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Locations of Former NIKE MISSILE SITES (text)

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Florida

For locations and views, fly in using Google Earth thanks to NikeSiteSearchers
Homestead - Miami (after Cuban Missile Crisis)
  • HM-01 HM-03 Opa Locka/ Carol City
  • HM-01DC HM-01DC Richmond AFS
  • HM-40 Key Largo
  • HM-65 redesignated HM-66. Florida City
  • HM-69 HM-69 Florida City - in Everglades NP, Open for visitors
  • HM-85 10 SW Miami
  • HM-95 Southwest Miami
  • HM-97 West Homestead
  • HM-99 West Homestead
    from Charles Carter Facts, 1962
    from Charles Carter Last Active U.S. Nike sites
    from Charles Carter More information and pictures July 2015
  • Designation General Location Detailed Location (Current Status)
    HM-01
    HM-03
    Opa Locka/ Carol City (HM-01 was re-designated HM03)
    C - 2 WNW Carol City Red Ave at Miami Gardens Dr.
    Charles Carter's South Florida Web Site Sept 2009 - C Battery
    [{Strickland, C} (July 2001) My site was very near a dairy and a trailer park and the American School that was nearby. I was on or near 103rd Street in Hialeah.
    [{Alvarez, L} GPS - 25N 56' 23", 80W 17' 56" - The facility was located on the northwest side of the intersection of NW 183 St and NW 57th Ave. The structures were intact until the late 70's.]

    L - NW 202 Rd (NW 55th Ave), off of Red Rd (Honey Hill Dr.)
    (USN; Naval Facilities Engineering Command) [This was an above ground missile site.]
    [{Hoehne, Don} (December 2010) I notice in the write ups by some that the road leading to the site is referred to as Red River Road. I was stationed at the site in 1970, and visited the location in 1997, and the road was not labeled Red River Road then, it was RED ROAD.
    To view the site location go north of the Plametto Expressway at the Red Road exit about three quarters of a mile, then west side of Red Road about a half mile. ]
    [{Castelnau, Jorge} (August 2006) ... found only the concrete foundations of the prior listed buildings. There is nothing left of this facility as it appears either a hurricane or a bulldozer knocked all the structures down, including the guardhouse. It is a shame because I had some friends do some UrbEx on that site and they were able to capture pictures of everything from the motor pool area to the actual missile housing and escape hatches, etc. Fascinating stuff. ]
    [{Strickland, C} (July 2001) The actual missile area had 3 building to hold missiles, and rails to slide them outside. The trenches mentioned were for the [electrical] cables. I returned to the site in the 80's and the buildings were still there for the security, barracks and mess hall. The bad news was that a Publix supermarket was right next door.
    [{Simon, G} I don't recall the IFC area location. The Base was located at Red River Road, just off 183rd St. The tents were located off Red River Road, the Launcher area was located against a canal off a dirt road about 2 miles north of the HQ area. Remember this was in 1964-65 when I was there and there were no permanent buildings.Dennis Landry who was an electronics maintenance man was stationed there later around 1970 and he said they had permanent buildings then.
    [{Murdock, S} 25-57-43 80-18-12 ]


    More details at Radomes.org
    HM-01DCRichmond AFS Coral Reef Dr. (FAA JSS facility J-06 MIAMI)
    HM-40 Key Largo
    - Everglades National Park as site HM-65 then HM-66 - (10/62-6/65)
    - then Key Largo as site HM-40 - (6/65-6/79)
    North Key Largo Nike site from Jerry Wilkinson
    Charles Carter's South Florida Web Site Sept 2009 -

    C - FL 905 & Old Card Sound Road (USN, NAVFACENGCOM)
    [{Piland, D} (Jan 2008) pictures ]
    [{Kraus, A} (Dec 2004) ...the forest has just about won the battle to reclaim it's former areas. The radar towers are almost invisible, you can barely get to any of the buildings. Another year and all remains will be gone. ]
    [{Norris, R} If your kids ever watch Flipper, look for the big white dome that was the Hipar at "B" battery, on the north end of Key Largo, on the Card Sound. ]
    [{Vaughn, T} 25.16.637N 80.18.242W (Spring 2001) "The IFC is pretty much intact. Are all old missile sites issued "a hole in the fence" once they are closed?" The buildings are painted pink. Didn't do too much searching as I was wearing shorts and sandels and there were probably lots of critters crawling around. No magazines at the Florida sites. ]

    L - (USN, NAVFACENGCOM)
    HM-40 Launcher Area Remedial, via Gston Dessornes
    [{Kraus, A} (Dec 2004) All buildings at the launch site have been torn down. The missile buildings have been completely removed, even the 3 foot thick concrete foundations. The missile maint/assy. building is the only one still standing, in almost perfect shape I must add. ]

    HM-65
    redesignated HM-66
    HM-66
    Florida City Site located 8 miles SW of Florida City (used from 10/62-6/65)
    note - site and unit moved to HM-40, this site abandoned in 6/65
    site HM-69 (4 miles away) occupied in 6/65 by a different unit
    Charles Carter's South Florida Web Site Sept 2009 - B Battery
    [{Gatto, T} in the Everglades (Phased out early on) ]
    [{Morgan, M} B/2/52nd initially manned site HM-66 Florida City before relocating to their permanent site at HM-40 Key Largo in June 1965. ]
    [{Whitaker, J} Constructed during the Cuban Missile Crisis [October 1962]. In a two week period, 24 hours a day, the Army Corps of Engineers literally built an island for us in the swamp by bringing in thousands of truck loads of earthfill to build an elevated land surface for our missiles and radars which would keep the equipment elevated above the Everglades water level.
    Due to the close proximity of our battery to Havana and the Russian missile sites, Battery B was the only Hercules unit that was capable of both surface to air engagements as well as being able to conduct surface to surface strikes on Havana and/or the Russian sites.
    During my entire duty assignment in Florida until my discharge in September 1964, we lived in tents in the Everglades. The site was totally isolated in the swamp, but completely self-sufficient. We had no commercial power or any other amenities. All missile systems and site support activities were conducted only with generator power.
    Our security all around the perimeter of the site, consisted of six rows of stacked concertina razor wire, eight 50-caliber machine gun emplacements and armed walking sentries. We had no guard dogs. ...]
    - For more, see story Cuban Missile Crisis, how I grew up in a hurry in October 1962.

    [{Coogan, J} Battery B, 2nd/52nd started out as Jim Whittaker has said, at the entrance to Everglades National Park...south and west of Homestead. We moved to permanent buildings on Key Largo, just south of Ocean Reef, in mid '65. Hurricane Betsy wiped out Key Largo and Homestead that fall...I have some interesting recollections of that. ]

    HM-69Florida City - in Everglades National Park
    - (official web site), Open for visitors (2009 and continuing) (web site pointed out by Keith C Howard
    [ZOOM tour, 1.2 hrs, added Mar 20, 2021
    [{Swanson, Ted} (Dec 2016) Nike Hercules HM-69 in Everglades National Park (Homestead, FL) winter tours season is here starting 10 December. 305-242-7700 or www.nps.gov/ever https://www.nps.gov/ever/learn/historyculture/hm69.htm Open house at the launch area 1000 to 1400 (2 pm) staffed by Volunteers Tue through Thurs. (closed Sunday – Monday – Friday until more Volunteers)
    Ranger lead tours (1 1/2 hour long) starting at 1400 (2 pm) from the IFC – Administration area (Daniel Beard Center) [[ leave the Ernest Coe Visitor center by at least 1:45 pm to allow time to get to the Daniel Beard Center for start of tour ]] [[ own transportation from their to launch area ]] [[ No Water – No Shade – No Bathroom Facilities ]]
    Two nice pictures and some text (April 2015) spotted by Larsen, David A (Army Corps of Engineers, New England)
    Mar 3, 2015 NYTimes article - link from Robert Garner
    [{Carter, C} (Jan 2011) A Hercules missile is scheduled to transfer from Anniston Army Depot to HM-69 for restoration and display
    [{Page, T} (Jan 2010) Everglades National Park To Offer Second Season of Nike Missile Base Tours - seen here and here ]
    Newspaper article of site open, via {Page, T} Mar 8, 2009, 450 K Bytes - the reporter didn't bother to find much info - nice picture of above ground magazine
    An introductory newspaper article.
    YouTube videos - Missile Barns, More general & background

    C - 12 WSW Florida City - National Park Srvice; Everglades National Park
    [{Norris, R} I saw an article in my local paper, I live in Ft. Pierce, Fla., recently about what was once "A" battery. It is being considered for some kind of list of historic places.]

    L - [{Fornash, J} suggests this 80W 41' 09", 25N 22' 13" ]


    from David Larsen - Jan 2018 Pics from 12-28-17 visit to HM-69C. My wife and I took the NPS tour.
    Ed Thelen is including this sample as the area is open for visiting.
    Introduction

    DSC09575.jpg

    DSC09578.jpg

    DSC09615.jpg
    Radar and Control area

    DSC09587.jpg

    DSC09641.jpg
    Launcher Area

    DSC09640.jpg

    DSC09655.jpg

    DSC09658.jpg

    DSC09599.jpg
    HM-85 10 SW Miami Headquarter, no missile equipment or radars
    HM-95 Southwest Miami
    [{Rivenbark, B} Temp launcher area during/after Cuban Missile Crisis was what is now Tamiami Executive Airport]
    C - 12 W Miami (DOD communications facility)
    Charles Carter's South Florida Web Site Sept 2009 - D Battery
    [{Murdock, S} 25-44-15 80-28-55 ]

    L - Tamiami Trail
    [{Castelnau, Jorge} (August 2006) ...still intact, however it is in bad shape. It seems paintballers have taken to this site on the weekends making it impossible to not get shot at when entering the facility. This is the best site so far down in South Florida. ]
    [{Gatto, T} (Now Krome Ave detention Facility.]
    [{McAulay, G} The entrance to the IFC and the Launcher areas were both on the west side of State Rd. 997 (?old US 27?) no more than 2 miles south of US 41 (Tamiami Trail)]
    [{Murdock, S} 24-45-19 80-29-27 ]

    HM-97West Homestead Homestead AFB, AFRES 482nd Fighter Wing., 301 st Rescue Squadron, FLANG, Det 1, 125th Fighter Group alert detachment
    HM-99West Homestead Homestead AFB,
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    from Charles Carter, Facts, 1962
    NIKE HERCULES SITES - 1962-1965
    HM-85 - HHB SW 117th Street and Quail Roost Drive, South Miami
    HM-65 - A Battery 1 mile west of SR 9336 (Ingraham Highway)
    HM-66 - B Battery 1 mile west of SR 9336 (Ingraham Highway)
    HM-01 - C Battery Miami Gardens Drive (NW 183rd) and NW 57th (Red Road NW 47th Avenues
    HM-99 - D Battery South of the Tamiami Trail (US41) on the west side of Krome Avenue (US27)
    HM-01DC – AADCP SW 152nd Street (Eureka Drive) and SW 136th Ave (Lingren Avenue) former Richmond AFS

    With the crisis diffused, the temporary batteries remained and on April 1, 1963, these units were permanently assigned to the U.S. Army Air Defense Command (ARADCOM). Once it became evident that the missile deployment would be long-term, the batteries were repositioned and permanent structures were built. The initial cost of the southern Florida construction program eventually topped $17 million.


    as of 1965

    from "Rings of Supersonic Steel" III, Berhew and Morgan, 2010

    That is when HM040 was relocated from the entrance of Everglades National Park in Florida City to Key Largo. I was there and drove a 5-ton and pulled a Nike on Ready Round Transporter to the new site.

    NIKE HERCULES SITES – 1965 – 1979
    HM-97 – HHB Homestead AFB
    HM-69 - A Battery Inside Everglades National Park at the Hole-in-the-Donut
    HM-40 - B Battery North Key Largo off SR905 near Card Sound Road
    HM-03 - C Battery NW 286th Ave between NW 57th (Red Road) and NW 67th (Ludlum Road)
    HM-95 - D Battery South of the Tamiami Trail (US41) on the west side of Krome Avenue (US27)
    HM-01DC – AADCP SW 152nd Street (Eureka Drive) and SW 136th Ave (Lingren Avenue) former Richmond AFS

    from Charles Carter Last Active U.S. Nike sites march 2011
    According to Rings of Supersonic Steel III, Morgan & Berhew, 2010,:

    The Nike Hercules site at Site Summit, Alaska was operation operational an air defense installation until April, 1979. That summer, a ceremony was conducted which officially retired that unit.

    The Nike Hercules sites in the Homestead-Miami Air Defense Network were operational as an air defense installation until July, 1979. They were not decommissioned or retired but relocated to Ft. Bliss as a training unit. They were decommissioned a couple of years later.

    Even though the last Nike Hercules unit to serve as an operation air defense unit “anywhere” was in Germany, the last operation Nike Hercules air defense installation to defend the continental United States was the units in south Florida, the 2nd Missile Battalion, 52nd Air Defense Artillery (ADA).

    This is not to “put down” anyone and their claims to bragging rights but to ensure the record is accurate.

    ...

    Kindest regards,

    Charles D. Carter
    Nike Historian

    cdc112745@gmail.com
    http://nikemissile.org/ColdWar/CharlesCarter/CubanCrisis.shtml

    {Murdock, S} wishes to add the following HAWK sites
    Key West Hawk Site KW-24 FL
    24-34-32   81-39-35
    
    Key West Hawk Site KW-10 FL
    24-35-54   81-42-10
    
    Key West Hawk Site KW-65 FL
    24-33-35   81-45-39    ]
    
    An introductory newspaper article sent by Dan Byrd

    Pet Peeve !!
    The media has a new favorite word - "unthinkable".
    - You buy automile insurance - in case the "unthinkable" happens.
    - You buy life insurance - in case the "unthinkable" happens.
    - ...
    - This article said the Nike base was installed - in case the "unthinkable" happened.

    Clearly some one was thinking of the "unthinkable" when buying insurance.
    Clearly some one was thinking of the "unthinkable" when ordering the Nike site installed.

    What is the media using for brains??
    Or is the English language limited to 1501 words??

    Charlotte Sun; Date:Mar 8, 2009; Section:Front; Page Number:FR9

    Deep in the Everglades, a Cold War relic is revisited

    EVERGLADES NATIONAL PARK (AP) — At the height of the Cold War, anti-aircraft missiles stood at the ready here in Florida’s swamplands, protecting the South from a potential Soviet nuclear bomber attack launched from Cuba.

    For almost two decades, beginning shortly after the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, the HM-69 Nike Hercules Missile Site was manned by about 100 military personnel, one of the last lines of defense if the unthinkable happened. When it closed in 1979, the park took control of the site.

    Now the site is undergoing a rebirth of sorts as a public exhibit, drawing the curious who want to see the Cold War relic along with those who stumble upon it while visiting Everglades National Park.

    With a $10 Everglades admission fee and a phone call to park officials, tourists can join the hourlong driving tour of the Nike site, which was included on the National Register of Historic Places in 2004. Although the missiles were dismantled and removed, visitors can see the site’s administration building, the tiny missile assembly shed, the missile barns and protective berms. Tours continue through March, during the park’s peak season.

    Sites like this sprung up during the Cold War to defend U.S. cities from attack and send the Soviets a message of strength. The missiles in South Florida were certainly not hidden — at 41 feet tall, anyone could see them. While some Nike missiles were nuclear-tipped, Air Force spokesman Lt. Col. Tadd Sholtis said the weapons at the Everglades site probably weren’t.
    They were nuclear according to this information.

    “You could just drive down the road and see them setting out there,” said Bobby Jones, who was transferred to the site in 1965, when it was still a temporary operation. “The missiles were setting on trailers. ... everything was mobile. We could move within an hour. The radar and everything.”

    Jones repaired diesel generators used to power the site, including its radar system and missile launchers. He remembers the wild birds and alligators that he shared the land with, and the porous ground that the site was built upon.

    “I had never seen anything like South Florida before in my life,” said Jones, who was from Missouri. “It was all really new to me. And I was fascinated with the wildlife there.”

    Park officials said interest has been high in the landmark, which takes on a greater relevance this year, the 50th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution. They have already added an extra day to the tour schedule.

    “I think certainly in this community, what people focus on is how things were doing the Cuban Missile Crisis. And a lot of our demographics are interested in the history of our dealings with Cuba,” said Melissa Memory, chief of cultural resources at the park. “But I think in the broader preservation community, Cold War historic assets, our appreciation for them is evolving.”

    Because the site was placed inside a national park, it has survived urban expansion and is now well preserved, said volunteer tour guide Gregg Halpin.

    Other Nike sites scattered around the United States, strategically placed near cities, have disappeared. As the threat of a Soviet attack faded, many of the sites (after the missiles were removed) were integrated into urban communities as parks or business centers.

    In Arlington Heights, Ill., a former Nike base is now an 18-hole golf course. A New Jersey town proposed converting its former base into a commuter parking lot in December. And part of an old site in Gardner, Kan., has been converted into Nike Elementary School. The school’s nickname: the Missiles.

    The Nike site tucked away in the Everglades was not the only one in Florida. The former launch area of the Nike Hercules Site HM in Opa-Locka, just north of Miami, is now a National Guard reservation. Another site in Miami has become an Immigration and Naturalization Service facility.

    The Everglades site is now searching for information, historic replicas and artifacts used at the facility during the Cold War to include in the tour. Park officials are also working to spruce up areas that have not yet been open to the public because of health and safety concerns, and are conducting interviews with former military personnel who were stationed here.

    “We can go on the Internet and other research is available to us, so we know who built (it) and when it was built,” Halpin said. “But we need those personal stories to make it a connection with the people, so the people will want to come here and see what it was all about.”

    If you go

    Nike missile site tours: Everglades National Park: www.nps.gov/ever. Tours are offered Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m. through the end of March. The tours depart from the Ernest Coe Visitor Center, 9 miles southwest of Homestead, Fla., on State Road 9336. Reservations are taken at the center up to 30 minutes before each tour or by calling 305-242-7700.

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    Updated marh, 2021