Nike Missile Site SF88

Nike Missile Site SF88. . By 1945, the age of aerial warfare had fully arrived and the U.S. Army sought a weapon that could intercept enemy aircraft. In 1951, after years of research and development, a supersonic missile controlled by ground-based electronic equipment was developed, the Nike, named for the Greek goddess of victory. , The first Nike weapons, shrapnels and explosives-loaded Ajax missiles, could take down an airplane 37 miles off shore. As Cold War tensions and fear of a nuclear attack on the American mainland grew, the Nike program acquired new Hercules missiles. Armed with a nuclear warhead, the Hercules could travel 75 miles, destroy everything within a 20-mile radius of its strike, and eliminate an entire formation of planes. , , Captions: , (map, bottom left) None of the Bay Area Nike sites ever fired a missile at a hostile target. All practice exercises were conducted at missile ranges in New Mexico and Texas.; (center top) Constructed in the 1950s, the launch site before you was armed with radar-guided surface-to-air missiles designed to destroy enemy aircraft. Active until 1974, it was one of eleven Bay Area Nike missile sites - and the final generation of coastal defenses installed in the Marin Headlands.; (center bottom) SF88's integrated fire control, as Nike radar operations were called, was located high on the ridge on the north side of Rodeo Valley, (straight ahead). It provided instructions for the missile launch site located at Fort Cronkhite. There was an acquisition radar to search for enemy aircraft, a missile taking radar to monitor the course of a launched missile, and target tracing and ranging radars to follow a plane's movement and provide the data necessary to continuously adjust the missile's trajectory and ensure a successful strike.; (top right) In 1959, with the arrival of the Nike Hercules missile and nuclear capability, security at SF88 was tightened. The fence was doubled and sentry dogs guarded the site 24 hours a day. Each dog was rigidly trained to respond to a single handler, and lived and was trained on site in a nearby kennel. (diagram of the missile site, bottom right) Nike Missile Site SF88 is the only preserved Nike installation in the country. To learn more about guided tours visit the Park website at www.nps.gov/goga/.