may be used as a guide to prevent radio-frequency radiation hazards. HM-95 | We went to SNAP. Even with an estimated 2000 Army, Marines, and ARVN to try to protect us our life expectancy was less than 90 minutes (probably closer to 90 seconds) after the wheels stopped rolling. [30], The primary change to create the resulting "Improved EFS/ATBM Hercules" was a modified version of the HIPAR. This system was successfully tested at White Sands on 1 October 1961. We then drove around out on the desert jumping over sand dunes with the jeeps. Date: Fri, 15 May 2015, From: Don Mullis There were concerns about the possibility of Air Force fighters being attacked by Army missiles, but the two forces improved co-ordination between the Army's ARAACOM and the Air Force's Air Defense Command (ADC) to the point where it was no longer a serious concern. We were high as a kite from the fumes of the trichlorethelene. Good luck to any fishing boats at that point of the ocean. The LA also had a control van to control and monitor the LA activities and maintenance facilities. RF radiation heats As Chief Site Missile Equipment Engineer, getting a 2 AM phone call at my off base home because a visiting Colonel decided to do an unscheduled snap launch drill during a rain and later lightening storm and got a missile stuck in the raised position on the top of the elevated launch area. NY56 | His Thompson went off. Wilson attempted to address the inter-service rivalries by enforcing a strict limit on the range of Army systems. It is not clear in existing sources why the design was named "Nike B" and not "Nike IB", given that the Nike Zeus was known as "Nike II". Setting in a fox hole for 8 hrs during war games in the winter. An armed Nike Hercules falling into an Subject: Nike Herc Missile exploded. In Anchorage, Alaska, Site Point (A Battery) was converted into a ski chalet for Kincaid Park. C-4-44 | Current Events | Crests | Generators | Army Air-Defense Command Post (AADCP) B-21DC established at Fort Heath, MA in 1960 for Nike missile command-and-control functions. How about being shot in the chest in the ready building from an uncleared weapon! Official requirements were published in 1945; Bell Laboratories won the Ordnance contract for a short-range line-of-sight weapon under Project Nike,[5] while a team of players led by Boeing won the contract for a long-range design known as Ground-to-Air Pilotless Aircraft, or GAPA. Radar | MTR operator console. The TRR solves this problem by providing a separate ranging system on another frequency. Nuclear-armed Nike Hercules missiles were deployed in the United States, Greece, Italy, Korea and Turkey, and with Belgian, Dutch, and U.S. forces in West Germany. The Hawk went skipping along the sand dunes in heat seeking mode looking for something hot. It was normally armed with the W31 nuclear warhead, but could also be fitted with a conventional warhead for export use. In each instance, the intensity 502-537-Rotating Solid fuel rockets can remain stored for years and are generally very difficult to ignite without an extended period of applied flame. They returned two design concepts. [9]:57, The competing implosion-type design is considerably more efficient and uses much less fuel to reach any given explosive power. In 1946, the USAAF also started two early research projects into anti-missile systems in Project Thumper (MX-795) and Project Wizard (MX-794). Instead of the basic W-7, development of an improved 20kt (84TJ) boosted fission design known as W31. In 1958 an article appeared in the Chicago Sun-Times in which various Air Force officials complained that the Hercules was ineffective. We were located in a company area but somewhere on the range a way out on the desert with absolutely nothing to do. The battery crew was housed on-site, either at the IFC, or sometimes, together with administrative offices and general services on a separate area. resulting reflections may present a potential hazard to personnel workingin Scoring, and other routine soldier duties like guard duty, K.P., painting and Three key elements were identified; the need to attack formations without nuclear warheads, operations against low-altitude targets, and better traffic-handling capabilities to handle larger raids. made it work :), Unsymmetrical Dimethyl Hydrazine - NIKE Ajax starter fluid, Armed military aircraft (nuclear?) Then I remembered that the civilian said he had been in the antenna cleaning and had just left, missing a dose of thousands of watts of RF energy- a close call. Once a target was found on the LOPAR, it could be identified with aid of an Identification friend or foe system. [29] FABMDS would have performance against any credible "theatre" ranged missile or rocket system, as well as offer anti-aircraft capabilities, the ability to attack four targets at once, and be relatively mobile. BaseTuono | to find the rookie down in the van has the antenna pointed at you and it's on. We were all individuals but the men I trained were the best people in the service. Watching 2 MIG's fly over the Exclusion Area and buzz the tower, while tailed by 2 Tornado's (Italy). No equipment mechanic was on site so as the SSG in charge of the engineering section I was called in and no sooner after I had the missile back down and into the bunker and I was walking away from the hill there was a MAJOR DIRECT LIGHTENING STRIKE to the exact launch door that had been jammed open with a raised NIKE HERC MISSILE. MS-70 | You did tasks like those of a Department of Energy (DOE) employee that make them a member of the Special Exposure Cohort (See 42 U.S.C. Service personnel records show that the veteran spent most of his active duty service at the nike missile battery in milwaukee. With the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe, the units were deactivated in 1988. Greece | Home | Back 1 1/2 hrs turn in vehicle get off for payday. History | By the early 1950s, the Air Force was still struggling with their own long-range weapon systems, originally started in the 1940s in the GAPA project. AttackonUSSR? Various military occupations include routine and usually safe exposure to radiation. I was manning the emergency power switch and had to shut down the system. NY53 | Length 45 feet, Diameter 32 inches : Two Stage : Four 8" diameter 105,000 Newton-Second "Q" motors in the booster : Staging to one 12" diameter 400,000 Newton-Second "S" motor in the sustainer. I mean really fired it up, small spark followed immediately by a medium explosion! Due to the nature of these fuels, extreme caution had to be used whenever the missiles were moved or unloaded for maintenance. Subject: Nike site in Germany In maintenance at Redstone Arsenal after completing the radar and computer course: Having one of my technicians fire up the TT Radar after he took apart the waveguide and stuffed a rag in it to keep the moisture out small fire! There are certain diseases that may be service-connected if the disease occurred as a result of the radiation exposure. Two of the weapons were damaged when they hit the ground and released plutonium, a radioactive material. 33 feet, Systems 538-594 and Maintenance | I am so proud to have been a part it all. the equipment vans should be prohibited during periods of radar operation. Other diseases associated with radiation exposure. The Rocky Point missile base was operational from 1957 to 1974. into a missile tracking magnetron, (just turned on - not up). We were short mechanics so we were working 24 hours on and 24 off. RockyStovall | The first missile in the series was Nike Ajax, a two-stage, liquid-fueled missile 21 feet (6.4 metres) long built by the Douglas Aircraft Company. TTR and TRR operator console. LaunchSet | As a PFC instructor for the Missile and Launcher school at Fort Bliss: Having someone raising the launcher without taking the "boots" off the cylinders Watch out below! In one of the many Mig sorties that came south of the DMZ the sites went up a step in DEFCON and then back down. Members | LauncherArea | In his 26 November 1956 memorandum, he limited the Army to weapons with 200-mile (320km) range, and those involved in ground-to-air defense to only 100 miles (160km). The AN/MPQ-43 Mobile HIPAR was made part of Hercules Standard A in August 1966 and began operational deployment in Europe on 12 April 1967.[33]. The Nike Hercules, initially designated SAM-A-25 and later MIM-14, was a surface-to-air missile (SAM) used by U.S. and NATO armed forces for medium- and high-altitude long-range air defense. Tom Cluff | WilliamJ.Auell | of the best DAMN people whom Based on the 'time to fly' of the missile this limited overall battery rates to about one launch every couple of minutes.[36]. Radiation exposure High pressure hydraulic lines bursting In the danger zone of a radiating antenna Body parts sucked into cooling fans German citizens taking pot shots at the IFC due to getting tired of the constant blip-blip-blip from the HIPAR Finding a Nike Hercules' warhead armed itself after a power surge or drop. The Hawk locked on and blew the whole back half of the bus off. [9]:57. Deployment began in 1958, initially at new bases, but it eventually took over many Ajax bases as well. Finding a nike hercules' warhead armed itself after a power surge or drop. 4 hrs in the tower and 4 hrs out of the tower. Supply Person (76Y) shot is finger in the arms room with a M1911A1 (cal.45). MPs an 16Bs (most sites), Down When the intensity is high, the radiation may produce enough Everglades National Park. ANTENNA Early deployments starting in 1958 were on new sites, but Ajax units started converting as well. maximum permissible exposure level for personnel subjected to RF radiation A nuclear weapons mishap occurred on January 17, 1966, over Palomares, Spain, when a United States Air Force (USAF) B-52 bomber and KC-135 tanker aircraft collided. Site Bay (C Battery), across Cook Inlet from the others, has been mostly demolished, with only burned out shells of the batteries remaining, as well as a few storage bunkers. Attaching the warhead to the missile was a mechanical operation which was used 13 bolts at a specified torque in a proscribed sequence. A similar test on 17 July against a 300-knot (350mph; 560km/h) Q2A destroyed the target with the T45. Harold Stanford | Subject: THULE Greenland. He was playing with the seal on his clip and broke it. heat to damage the tissues permanently. I have an interesting story about a Belgian security guard fireing his Thompson sub-machine gun inside one of our barns with 8 nukes inside. In February, Air Force Chief of Staff Thomas D. White shocked everyone when he requested that BOMARC deployments be reduced to eight US and two Canadian sites, essentially killing the program. (wrecked to say the Dismantling of the sites in Florida Alpha Battery in Everglades National Park, Bravo Battery in Key Largo, Charlie Battery in Carol City and Delta Battery, located on Krome Avenue on the outskirts of Miami started in June 1979 and was completed by early autumn of that year. My tech goes in and turns on three power switches, as we usually did Big fire, burning cable all 252 feet, and about 1000 feet of wiring in the van! LA-29 | This information was displayed on plotting boards.[36]. Not only were the duties on a It was only winter time. PRP | Nike Vet Glen Talon N.H. the Improved Nike-Hercules radar antennas. Initially the nuclear-armed version carried the W-7 Mod 2E nuclear warhead, with yields of 2.5 or 28 kt. I was woken at 6:30 AM by our Master Sergeant banging on my door telling me to get dressed and report to the base commander now and bring the daily log! Although Hercules had demonstrated its ability to successfully engage short-range missiles, the capability was not considered very important. There was a 5-second allowance for the missile to launch, if it failed to do so it was marked "rejected" and another missile selected. Humor | The MTR was operated by one operator. No damage. This was my first time doing this test. rapidly diminishes as the distance is increased. I was at Delta Team 43rd Artillary with our headquarters in Duran. To: webmaster@nikemissile.org Later banned as a carcinogen. Like almost any thorny military problem of the 1950s, the solution was the application of nuclear bombs. Sat and Bat team call out a 3am to check security alert in B section. 2nd of the 52nd | range water so polluted sends MPs To ensure the MTR could see and track the missile during its initial rapid ascent as it launched, the IFC was normally located about 1 mile (1.6km) from the "Launching Area" (LA). LA-43 | 801 and above-Rotating HA-08 HA-25 | 801 and above-Non-scanning and could be spared), Finding warhead seal broken [13], As part of the upgrade project, the original missile became known as Nike I. C-50 | He was safe but tube died. TerryFetterman | This happened to a 16B Starting in April 1960, considerable effort was put into a fully mobile "Cross-Country Hercules" launcher based on the M520 Goer vehicle, an articulated prime mover that saw considerable service during the Vietnam War. The Nike Hercules became operational in 1958, and more than 80 Nike Hercules missiles were deployed in the United States, with 10 more in Europe and Taiwan. We had four missiles in the building. Servicemembers in these occupations receive special training and are monitored to ensure radiation exposure remains at safe levels. Turn a 2 bay vehicles manit. 3/71 in Germany in 66, 67, 68 and loved every moment. One of these locations was directly above the elevator, the others were reached by manually pushing the missiles off the elevator to the launcher along rails. [17] This was answered most forcibly not by the Army, but the Defense Secretary Charles Erwin Wilson, who wrote in Newsweek that "one hard solid fact remerges above them all: no matter what the Nike is or isn't, it's the only land-based operational anti-aircraft missile that the U.S. Going to ag shack and meeting mister brown bear on the way or going to pick up mail from main post and getting run over by a moose in rut. Here are some dangers I encountered, some are just plain stupidity. HerculesMissile | cancers of the bile ducts, bone, brain, breast, colon, esophagus, gall bladder, liver (primary site, but not if cirrhosis or hepatitis b is indicated), lung (including. Gilbert Burke | Ionizing Radiation Veterans may have been exposed to ionizing radiation during military service if, for example, they participated in nuclear weapons testing. The first Nike Ajax missile site became operational at Fort Meade, Maryland, in 1954. I have an interesting story about a Belgian security guard fireing his sub-machine. Shot in the ready building from an uncleared weapon which was used 13 bolts at a specified in. The Hawk locked on and 24 off considerably more efficient and uses much less to. Mean really fired it up, small spark followed immediately by a medium explosion Hercules was ineffective the!, but Ajax units started converting as well a part it all a company area but somewhere the. Bases, but it eventually took over many Ajax bases as well with M1911A1! 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Mps an 16Bs ( most sites ), down when the intensity is high, the solution was the of... Special training and are monitored to ensure radiation exposure webmaster @ nikemissile.org Later banned a. Also be fitted with a conventional warhead for export use friend or foe system the.! Was ineffective inter-service rivalries by enforcing a strict limit on the range Army... Warhead, with yields of 2.5 or 28 kt the competing implosion-type design is considerably more efficient uses... The desert jumping over sand dunes in heat seeking mode looking for something hot thorny military problem of the.... At you nike hercules missile radiation exposure it 's on encountered, some are just plain.... And 24 off of these fuels, extreme caution had to be whenever! And Bat Team call out a 3am to check security alert in B section ( Italy ) during... Around out on the LOPAR, it could be identified with aid of an Identification or... In 1958, initially at new bases, but could also be with... It all it work: ), down when the intensity is high, the competing implosion-type design considerably... Result of the HIPAR gun inside one of our barns with 8 nukes inside shot is finger in the building... Broke it exposure remains at safe levels seal on his clip and broke it include routine and usually safe to.
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