missile on site.
It's always interesting to read the posts by those who have no idea of what was going on during that period of time. Easy to mock the subject. Time forward 50 years. Events of today will most likely be viewed in the same manner and made fun of. Too bad these naysayers did not live to experience the "cold war". The Nike program was part of and extensive effort to counter soviet threats.
@wildbill2088 Wild Bill, you truly were well-rounded to have been in both areas.
I was at NY-56 from 72-74 (end times). As a testiment to governmental short-sightedness we saw the one-time induction of 400 troops destined for assigment at the grossly under-manned ARADCOM units skipping past AIT training for 8 weeks at Ft Bliss. Charlie Battery received 40 of those 400 fast-track troops and ORE-qualified them in 6 weeks onsite. (continued)
@wildbill2088 (continued) Prior to that we had two sites(on paper) and only two qualified IFC crews so Hot Status assignment, which was SITE-based, actually fell on the same shoulders, week in and week out. We only had about one real 'down-status' week out of 5. I remember when we'd have an ORE at 56-1 and then 56-2 and it would be the same crew running across the site for each. There was even a time we weren't able to keep the equipment up on both sites so we took all status at 56-2. (more)
@wildbill2088 (continued) After we got the 20 new guys in IFC trained we went from 2 IFC crews to 4 so truly manning two functional sites was possible and we started operating in competition with each other, as is normal.
At the time I was just a computer operator on Joe Bremby's crew. I wasn't on the first Regular Army crew that fired 100% at ASP at McGregor but HE was. Serving with him in that job was the proudest time of my life.
There is nothing "weird" about the Nike site placements. When the Ajax system was first installed, in the mid-1950's these areas were rural farmland, woodland or mountain. The more advanced Nike-Hercules missile phased out the obsolete Nike-Ajax missile by upgrading and using existing Ajax sites. The Nike missiles were not "put" in the suburbs by design. The suburbs grew OUT to encroach on the Nike sites over time. What is "weird" is that "WeirdNJTV" has failed to properly research his subject.
The subject was thoroughly researched and all facts represented in the video are accurate. There is of course much more to the story than can be discussed in a short video format. Those who are interested in learning more can read extensive articles on the subject, written by some of the foremost historians on the Nike Ajax/Hercules program, in a number of different issues of our magazine.
That was totally ridiculus. Nike Hercules was nuclear CAPABLE! That does not mean that every Nike Herc had a nuclear warhead attached. Most were not, simply HE (High Explosive), as I'm pretty sure is the case in most (if not all) of the Nike Sites in the U.S.
Most of the missiles in a Nike Hercules magazine, underground, had nuclear warheads except for one or two depending on the defense area and the number of sites. Los Angeles Defense had about 325 missiles and only about 15 missiles were NOT nuclear. "Nukes" were used for 2 reasons. When exploded ABOVE an enemy aircraft formation, a nuke explosion could destroy formations of aircraft. Detonated NEAR enemy aircraft, the extreme heat of a nuke would destroy the nuke bomb on board the enemy plane.
I might add that the Nike Hercules missile did not "hit" it's target but was detonated, as determined, by its ground based computer. If an "aircraft formation mission" was selected by the battery commander, the missile would be detonated above and ahead of the main formation of aircraft. If there was only one target, the missile would be detonated at a point in space to cause the target to be consumed by extreme nuclear heat and thus destroy the nuclear bomb on board the enemy bomber.
I was trained as a crewman, and later as an air defense officer, for the Hercules system - including its simulator, the AN/MPQ-T1 - and the Hercules short-lived successor, the Spartan missile. I have studied the military manuals at the air defense school should be the basis to your: "..extensive articles on the subject..". You do tend toward sensationalist reporting in this presentation and the term "weird" is used provocatively and not factually. Perhaps to sell magazines? God Bless the USA!
We agree. However, there is one thing that has always struck me as "weird" regarding the nuclear Nike-Hercules sites. These Nike sites were never the object of anti-war protests. I believe that the US Left was under orders from the Kremlin to leave the Nike sites alone. After all, the Nike site positions were well known and I'm sure that the Russians knew what kind of warheads were mounted. And, by the time of ICBM's in the mid 1960's, the Nike-Herc was obsolete and the Russians needn't care.
It's interesting that you, as a person who is obviously very knowledgeable about the Nike program, called the system "obsolete." I once conducted a lengthy interview with a former base commander and asked him if he thought the program was phased out due to it becoming obsolete. His reply was, "The missile was never obsolete. It is not obsolete today. It was a money thing. I better watch what I say. That's my opinion." I offer no opinion on this either, I'm just a reporter.
No, the Nike-Hercules was truly obsolete by 1970 by sub launched ICBM's. I'm no cheerleader when it comes to the facts. I did meet a few officers in the "old" service, before the all-volunteer military, and they tended to be, "institutionalized". The Nike Herc was a truly remarkable performer and with modern electronics and another booster it would be very useful today, but for one fatal flaw. It's land based and therefore it is a stationary TARGET! The future of air defense is in submarines.
@Buckoux So was the defended area stationary. THAT is what made us so effective as a deterrent. You had to get through us first and we weren't exactly going to go down easy. Our targets came to US.
The future of Air Defense when they closed us down was a bunch of widespread zoomies doing tail chases if they could even get a bead on the bogey. We're screwed.
Have you guys ever been to the BOMARC Missile site in Plumstead TWP, NJ? This is the site that had the warhead burn and contaminate the immediate area. It was still monitored by McGuire AFB who was responsible for the site. I would love to hear more about it.
@WeirdNJTV it was obsolete according to a base commander that i know ICBMs made them obsolete he took them to white sands and blew them up then he went to france and ran a pershing missle base [when he wasnt blowing up missles he was drag racing a 32 ford at island dragway watch vintage drag racing 1962 ]
@WeirdNJTV I just recently came upon your posts. The entire Nike system was fantastic, critical, large in scale, and very much needed -- in its day. The Nike Project was designed to defend against the air-breathing threat (bombers). It most certainly did become obsolete, and in a financial sense as well, as the Soviets came to rely more heavily on ICBMs and less on penetrating, air-breathing bombers.
@WeirdNJTV I agree to its continued effectiveness. Even back then it could do a multi-Mach 8.5-G turn, plenty good enough to rip the hips off any human pilot. Electronics and radar advances in the decades since would make it an even more effective bullet. The Patriot was supposed to be our replacement (even had nuclear capability) and it was highly mobile but I don't think it was ever deployed in a permanent defense role. Too bad. Old Herc sites would make perfect Patriot sites.
we had this samsites in Norway upto 93, they told us they was for aircrash formations , a load of bullshit all the security around it. f boring also i was crew man 2. i had the f static box and 2 missiles to check.
I don't know what's so "weird" about a Nike site. I was on them in Europe, Korea, and the USA. And yes, the ones in US Army control had nuclear warheads! The reason for this was to consume the enemy's "atomic" bomb" in a nuclear holocaust of Nike's making at 30,00ft and 100mi. away to spare the bomb from falling on a city with the enemy aircraft. Around Los Angele and San Francisco there were missiles with about 325 nuclear warheads. Nothing ever went wrong, did it? There's a moral in all that.
I need to make a correction to the video. The Sandy Hook control site was used to launch the Nikes at Sandy Hook. There is a launch site at Sandy Hook and tours are given of it every now and again through the park service. In addition to answer someone's question, Sandy Hook was not and will not be sold. Some of the buildings in disrepair are being leased to a private developer who will restore the buildings according the US gov standards and use them for various things.
I gotta say this- Hey Hun I going to play with Nuclear missles and then I going to Smut club imagine some 1950s housewife --all that primitve mentality then ...hearing some Airforce control man saying that?
OOOOH that make alot of sense blow up a Nuke with a Nuke? Now Niburu is coming and will make Nukes and all the crap USA stores in Border of UTAH and Calif look puny--- yeah I know all the warheads big ones stored at Bunkers at Undiscoles base...just incase on goes off ...
oh ok, seeing those magazines and reading comments made me rethink. i never went into the base, but it wasn't far from the road.
now i know
A) why there are two sections to the base, launch and monitor
B) that its magazines.
still not sure what kind of nike missiles they had thoiugh. i think it must have been the newer ones because local people said there was military activity up to the 80's so...
Also i met some guy who worked on this project as a scientist. interesting stuff
@slvgdvg The IFC and LCA areas were separated by 1000-6000 yards to allow the Missile Tracking Radar to mechanically track as it rises vertically. I've seen them fly. Even from a mile away it just sh*ts n gits straight up and you have to raise your eyes rapidly to follow it. I've heard that it passes Mach 1 shortly after clearing the launcher. It's nearly a mile up in 4 seconds at which time the booster drops off and the rocket motor burns for 30 more. It coasts hypersonic for ~3 minutes.
@slvgdvg There were typcally 3 Launcher Section, each containing 4 launchers, one of which was on an elevator going into the underground Magazine. Down there were 6 Hercules lined up cheek to jowl. On a drill or actual mission all launchers would be loaded with a variety of warheads so the BCO (Battery Control Officer) would have strategic options in engaging his assigned target. The strategy here in the Cold War was to use the largest warhead permitted by the situation to maximize success.
The playground in the beginning about 1:45 in, is from the Nike base in East Hanover NJ right? The street in front of it is called Nike drive now. I went here a bunch of times when i was in high school. I remember the merry go round had that writing on it, "and we all fall down". it was kind of creepy, i still have a bunch of pics of that ghost town when the houses were still intact. Too bad they knocked down all the houses now.
Actuall I live in Connecticut I have checked out quite a few sites in CT. But usually the are now Army reserve base or the entranceses are filled with dirt and have yet to enter one but they radar sites are cool to check out. Most places have been knocked down but the one in Cromwell still has standing buildings
@hadd13 Have you seen the combined IFC/Admin Area site on Scantic Road, about 1/2 mile east of Rte 5? The Cross for the church that now occupies the land is on the tower where the Missile Tracking Radar was mounted back in the day. Talk about turning swords into plowshares?
As that part of CT is very flat and the location is the only 'hill' (what, 25'?) in the area, the towers give better radar views above the trees. Even at sea level surrounded by water on Sandy Hook we had up to 18' towers.
Wow, you did a pro job on the audio capture and post. Were the speakers (outside) wearing lav mics? I couldn't hear any wind noise, almost like the dialog was dubbed in later - nicely done!
I have very distinct memories of touring a Nike Ajax site right here in our small town, It was designated D-51 Grosse Ile NAS. My adventurous friends and i toured the 3 silos there several times in the late 70s thru early 80s. This site was never updated to Nike Hercules, so it was deemed obsolete in 1962. I distinctly remember the darkness below, the acrid smells, and the sign on the wall stenciled saying "Make sure JATO Fins do not extend over platform when raising to surface" Cool cool cool
They just demolished an abandoned one in Erial, NJ (Gloucester Township), where I live, in 2002. I went there a few times in middle school and it was creepy as hell. The silos were all rusted and hollowed out with only a ladder and platform left. It was a cool experience though.
you should see it now. i still live here and they turned that area into a business park and houses. The quarry that was there they still chase you out of there though!!!
I grew up near the Summit NJ Nike base back in the mid-60's. Me and my friends spent a lot of time exploring the abandoned silo's and this video brings back the memories vividly. Opening the doors, going down the steps into the concrete caverns, I remember the toxic smells, and the mysterious red liquid that we walked around in. Its a wonder we all don't have cancer.
Thanks for sharing your video, a real treat down memory lane.
I took a tour of one of these bases where I live. My buddies father is commandant at the police academy where an old site once was (where the police academy is today). I went to see the silo, and it's grand. We saw everything in the silo though anything of value was stripped and flooded with water.
Interesting. I work at an endangered plant nursery in the mountains here in Hawaii. The facility was once a Nike control station. We refer to the nursery as the Nike site. Though I have no idea of where the missiles were actually stored.
This is great! There was a Nike base behind my uncle's place in Livingston, NJ. It was far from secret--everyone knew about it, as was so for all the Nike bases. When the base closed, I took a sign off the fence. It sits in my foyer now. It says, "U.S. ARMY RESTRICTED AREA Persuant [sic] to Section 21 Internal Security Act of 1950 (50 U.S.C. 797)."
By the way, some of the missiles shown in the video are Ajax, not Hercules.
That base in Sandy Hook should be better preserved as a museum.
"Was the Army concerned about exploding nuclear bombs high above major metropolitan areas?"
No, of course not. The Army promptly performed well over 1,000 atmospheric nuclear tests without hesitation, concern or care. The first nuclear explosion, in fact, carried a strong caution --totally ignored-- that it might actually set the entire atmosphere on fire.
Detonating nuclear bombs high above major metro areas is preferable to enemy bombs detonating at optimal destructive height above those same major metro areas, isn't it? Second, there was no "strong caution" that the atmosphere might be set on fire, the scientists that designed it macabrely bet on whether it would as a joke, the odds were estimated at 1 in over a million.
Marshall Island tests in the Pacific were carried out knowing which way the wind was blowing, which resulted in children playing in the fallout, as if it were snow. The islanders were used as test subjects, their health devastated. People living downwind of the Nevada Test Site in Utah have had terrible health problems. And fallout was blown across the country, which is why many people who were young then had Strontium-90 in their baby teeth. (Fallout on grass eaten by cows whose milk we drank)
Me and my 2 brothers used to see these missiles raise up out of the ground while we were riding the school bus. The female driver used to pull in the outer entrance to give us a better look. Air raid sirens were wailing at the same time. Duck And Cover!
im an ex nike veteran, stationed at c-2-52 ada in carol city fla. although herc was nuke capable no more than 2 were ever deployed to a site. most warheads were H/E type. some imfo may still be classified even tho we stood down stateside in 1979.over seas some units still active. RINGS OF FIRE- yes were in your backyard. dg
I used to live near one in Erial / Sicklerville NJ 08081. The place was a lot of fun as a kid--as it was abandoned. There are still underground tunnels there.
The Nike Hercules Missile System has been entirely decommissioned since the mid-1970's. No other missile system has taken its place since then. The Cold War did not end until 20+ years after the last Nike-Herc Site was closed. Fact is, there is NOTHING, I repeat, NOTHING to protect the USA from any kind missile attack and only a few USAF/ANG F-16's to protect the USA from attack by aircraft like 9/11. That is if the F-16 crews are on alert! In short, we're defenseless! Kiss your but goodbye.
@Buckoux I hear ya, Buck. Part 1: I was there to close down NY-56 on Sandy Hook in '74 (when they closed 48 of the last 52 CONUS sites) and we knew there would no longer be a shield against air-breathing aircraft, which someone decided would never happen. Fast-forward to 9/11. As I watched the second plane hit on liveTV my first thought was that Charlie Battery or one of its brethren could have easily prevented that second attack. Continued...
@Buckoux Part 2: Placing Air Defense around the defended area is the BEST way to assure protection. Your enemy must approach YOU. Those "Rings of Steel" overlapped and any target could be engaged by at least two sites, more as it got closer. The Air Force is woefully inequipped to deal with any credible airborne attack. They never even painted the 9/11 attackers with radar, much less identified or locked on them. We are totally defenseless. I always thought Patriot would replace us. Guess not.
@usergently We were watching it happen on live TV with tears in our eyes and lamenting the mass deactivation in '74 with no viable replacement. I would have made the Army my career if the only stations left weren't all in Korea, Germany and the Everglades. I loved that job.
I live in CT and all of the bases that I have been to are torn down except for the launch site in Glastonbury CT. The bunkers are still there but you can only look in. I wish more of thenm where kept up for history
@hadd13 Go up on the hill northeast of there. There's a road access off Reeves Road. Just south of that large white Air Traffic tower was the IFC Area that controlled the site. Back in the day there would have been no trees interfering with perfect Line-of-Sight from the 'The Hill' (what IFC's were traditionally called, for obvious reasons) to the Launcher Area.
Middlesex County authorities were investigating the discovery of bones at the former Nike missile outpost off Jake Brown Road on Thursday. Police confirmed the discovery of a human skull in the woods near Route 9. Over 100 soldiers and 16 Nike Hercules missiles were on alert during the base's Cold War heyday. The Army closed the base in the early 1970s. Several ranch houses, once used to house military officers but abandoned and boarded up, dot the 41-acre parcel.
for anyone who knows or has seen the missle base in old bridge nj a crazy story has come out it was published in local papers friday morning apparently they found human remains that were burried in the ground a skull and some other bones are now being investigated by the old bridge local authorities so that means that some of the stories may have some truth to it although i didnt have to read that to know its a creepy place having lived in old bridge for 9 years i have visited several times
I dont know where these guys are getting your info from but the abandond houses in Old Brigde,NJ on Jake Brown Rd at that old base haven't been empty that long. My aunt used to live in one of those houses when I was 10 or 11 and I'm 25 now. My cousins and I used go there every weekend. I even remember playing in the old playground as a kid. That place has only been empty about 13 years, man those guys will believe anything.
I pass an old Nike base every day on my way to work. It's in Pitamn NJ. The command center is now occupied by a private school and the launch site is occupied by a construction company.
What we really need to do is FILL UP OUR NUCLEAR WARHEADS W/BLOATED CORRUPT POLITICIANS FED ON REFRIED BEANS&SHOOT THEM AT IRAN ,,,LEAVE EM&THEIR GASES CONTAINED IN THE CAPSULES&BLOW THEM UP OVER TEHRAN&THAT&THE COMBINED GASES FROM THOSE SLIMEBAG SHIITEHEADS W/KNOCK OUT ALL DOWNWIND!!!
Crazy thing is that they were armed with nuclear warheads. The point of doing that was so one missle could take out a number of incoming Bears or Bisons. The big drawback to it was that if they were ever fired on an incoming bomber group(or used on Sept 11 hypothetically), the resulting detonation of the missle would leave a large amount of radioactive fallout. Alot of which could be blown back toward NYC and other populated areas.
@Jerry74 We had Rules of Engagement and other strategies for minimizing Friendly damage. Airbursts are virtually fall-out free and our warheads weren't all that large as nukes go. If the NY-PHiladelphia defense did their jobs right we'd make big splashes over salt water.
In my time (70's) we had minimum HE and mostly nukes in CONUS; the opposite in Europe. Had we been there on 9/11 we would have had an HE or two to use. Nuclear Release would not have been authorized.
I live in the 'burbs 20 miles from Pittsburgh, and our NIKE site is now a Junior High School! The magazine area is now a wrestling room. You can still see the mechanisms around the re-modeling. The command center now houses a primate research center. The army housing is now private housing.
LOl i was in the army in norway in 86 and we had this sytem, it was designed in the 0s but modded several times upto the 90s in the end we had to scrap it due to lack of parts from ths us lo we only had tnt warheads in this types of missiles cause we dont allow nucks on norwegian soil hhahah but we had the system to launch it. cold war ass history.
One of these Nike sites is being preserved as a historical site in California. Most have been dismantled and either used for something else or completely leveled.
@dmc081 Yup, in '74 we closed the last 48 of 52 Nike Sites because someone in DC decided we would never have to deter or defeat an air-breathing threat. Nothing replaced us and nowwe're at the mercy of anyone who can evade the thinly scattered F-16's by will or just dumb luck like they did on 9/11. Hercules' standard was to be able to put fire on a target within 20 seconds of painting it with radar. Under 3 minutes later at Mach 3.5 - boom - confetti! We are undefended from air attack.
You-Tube limits the length of posts so I had to break this up a bit. Part of the NY "ring" base system was a place called Hart Island...check it out, I think it was a launch site and neighboring insane asylum at a later date??? Don't quote me.
Lastly, I think that "the high ground theory" held true since "Telegraph Hill" NJ (which affords one an unimpeded view for miles) was a surveillence area for the system. Going over that blind rise on the Garden State Parkway and "looking down" towards northern NJ and Manhatten was inspiring.
Read about the "BOMARC" missiles at McGuire AFB well if you want to see a system with a similar (I stress "similar") mission.
I think BOMARC stood for Boeing Michigan Research Corp. or something like that.
Yup, read "Rings of Supersonic Steel" for more info. They "ringed" the cities that were mentioned at various distances from the defended targets.
In addition..the Nike Ajax, Nike Hercules, Nike Zeus designers were some pretty clever guys to build a bigger and better missile by simply "quading out" the first missile (look at the "four pack" of engines on the succesor system)...just "scale everything up" by a factor of four.
actually what we did was go out into the hall and facing the wall, cover our faces in our arms. We would stand there giggling for 5 min. before returning to our regularly scheduled programming.
Interesting. I was stationed at the Swedesboro, NJ Nike site in the early 60s and was there during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Yes interesting times! I was an IFC radar operator and FUIF maintenance tech.
I remember it well. I lived about 4-miles away from where Nike Base #LA-29 was. It was located in the hills of Brea, CA. This facility used the Nike Hurcules missile, as well as the Nike Hurcules with a nuclear payload. I recently took a stroll up there where the radar facility was. The views were insane! Could see for a good 20+ miles in all directions. The only structure left up there is one of the cement radar towers, the rest of the place is lost to the sands of time.
@enigma800 By definition of their mission, the Nike Fire Control Area must have a commanding view of the distant horizon. In most cases, that meant prime elevated real estate. The Launcher Area could be in the lowlands as long as the Missile Tracking Radar had a good Line-of-Sight to it. BTW: the film had one glaring error - It completely biffed on the location of the Launcher Area relative to Fire Control. The two areas had to be 1000-6000 yards apart, not the miles they portrayed.
hey we noticed all those abandoned houses and stuff, and that basement thing, why couldn't those be used to shelter people who need homes? can we buy the basement thing? it would make a cool music video shoot place.
My favorite part was the guy who fell down in the street and put the newspaper over his head. Don't really think it would help much -- when it's 12,000 degrees outside!
We used to sneak into the NIKE base in NJ's Watchung Reservation and go down those stairs into the darkness. As if that wasn't scary enough, one time a scuba diver was coming up as we were going down. That scared us real good. Thanx for the vid!
Living in Oakland, I've walked the woods in Mahwah and nosed around the old housing for personel that operated the radar station located where the Bergen Co. Riding Area is now. The homes are gone now. I've also visited the launch area off Rt.23N. in Wayne when there were still indications of the base there. I even had a toy Nike missle & launcher as a kid & by the way, not all Nike missles were nuked. Nike-Ajax wasn't & the Hercs came near the end of the program. WeirdNJ RULES!
I've lived in Old Bridge, NJ since 1961, in an area known as Sayrewoods South. I remember during the Cuban Missile Crises that from the top of our street the entire woods across Rt 516 were lit up as bright as day. The small houses are still there & so is the little play area for the kids. You hear the usual talk about selling the land to developers, but I hope not. To many of the great places my friends and I drove to in the late '60's & early '70's are gone now and that's shame.
It was a fascinating part of history. One of my jobs was decoding flash traffic in the wee hours of a West German winter night. The message usually began " Russian batallions invade Fulda Gap. " One never knew if it was the real deal or not until the Officer on duty decoded his "cookie".....
Gpacharlie 3 months ago
Want weird? Try diving the Texas Tower 180' deep on air.
modelleg 3 months ago
It's NuClear, not Nuculear.
Bbendfender 6 months ago
my teacher told us stories of when he was little he went inside of the misile silos and it was like people droped everything where they were and just left....everything was ther......it was like the power went out
ahero971 6 months ago
cool story bro
inxyTrolls 7 months ago
The base in the Watchung, NJ mountains was flooded underground and sealed long before being converted to a stable. In S.Plainfield (or is it Piscataway), where the Hadley Shopping Mall now stands was anothe Nike base. Explored the above grounds sections of it long before it was razed. You could just walk right in from a suburban road, the fence had long ago fallen down.
reggieobe98 8 months ago
Nothing protects you from a nuclear bomb better than hiding under a school desk.
Postie218 8 months ago
how come america has alot of history involving war and some other kool things and all that canada has is hockey history? dont get me wrong i love hockey and i am proud to be canadian but it is nice to see and learn about history other then hockey, but we have nothing up here :(
Jsouthwell2006 11 months ago
@Jsouthwell2006 Actually, you do. Though Canada adopted a no-nuclear weapon position, Canadian forces served and continue to serve as one-half of a most unusual and unprecedented bi-national military command, the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD). You also have the Canadian Mounties. Way cool.
FylthyBeest 10 months ago
The Watchung Stables was Summit-73 Nike Base it was dismantled in 1962.
In 1974 it became the new home of the Watchung Horse Stables. On a sunday
morning on Rt 22 January 16 eighteen horses escaped their stable broke
open a locked gate and galloped several miles down a mountain road to
RT 22 Westbound. Is there something beneath the stables that scared
the horses?
bpkeane1 1 year ago
@bpkeane1 Are you for real?
FylthyBeest 10 months ago
The one that used to give me nightmares growing up was the Minute Man project. I was on a army base in Fort Belvoir. Thats where I first learned about the hidden silo's around the country. Sad part is how many nuclear exercises were carried out on our population unbeknown to them to see the effects of even low level radiation. You can find some of it on the EPA site. In Report #11, #2, #7. We are still dealing with the effects of radiation even today from spills, test detonations, etc.
TimeKeeperEnigma 1 year ago
I was stationed at the Highlands NJ AADCP and visited both of these sites in 1969-70. Actually, they both had control and missile launch areas and the NYC missile sites (17?) were controlled by the AADCP control center located in the hills south of Highlands. I was in the commander's van shown at Sandy Hook many times. I too saw the chain link fence that separated the base from the school at Rocky Point when I was there and wondered if they knew we had nukes just underground.
pjslodge 1 year ago
Newk-ya-ler. Funny.
NEEQOS 1 year ago
Hey, I know of another old military base off Rt 70 in I think it's considered whiting, NJ but its a no trespassing zone. Its not being used anymore.
WickedDragon86 1 year ago
The 1963 aerial recon image of my nearby Nike site shows regular power lines. Anyone know if the strategic defense of the continental USA was compromised whenever the thunderstorms knocked out rural power stations? Zero defense of the actual base. Guard house, chain-link, and then nukes.
matt605 1 year ago
@matt605 Commercial power was used for normal operations but we had our own generators and 3 self-contained methods of communicating between operational areas for tactical operations. In the Ice Storm of '73 we had no commercial power on the 'Hook for days. The site stayed up and maintained its readiness.
You, me, anyone alone and unauthorized, unaccompanied and unbadged would be German Shepard poop if we tried to penetrate the Exclusion Area.
ypdave01 10 months ago
6:37
GelandnaleG 1 year ago
if the Soviet union nuked the USA the USA would Nuke Moscow for sure... and st peteseburg
jasincl 1 year ago
You should have come to MAST the school on Sandy Hook. We see the Missals every day.
JWIVCCX 1 year ago
oh maaaaann
thetrolone 1 year ago
Even as a child in the sixties, I wondered what good it would do to "duck and cover". If you see the flash of a nuck going off, you are a goner. Government school stupidity at it finest.
pumkinvine 1 year ago
haha i was their yesterday i was inside looking a the lunch sites.
thehalo3godz 1 year ago
If you want to see some of these and live near one, do it soon. Several were near my house as little as ten years ago, but have been paved over and developed since. If you google "Eds Nike Page" you'll find a guy who's done a lot of Nike research, and among his site (it's a little cluttered) is a KMZ file you can load into Google Earth to show you all of the known former Nike locations - there's likely one nearby you wherever you are.
wysoft 1 year ago
4:05 serious radar is serious
cautionthisissparta 1 year ago
ive seen one of the bases and peepz play airsoft on the old base to
BubbaUnit 1 year ago
never knew i lived in a state with Nukes!
RCcustomPD 1 year ago
i used to live in easthanover nj and theres nike base there its not haunted there i dont think
southparkboy33 1 year ago
I live right down the street from sites
ph (philadelphia) 41-43
19TNW96 1 year ago
I was stationed at the Belin/Clementon Nike Missile Site in 1957-1958. Actually it was in Dicktown. Although I live in South Jersey, I haven't been over to see it for more than 30 years. Is there anything left?
jiggerinct 1 year ago
Your tax dollars hard at work!
johnlovesbridge 2 years ago
very coo video!!
sgtdanz 2 years ago
why doesn't the Park Service or a state park agency restore some of these sites and open them for tours?
I went on a guided tour of a base in MO in '65. the Army encouraged the public to tour the base at the time
rocksmeller99 2 years ago
@rocksmeller99
There is one in the San Fransico area run by the National Park service. The site number was SF-88. SF-88 is open for visiting from Wednesday to Friday of every week as well as the first Saturday of every month. Visiting hours are from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. My understanding is that it is staffed by former crew members on a volunteer basis as guides.
deanernet 2 years ago
Because it cost money!
jiggerinct 1 year ago
@rocksmeller99 There are two that I know of open for tours - one in San Francisco and another in the Florida Everglades. I agree though. The history of these sites is very interesting, but at the time this wasn't considered, and our government seems to have a penchant for dismantling buildings and installations once its finished with them.
wysoft 1 year ago
@wysoft Before i die I want to see NY-56 again and SF-88 because it seems to be the most restored of all the sites. I'll bring tissues.
ypdave01 10 months ago
There's one close to my house. I've gone and taken a look, it's pretty cool. I didn't go that deep, me and my friends didn't think to bring a flashlight, and technically I shouldn't be back there (there's a hole in the fence). It's been a while since I was last there, but I think a lot of people played paintball in there (lots of tanks for the guns) and I'm pretty sure a hobo or something lived back there, but that was really just a rumor.
BloodyPuppy 2 years ago
yes, there is a launch site within an 1/8 of a mile of my house and the control center is a couple of miles up the road. its pretty cool, the sites name is BG-80 still a missile on site.
mrmoto517 2 years ago
the concept is still used today..assured mutual destruction
Reffolution 2 years ago
@Reffolution Yeah, our only available response to an attack now would be "oh sh*t" and then we die.
ypdave01 10 months ago
It's always interesting to read the posts by those who have no idea of what was going on during that period of time. Easy to mock the subject. Time forward 50 years. Events of today will most likely be viewed in the same manner and made fun of. Too bad these naysayers did not live to experience the "cold war". The Nike program was part of and extensive effort to counter soviet threats.
zeke1312 2 years ago
so weird to see all that.
Dreamerpnk4 2 years ago
hiding under a table wont help from a nuke
killer73195 2 years ago
can't hurt, ya never know. haha
burningempire666 2 years ago
i thinks that's if the ceiling collapses or there just being retarded
tigerboy1227 2 years ago
Was their Sandy Hook was the real deal
a double site 24 hercs had its IFC and launcher
area.. Long Island wrong info.. only 1 He round
in each pit 4 at SH spent time A btry old bridge
Pit rat and Mtr and ttr
Shame on poor info..
wildbill2088 2 years ago
@wildbill2088 Wild Bill, you truly were well-rounded to have been in both areas.
I was at NY-56 from 72-74 (end times). As a testiment to governmental short-sightedness we saw the one-time induction of 400 troops destined for assigment at the grossly under-manned ARADCOM units skipping past AIT training for 8 weeks at Ft Bliss. Charlie Battery received 40 of those 400 fast-track troops and ORE-qualified them in 6 weeks onsite. (continued)
ypdave01 10 months ago
@wildbill2088 (continued) Prior to that we had two sites(on paper) and only two qualified IFC crews so Hot Status assignment, which was SITE-based, actually fell on the same shoulders, week in and week out. We only had about one real 'down-status' week out of 5. I remember when we'd have an ORE at 56-1 and then 56-2 and it would be the same crew running across the site for each. There was even a time we weren't able to keep the equipment up on both sites so we took all status at 56-2. (more)
ypdave01 10 months ago
@wildbill2088 (continued) After we got the 20 new guys in IFC trained we went from 2 IFC crews to 4 so truly manning two functional sites was possible and we started operating in competition with each other, as is normal.
At the time I was just a computer operator on Joe Bremby's crew. I wasn't on the first Regular Army crew that fired 100% at ASP at McGregor but HE was. Serving with him in that job was the proudest time of my life.
ypdave01 10 months ago
There is nothing "weird" about the Nike site placements. When the Ajax system was first installed, in the mid-1950's these areas were rural farmland, woodland or mountain. The more advanced Nike-Hercules missile phased out the obsolete Nike-Ajax missile by upgrading and using existing Ajax sites. The Nike missiles were not "put" in the suburbs by design. The suburbs grew OUT to encroach on the Nike sites over time. What is "weird" is that "WeirdNJTV" has failed to properly research his subject.
Buckoux 2 years ago
The subject was thoroughly researched and all facts represented in the video are accurate. There is of course much more to the story than can be discussed in a short video format. Those who are interested in learning more can read extensive articles on the subject, written by some of the foremost historians on the Nike Ajax/Hercules program, in a number of different issues of our magazine.
WeirdNJTV 2 years ago 5
@WeirdNJTV
My backyard is where one of these things exploded back in 1958.
50cobra302 9 months ago
That was totally ridiculus. Nike Hercules was nuclear CAPABLE! That does not mean that every Nike Herc had a nuclear warhead attached. Most were not, simply HE (High Explosive), as I'm pretty sure is the case in most (if not all) of the Nike Sites in the U.S.
waeller67 2 years ago
I don't believe the video ever said that "every Nike Herc had a nuclear warhead attached." Did it?
WeirdNJTV 2 years ago
Most of the missiles in a Nike Hercules magazine, underground, had nuclear warheads except for one or two depending on the defense area and the number of sites. Los Angeles Defense had about 325 missiles and only about 15 missiles were NOT nuclear. "Nukes" were used for 2 reasons. When exploded ABOVE an enemy aircraft formation, a nuke explosion could destroy formations of aircraft. Detonated NEAR enemy aircraft, the extreme heat of a nuke would destroy the nuke bomb on board the enemy plane.
Buckoux 2 years ago
I might add that the Nike Hercules missile did not "hit" it's target but was detonated, as determined, by its ground based computer. If an "aircraft formation mission" was selected by the battery commander, the missile would be detonated above and ahead of the main formation of aircraft. If there was only one target, the missile would be detonated at a point in space to cause the target to be consumed by extreme nuclear heat and thus destroy the nuclear bomb on board the enemy bomber.
Buckoux 2 years ago
I was trained as a crewman, and later as an air defense officer, for the Hercules system - including its simulator, the AN/MPQ-T1 - and the Hercules short-lived successor, the Spartan missile. I have studied the military manuals at the air defense school should be the basis to your: "..extensive articles on the subject..". You do tend toward sensationalist reporting in this presentation and the term "weird" is used provocatively and not factually. Perhaps to sell magazines? God Bless the USA!
Buckoux 2 years ago
Sensational? Yes. Provocative? Yes. Not factual? Well, weird is a subjective term and like beauty, it is in the eye of the beholder.
WeirdNJTV 2 years ago
We agree. However, there is one thing that has always struck me as "weird" regarding the nuclear Nike-Hercules sites. These Nike sites were never the object of anti-war protests. I believe that the US Left was under orders from the Kremlin to leave the Nike sites alone. After all, the Nike site positions were well known and I'm sure that the Russians knew what kind of warheads were mounted. And, by the time of ICBM's in the mid 1960's, the Nike-Herc was obsolete and the Russians needn't care.
Buckoux 2 years ago
It's interesting that you, as a person who is obviously very knowledgeable about the Nike program, called the system "obsolete." I once conducted a lengthy interview with a former base commander and asked him if he thought the program was phased out due to it becoming obsolete. His reply was, "The missile was never obsolete. It is not obsolete today. It was a money thing. I better watch what I say. That's my opinion." I offer no opinion on this either, I'm just a reporter.
WeirdNJTV 2 years ago
No, the Nike-Hercules was truly obsolete by 1970 by sub launched ICBM's. I'm no cheerleader when it comes to the facts. I did meet a few officers in the "old" service, before the all-volunteer military, and they tended to be, "institutionalized". The Nike Herc was a truly remarkable performer and with modern electronics and another booster it would be very useful today, but for one fatal flaw. It's land based and therefore it is a stationary TARGET! The future of air defense is in submarines.
Buckoux 2 years ago
@Buckoux "The future of air defense is in submarines"? On what do you base this theory?
FylthyBeest 10 months ago
@Buckoux So was the defended area stationary. THAT is what made us so effective as a deterrent. You had to get through us first and we weren't exactly going to go down easy. Our targets came to US.
The future of Air Defense when they closed us down was a bunch of widespread zoomies doing tail chases if they could even get a bead on the bogey. We're screwed.
ypdave01 10 months ago
Have you guys ever been to the BOMARC Missile site in Plumstead TWP, NJ? This is the site that had the warhead burn and contaminate the immediate area. It was still monitored by McGuire AFB who was responsible for the site. I would love to hear more about it.
ssgd1960 2 years ago
@WeirdNJTV it was obsolete according to a base commander that i know ICBMs made them obsolete he took them to white sands and blew them up then he went to france and ran a pershing missle base [when he wasnt blowing up missles he was drag racing a 32 ford at island dragway watch vintage drag racing 1962 ]
spacepatrolman 1 year ago
@WeirdNJTV I just recently came upon your posts. The entire Nike system was fantastic, critical, large in scale, and very much needed -- in its day. The Nike Project was designed to defend against the air-breathing threat (bombers). It most certainly did become obsolete, and in a financial sense as well, as the Soviets came to rely more heavily on ICBMs and less on penetrating, air-breathing bombers.
FylthyBeest 10 months ago
@WeirdNJTV I agree to its continued effectiveness. Even back then it could do a multi-Mach 8.5-G turn, plenty good enough to rip the hips off any human pilot. Electronics and radar advances in the decades since would make it an even more effective bullet. The Patriot was supposed to be our replacement (even had nuclear capability) and it was highly mobile but I don't think it was ever deployed in a permanent defense role. Too bad. Old Herc sites would make perfect Patriot sites.
ypdave01 10 months ago
lol! duck and cover - I can't believe how people were so stupid in those days thinking if a nuke detonated, they would somehow survive.
evilunixuser1 2 years ago
very nice,i went to one in pittsburgh
sgtdanz 2 years ago
we had this samsites in Norway upto 93, they told us they was for aircrash formations , a load of bullshit all the security around it. f boring also i was crew man 2. i had the f static box and 2 missiles to check.
nolifemerc 2 years ago
I don't know what's so "weird" about a Nike site. I was on them in Europe, Korea, and the USA. And yes, the ones in US Army control had nuclear warheads! The reason for this was to consume the enemy's "atomic" bomb" in a nuclear holocaust of Nike's making at 30,00ft and 100mi. away to spare the bomb from falling on a city with the enemy aircraft. Around Los Angele and San Francisco there were missiles with about 325 nuclear warheads. Nothing ever went wrong, did it? There's a moral in all that.
Buckoux 2 years ago
@Buckoux Not to mention there was a site IN BROOKLYN as well as in very close proximity to just about every other major city.
ypdave01 10 months ago
umm... I don't think it would really matter if one ducked and covered when one would be disintegrated by a nuclear blast...
cthulhupriestess 2 years ago
I need to make a correction to the video. The Sandy Hook control site was used to launch the Nikes at Sandy Hook. There is a launch site at Sandy Hook and tours are given of it every now and again through the park service. In addition to answer someone's question, Sandy Hook was not and will not be sold. Some of the buildings in disrepair are being leased to a private developer who will restore the buildings according the US gov standards and use them for various things.
rujerseygirl09 2 years ago
I gotta say this- Hey Hun I going to play with Nuclear missles and then I going to Smut club imagine some 1950s housewife --all that primitve mentality then ...hearing some Airforce control man saying that?
deltaalpha21074 2 years ago
OOOOH that make alot of sense blow up a Nuke with a Nuke? Now Niburu is coming and will make Nukes and all the crap USA stores in Border of UTAH and Calif look puny--- yeah I know all the warheads big ones stored at Bunkers at Undiscoles base...just incase on goes off ...
deltaalpha21074 2 years ago
oh ok, seeing those magazines and reading comments made me rethink. i never went into the base, but it wasn't far from the road.
now i know
A) why there are two sections to the base, launch and monitor
B) that its magazines.
still not sure what kind of nike missiles they had thoiugh. i think it must have been the newer ones because local people said there was military activity up to the 80's so...
Also i met some guy who worked on this project as a scientist. interesting stuff
slvgdvg 2 years ago
@slvgdvg The IFC and LCA areas were separated by 1000-6000 yards to allow the Missile Tracking Radar to mechanically track as it rises vertically. I've seen them fly. Even from a mile away it just sh*ts n gits straight up and you have to raise your eyes rapidly to follow it. I've heard that it passes Mach 1 shortly after clearing the launcher. It's nearly a mile up in 4 seconds at which time the booster drops off and the rocket motor burns for 30 more. It coasts hypersonic for ~3 minutes.
ypdave01 10 months ago
@ypdave01 Actually the missile (MTR) radar tracked electronically, not mechanical.
zeke1312 7 months ago
@slvgdvg There were typcally 3 Launcher Section, each containing 4 launchers, one of which was on an elevator going into the underground Magazine. Down there were 6 Hercules lined up cheek to jowl. On a drill or actual mission all launchers would be loaded with a variety of warheads so the BCO (Battery Control Officer) would have strategic options in engaging his assigned target. The strategy here in the Cold War was to use the largest warhead permitted by the situation to maximize success.
ypdave01 10 months ago
nice video, i grew up with one just 4 miles down the road from my home in wisconsin.
now some guy owns it and uses it to store and repair vehicles underground.
i think his elevator setup was different though. i believe its one big round cement circle that goes up and down.
slvgdvg 2 years ago
Ha, ha! "NUCULAR". Reminds of that Alaskan Governor.
alwilliam 2 years ago
yo thats my fuckin town! :D
i used to visit that base all the time i loved the abandoned houses
i was so sad one day when i went there with my friend to take pics and it was all fuckin condos
it made me so upset.
the abandoned playground is still there though
CourtneyRM1 2 years ago
sux man
hibby50 2 years ago
Ah; *that's* why it's such a nicely edited package -- it has a TV show behind it. :-)
Ed Thelen, Mr Nike, has a link to the piece, and he's right; it's very good.
Except for that persistent "nuke-you-lar" tic. :-)
utubesnamepolsux 2 years ago
The playground in the beginning about 1:45 in, is from the Nike base in East Hanover NJ right? The street in front of it is called Nike drive now. I went here a bunch of times when i was in high school. I remember the merry go round had that writing on it, "and we all fall down". it was kind of creepy, i still have a bunch of pics of that ghost town when the houses were still intact. Too bad they knocked down all the houses now.
endofthelinez53 3 years ago
You are correct, that is East Hanover.
WeirdNJTV 3 years ago
Actuall I live in Connecticut I have checked out quite a few sites in CT. But usually the are now Army reserve base or the entranceses are filled with dirt and have yet to enter one but they radar sites are cool to check out. Most places have been knocked down but the one in Cromwell still has standing buildings
hadd13 3 years ago
@hadd13 Have you seen the combined IFC/Admin Area site on Scantic Road, about 1/2 mile east of Rte 5? The Cross for the church that now occupies the land is on the tower where the Missile Tracking Radar was mounted back in the day. Talk about turning swords into plowshares?
As that part of CT is very flat and the location is the only 'hill' (what, 25'?) in the area, the towers give better radar views above the trees. Even at sea level surrounded by water on Sandy Hook we had up to 18' towers.
ypdave01 10 months ago
I still keep an old desk from the 50's in my den just in case I need to get under it during a Soviet nuclear attack. I am prepared.
anhacus 3 years ago 14
@anhacus i am wondering what this desk is made of that is going to protect you from a nuclear blast.
kalinga01 1 year ago
@anhacus even tho i wasnt born until 1988 i still gave your comment a thumbs up lol
Jsouthwell2006 11 months ago
Wow, you did a pro job on the audio capture and post. Were the speakers (outside) wearing lav mics? I couldn't hear any wind noise, almost like the dialog was dubbed in later - nicely done!
sloiselle1 3 years ago
Hey thanks sloiselle1. Yes, we were wearing lav mics for the outdoor speaking parts.
WeirdNJTV 3 years ago
I have very distinct memories of touring a Nike Ajax site right here in our small town, It was designated D-51 Grosse Ile NAS. My adventurous friends and i toured the 3 silos there several times in the late 70s thru early 80s. This site was never updated to Nike Hercules, so it was deemed obsolete in 1962. I distinctly remember the darkness below, the acrid smells, and the sign on the wall stenciled saying "Make sure JATO Fins do not extend over platform when raising to surface" Cool cool cool
comdrsca 3 years ago
Sorry, Nike systems used "magazines" not "silos", elevating the missile to 85 degrees for launch.
zeke1312 2 years ago
They just demolished an abandoned one in Erial, NJ (Gloucester Township), where I live, in 2002. I went there a few times in middle school and it was creepy as hell. The silos were all rusted and hollowed out with only a ladder and platform left. It was a cool experience though.
djl9198 3 years ago
you should see it now. i still live here and they turned that area into a business park and houses. The quarry that was there they still chase you out of there though!!!
YJGTO04 1 year ago
Lol i've seen that so many times. In fact, i went there as a class trip twice.
joemomma53 3 years ago
I grew up near the Summit NJ Nike base back in the mid-60's. Me and my friends spent a lot of time exploring the abandoned silo's and this video brings back the memories vividly. Opening the doors, going down the steps into the concrete caverns, I remember the toxic smells, and the mysterious red liquid that we walked around in. Its a wonder we all don't have cancer.
Thanks for sharing your video, a real treat down memory lane.
wesvt1 3 years ago
Interesting, must be a weird time back then. 5*
BigPuschlerX 3 years ago
Great work guys!
classicandmore 3 years ago
In 1974 they transformed a nike missile base into a horseback riding stables. NY-73 Summit
was operational from 1958-62
bpkeane1 3 years ago
Last month in Union County during a Freeholders Public Meeting some lambrained
freeholder told a speaker that the NY-73
Summit missile base was "Restricted Information" The Watchung Stables sit on top
of what was the launcher bay. It operated from
1958 to 1962.
bpkeane1 3 years ago
during a Union County Freeholder Public meeting some lambrain freeholder told a
person in the audience that the Watchung Stables aka Nike Missile Base NY-73 was
restricted information...
I guess he never heard of public information..
Go Figure
bpkeane1 3 years ago
I took a tour of one of these bases where I live. My buddies father is commandant at the police academy where an old site once was (where the police academy is today). I went to see the silo, and it's grand. We saw everything in the silo though anything of value was stripped and flooded with water.
FordKicksurAss 3 years ago
The base in Sandy Hook is taken very good care of. You can still visit some of the ruins... there's definitely an odd feeling there.
MmmTea82 3 years ago
Interesting. I work at an endangered plant nursery in the mountains here in Hawaii. The facility was once a Nike control station. We refer to the nursery as the Nike site. Though I have no idea of where the missiles were actually stored.
coirchlid 3 years ago
This is great! There was a Nike base behind my uncle's place in Livingston, NJ. It was far from secret--everyone knew about it, as was so for all the Nike bases. When the base closed, I took a sign off the fence. It sits in my foyer now. It says, "U.S. ARMY RESTRICTED AREA Persuant [sic] to Section 21 Internal Security Act of 1950 (50 U.S.C. 797)."
By the way, some of the missiles shown in the video are Ajax, not Hercules.
That base in Sandy Hook should be better preserved as a museum.
BruceK10032 3 years ago
"Was the Army concerned about exploding nuclear bombs high above major metropolitan areas?"
No, of course not. The Army promptly performed well over 1,000 atmospheric nuclear tests without hesitation, concern or care. The first nuclear explosion, in fact, carried a strong caution --totally ignored-- that it might actually set the entire atmosphere on fire.
33rdPatriot 3 years ago 3
Detonating nuclear bombs high above major metro areas is preferable to enemy bombs detonating at optimal destructive height above those same major metro areas, isn't it? Second, there was no "strong caution" that the atmosphere might be set on fire, the scientists that designed it macabrely bet on whether it would as a joke, the odds were estimated at 1 in over a million.
jordanamed 3 years ago
Marshall Island tests in the Pacific were carried out knowing which way the wind was blowing, which resulted in children playing in the fallout, as if it were snow. The islanders were used as test subjects, their health devastated. People living downwind of the Nevada Test Site in Utah have had terrible health problems. And fallout was blown across the country, which is why many people who were young then had Strontium-90 in their baby teeth. (Fallout on grass eaten by cows whose milk we drank)
Tracymmo 2 years ago
Me and my 2 brothers used to see these missiles raise up out of the ground while we were riding the school bus. The female driver used to pull in the outer entrance to give us a better look. Air raid sirens were wailing at the same time. Duck And Cover!
TallPaulBiker101 3 years ago
im an ex nike veteran, stationed at c-2-52 ada in carol city fla. although herc was nuke capable no more than 2 were ever deployed to a site. most warheads were H/E type. some imfo may still be classified even tho we stood down stateside in 1979.over seas some units still active. RINGS OF FIRE- yes were in your backyard. dg
dan2fan2 3 years ago
I live in minnesota and about 15 minuts away in the middle of a corn field there is one of these old missile bases
sexxytimmy 3 years ago
I used to live near one in Erial / Sicklerville NJ 08081. The place was a lot of fun as a kid--as it was abandoned. There are still underground tunnels there.
RYENZRO 3 years ago
Were where they on 9/11?
usergently 3 years ago
they have been decommissioned since the end of the cold war.
skwigz21 3 years ago
The Nike Hercules Missile System has been entirely decommissioned since the mid-1970's. No other missile system has taken its place since then. The Cold War did not end until 20+ years after the last Nike-Herc Site was closed. Fact is, there is NOTHING, I repeat, NOTHING to protect the USA from any kind missile attack and only a few USAF/ANG F-16's to protect the USA from attack by aircraft like 9/11. That is if the F-16 crews are on alert! In short, we're defenseless! Kiss your but goodbye.
Buckoux 2 years ago
@Buckoux I hear ya, Buck. Part 1: I was there to close down NY-56 on Sandy Hook in '74 (when they closed 48 of the last 52 CONUS sites) and we knew there would no longer be a shield against air-breathing aircraft, which someone decided would never happen. Fast-forward to 9/11. As I watched the second plane hit on liveTV my first thought was that Charlie Battery or one of its brethren could have easily prevented that second attack. Continued...
ypdave01 10 months ago
@Buckoux Part 2: Placing Air Defense around the defended area is the BEST way to assure protection. Your enemy must approach YOU. Those "Rings of Steel" overlapped and any target could be engaged by at least two sites, more as it got closer. The Air Force is woefully inequipped to deal with any credible airborne attack. They never even painted the 9/11 attackers with radar, much less identified or locked on them. We are totally defenseless. I always thought Patriot would replace us. Guess not.
ypdave01 10 months ago
9-11 wasnt a nuclear attack but I see what you mean
0Hardcorecheeze0 3 years ago
@usergently We were watching it happen on live TV with tears in our eyes and lamenting the mass deactivation in '74 with no viable replacement. I would have made the Army my career if the only stations left weren't all in Korea, Germany and the Everglades. I loved that job.
ypdave01 10 months ago
I live in CT and all of the bases that I have been to are torn down except for the launch site in Glastonbury CT. The bunkers are still there but you can only look in. I wish more of thenm where kept up for history
hadd13 3 years ago
@hadd13 Go up on the hill northeast of there. There's a road access off Reeves Road. Just south of that large white Air Traffic tower was the IFC Area that controlled the site. Back in the day there would have been no trees interfering with perfect Line-of-Sight from the 'The Hill' (what IFC's were traditionally called, for obvious reasons) to the Launcher Area.
ypdave01 10 months ago
Skull Found at Old Nike Base
Middlesex County authorities were investigating the discovery of bones at the former Nike missile outpost off Jake Brown Road on Thursday. Police confirmed the discovery of a human skull in the woods near Route 9. Over 100 soldiers and 16 Nike Hercules missiles were on alert during the base's Cold War heyday. The Army closed the base in the early 1970s. Several ranch houses, once used to house military officers but abandoned and boarded up, dot the 41-acre parcel.
WeirdNJTV 3 years ago
the hook!
callitoutpro 3 years ago
for anyone who knows or has seen the missle base in old bridge nj a crazy story has come out it was published in local papers friday morning apparently they found human remains that were burried in the ground a skull and some other bones are now being investigated by the old bridge local authorities so that means that some of the stories may have some truth to it although i didnt have to read that to know its a creepy place having lived in old bridge for 9 years i have visited several times
micberisha 4 years ago
one of the biggest is in MAWHAH, NJ. Right across from a large cemetary and next to CAMPGAW COUNTY PARK.
daberu3 4 years ago
I dont know where these guys are getting your info from but the abandond houses in Old Brigde,NJ on Jake Brown Rd at that old base haven't been empty that long. My aunt used to live in one of those houses when I was 10 or 11 and I'm 25 now. My cousins and I used go there every weekend. I even remember playing in the old playground as a kid. That place has only been empty about 13 years, man those guys will believe anything.
yungmugz 4 years ago
That is NOT the Nike base on Jake Brown Road that you see in this video. You obviously assumed it was, but you were mistaken.
WeirdNJTV 4 years ago
We used to fly model airplanes there. I always wondered where the ladder going down led to. It was full of water. It might make for a cool scuba dive
TallPaulBiker101 3 years ago
there's one across from the cemetery my grandparents are burried
SailorV85 4 years ago
I pass an old Nike base every day on my way to work. It's in Pitamn NJ. The command center is now occupied by a private school and the launch site is occupied by a construction company.
BUNGLEJYME 4 years ago
My first school was a converted command and control Nike base. Cool.
Valdus1 4 years ago
What we really need to do is FILL UP OUR NUCLEAR WARHEADS W/BLOATED CORRUPT POLITICIANS FED ON REFRIED BEANS&SHOOT THEM AT IRAN ,,,LEAVE EM&THEIR GASES CONTAINED IN THE CAPSULES&BLOW THEM UP OVER TEHRAN&THAT&THE COMBINED GASES FROM THOSE SLIMEBAG SHIITEHEADS W/KNOCK OUT ALL DOWNWIND!!!
RasputinSir 4 years ago
That's a wonderful idea. Problem is, they're all corrupt.
BUNGLEJYME 4 years ago
Crazy thing is that they were armed with nuclear warheads. The point of doing that was so one missle could take out a number of incoming Bears or Bisons. The big drawback to it was that if they were ever fired on an incoming bomber group(or used on Sept 11 hypothetically), the resulting detonation of the missle would leave a large amount of radioactive fallout. Alot of which could be blown back toward NYC and other populated areas.
Jerry74 4 years ago
@Jerry74 We had Rules of Engagement and other strategies for minimizing Friendly damage. Airbursts are virtually fall-out free and our warheads weren't all that large as nukes go. If the NY-PHiladelphia defense did their jobs right we'd make big splashes over salt water.
In my time (70's) we had minimum HE and mostly nukes in CONUS; the opposite in Europe. Had we been there on 9/11 we would have had an HE or two to use. Nuclear Release would not have been authorized.
ypdave01 10 months ago
I live in the 'burbs 20 miles from Pittsburgh, and our NIKE site is now a Junior High School! The magazine area is now a wrestling room. You can still see the mechanisms around the re-modeling. The command center now houses a primate research center. The army housing is now private housing.
libertybell1776 4 years ago
One of the bases are in my town, Old Bridge, NJ
Kuitar2 4 years ago
LOl i was in the army in norway in 86 and we had this sytem, it was designed in the 0s but modded several times upto the 90s in the end we had to scrap it due to lack of parts from ths us lo we only had tnt warheads in this types of missiles cause we dont allow nucks on norwegian soil hhahah but we had the system to launch it. cold war ass history.
nolifemerc 4 years ago
My dad was a nike herc tech
spatdrastik 4 years ago
One of these Nike sites is being preserved as a historical site in California. Most have been dismantled and either used for something else or completely leveled.
Bullettube 4 years ago
i always go to sandy hook. have you guys ever been into the bunkers there? they're very interesting. great video.
branman 4 years ago
Is it legal to go onto the Stoney Point base? I won't get arrested or anything if I take a trip out there will I? Can you still go down into bunkers?
BUNGLEJYME 4 years ago
Umm, you won't get into trouble as long as you don't get caught. Thats all i can tell you... But it is fun in there.
Breadcrummb 4 years ago
i beleave that if this place was still here today it could have saved ppl on 9/11
dmc081 4 years ago
@dmc081 Yup, in '74 we closed the last 48 of 52 Nike Sites because someone in DC decided we would never have to deter or defeat an air-breathing threat. Nothing replaced us and nowwe're at the mercy of anyone who can evade the thinly scattered F-16's by will or just dumb luck like they did on 9/11. Hercules' standard was to be able to put fire on a target within 20 seconds of painting it with radar. Under 3 minutes later at Mach 3.5 - boom - confetti! We are undefended from air attack.
ypdave01 10 months ago
You-Tube limits the length of posts so I had to break this up a bit. Part of the NY "ring" base system was a place called Hart Island...check it out, I think it was a launch site and neighboring insane asylum at a later date??? Don't quote me.
ktnj609 4 years ago
Lastly, I think that "the high ground theory" held true since "Telegraph Hill" NJ (which affords one an unimpeded view for miles) was a surveillence area for the system. Going over that blind rise on the Garden State Parkway and "looking down" towards northern NJ and Manhatten was inspiring.
Read about the "BOMARC" missiles at McGuire AFB well if you want to see a system with a similar (I stress "similar") mission.
I think BOMARC stood for Boeing Michigan Research Corp. or something like that.
ktnj609 4 years ago
Yup, read "Rings of Supersonic Steel" for more info. They "ringed" the cities that were mentioned at various distances from the defended targets.
In addition..the Nike Ajax, Nike Hercules, Nike Zeus designers were some pretty clever guys to build a bigger and better missile by simply "quading out" the first missile (look at the "four pack" of engines on the succesor system)...just "scale everything up" by a factor of four.
ktnj609 4 years ago
Yes, "duck and cover" under your school desk works well in a nuclear war.
MsMercury 4 years ago
actually what we did was go out into the hall and facing the wall, cover our faces in our arms. We would stand there giggling for 5 min. before returning to our regularly scheduled programming.
Bullettube 4 years ago
"Do Hercules...do Hercules"
"Hercules! Hercules!"
Ulysses2k 4 years ago
Duck and cover only works when your out of the lethal zone of the thermal pulse which on a large nuke could be miles.
superskullmaster 4 years ago
Interesting. I was stationed at the Swedesboro, NJ Nike site in the early 60s and was there during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Yes interesting times! I was an IFC radar operator and FUIF maintenance tech.
zeke1312 4 years ago
where was donald trump when these missles were in use?
greenhornet59 4 years ago
He was in grade school.
zeke1312 4 years ago
I Lost my virginity in the Watchung Nike missile base. Ka-BOOM! ;P
wq69 4 years ago
I remember it well. I lived about 4-miles away from where Nike Base #LA-29 was. It was located in the hills of Brea, CA. This facility used the Nike Hurcules missile, as well as the Nike Hurcules with a nuclear payload. I recently took a stroll up there where the radar facility was. The views were insane! Could see for a good 20+ miles in all directions. The only structure left up there is one of the cement radar towers, the rest of the place is lost to the sands of time.
enigma800 4 years ago
@enigma800 By definition of their mission, the Nike Fire Control Area must have a commanding view of the distant horizon. In most cases, that meant prime elevated real estate. The Launcher Area could be in the lowlands as long as the Missile Tracking Radar had a good Line-of-Sight to it. BTW: the film had one glaring error - It completely biffed on the location of the Launcher Area relative to Fire Control. The two areas had to be 1000-6000 yards apart, not the miles they portrayed.
ypdave01 10 months ago
hey we noticed all those abandoned houses and stuff, and that basement thing, why couldn't those be used to shelter people who need homes? can we buy the basement thing? it would make a cool music video shoot place.
gangstabunnys 4 years ago
Interesting, I grew up in
Philly and also Camden o NJ and never knew the Nike Missile Bases were all around us..
ly9898 5 years ago
My favorite part was the guy who fell down in the street and put the newspaper over his head. Don't really think it would help much -- when it's 12,000 degrees outside!
voiyour 5 years ago
Welcome to you tube!
gerigurll 5 years ago
We used to sneak into the NIKE base in NJ's Watchung Reservation and go down those stairs into the darkness. As if that wasn't scary enough, one time a scuba diver was coming up as we were going down. That scared us real good. Thanx for the vid!
crthnsn 5 years ago
Living in Oakland, I've walked the woods in Mahwah and nosed around the old housing for personel that operated the radar station located where the Bergen Co. Riding Area is now. The homes are gone now. I've also visited the launch area off Rt.23N. in Wayne when there were still indications of the base there. I even had a toy Nike missle & launcher as a kid & by the way, not all Nike missles were nuked. Nike-Ajax wasn't & the Hercs came near the end of the program. WeirdNJ RULES!
ricklude 5 years ago
We used to hang out and party at the one in Wayne. It was very cool. Does anyone know if it is still there?
blueskyoside 3 years ago
The New Jersey Devil lives.
nickflit 5 years ago
Great addition to YouTube... I appreciate the books, Website, Emails, series etc... now YouTube. Makes me proud to be from NJ. Keep 'em coming.
Cufaroth 5 years ago
well recently i saw a nike missile base, buuuut it was turn into a lawn mowing business but the buildings are still up
loopypoopydoopy 5 years ago
i love new jersey
woball26 5 years ago
I've lived in Old Bridge, NJ since 1961, in an area known as Sayrewoods South. I remember during the Cuban Missile Crises that from the top of our street the entire woods across Rt 516 were lit up as bright as day. The small houses are still there & so is the little play area for the kids. You hear the usual talk about selling the land to developers, but I hope not. To many of the great places my friends and I drove to in the late '60's & early '70's are gone now and that's shame.
uhohink 5 years ago