Ed-Thelen.org is a long-standing reference website dedicated to the history, technology, and operational context of the U.S. Army Nike Hercules air defense missile system and related Nike missile programs.
The site contains historical research, technical information, photographs, documents, and personal recollections intended to support study, education, and historical preservation.
Since its creation, the website has served historians, veterans, researchers, students, and the general public seeking reliable information about Cold War era air defense systems.
About the Founder
This website was created and developed by Ed Thelen, who devoted many years to researching and documenting the Nike missile program.
Ed Thelen passed away after establishing this site as one of the most comprehensive publicly accessible resources on the Nike Hercules missile system.
Stewardship and Continuity
Following the passing of the site's founder in 2024, responsibility for Ed-Thelen.org has been assumed by a new steward, Greg Brown, Nike Veteran and (retired) 20 year NPS SF-88 Docent Volunteer
Click here to read our Stewardship and Content Preservation policy for Ed-Thelen.org

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Questions or Comments ? Contact us at, ed [at] ed-thelen.org In case you didn't know, [at] = @ |
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For More Nike information, visit our sister website, the Nike Historical SocietyClick here to visit the Nike Historical Society★ New Site visit - Angel Island San Francisco Angel Island SF-91 Photos Click Here
These are postcards sketched by Nike Hercules Veteran Al Kellogg and are available for sale.See more of his artwork under "Nike Art" |
A typical Organizational Readiness Evaluation (ORE) at a Nike missile site under U.S. Army Air Defense Command in the 1960swas designed to feel as close to real combat as possible. Fast, stressful, and often without warning. Read further about Organizational Readiness Evaluations at a typical Nike Battery ![]()
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Lt. Susan P. Cheney - The first female Executive Officer at SF-88
Lt. Susan P. Cheney served as Executive Officer (XO) at SF-88 during the early 1970s. She was on duty during the Yom Kippur War in October 1973, when the site was placed on heightened operational status. Lt. Cheney later attained the rank of Colonel. Learn more about Lt. Susan P. Cheney {Click Here } |
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On May 22, 1958 the accidental explosion of several Nike Ajax missiles at the Leonardo, NJ Nike Site (NY-53) claimed the lives of six Army and four civilian ordnance personnel.
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View a Nike Missile Guidance Circuit Board - Radar Van Chassis and Power Panels
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Remember Payphones ? |
Customer Service |
![]() Men Today |
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"Peace in our time"?? - Russia invades Ukraine, China threatens Taiwan.
United Nations Security Council, the 5 members with veto power include Russia & China Russia is attacking Ukraine, Ukraine is so desirable USA Please send us your HAWKS--HAWK Missiles are defending Ukraine China threatens Taiwan, Taiwan has TSMC The Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), is the world's largest, best, and most valuable semiconductor manufacturer. China makes 12 times more steel and burns 7 times as much coal than the U.S. If the U.S. gets into a serious war, it will have to import more steel from China. The US Navy's shrinking fleet China surpasses our Navy with 400 Ships--US Navy 296 Ships Trump-pledges-to-resurrect-shipbuilding-as-china-seen-outpacing-us- |
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What Nike is all about
Created in 2021, an excellent 13 minute Youtube by Scott Manley
Nike Hercules Missile Q5 High Altitude Intercept - 1.5 minutes
Nike Missile destroys B-17
is a (successful :-) test of an early Nike Ajax destroying a radio controlled WW-II B-17.
Later tests verified that the Nike Ajax was also a killer of higher flying sub and supersonic jets
such as used by the Soviet Union.
The next generation was the Nike Hercules which was faster, longer range, and could carry
nuclear warheads to destroy multiple targets.
This site has become a cooperative effort as more than 350 people have contributed text, stories, ideas, information, and corrections.
Nike Videos
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Castro Valley California Nike Site SF-31C IFC buildings saved from the wrecking ball.July 2026 - The Alameda County Historical Advisory Board determined that the former Nike site represented an important part of Alameda County's Cold War history. The demolition request was not approved, and funding was instead dedicated to rehabilitating the five remaining historic structures.
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This is a plot of a Nike Hercules intercepting a target flying at 52,000 feet.
The vertical scale is altitude in feet. (max 100,000 feet) The left trace is the Nike missile, the right is the target. The horizonal scale is computed time to intercept, in seconds. The middle is time zero, intercept. Note: Against high flying targets such as this, the Hercules does not necessarily go above the target. from TM9-1400-250-10/2 page 36, Manual |
Cold War in South Florida, ... Study available free online - posted Mar 4, 2010
3 MB Click on image |
Click on image to download the .pdf
Good news. The Cold War Study of Nike Hercules in South Florida ($19.95 plus shipping) has been re-released in pdf format as a public domain document. The tours of HM-69 has been overwhelming at Everglades National Park for the second year. Tours will be conducted through the end of March. Charles D. Carter |
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The Cuban Missile Crisis by James Whitaker (Nike, South Florida) The Cold War is an Electronic War (Soviets shot down 23 of our ELINT Planes) 36 minutes through 44 minutes
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What is a Radar Mile?
12.36 Microseconds |
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Who Invented the first working radar system ? The English like to take credit for radar, but a German inventor named Christian Hulsmeyer from Dusseldorf Germany invented the first working radar system for boats on the Rhine River in 1904. He thought it would be a success and all the shipping companies would want to buy it. Instead, they thought it was a useless contraption, even though it was well designed and worked perfectly. 35 years later, when Germany began bombing Britian, the radar concept gained new interest. The English scientist Sir Robert Watson Watt can take credit for perfecting the first working radar system for detecting aircraft in flight. The predecessor was invented 35 years earlier by the German Inventor for detection of moving ships and had several patents. |
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TU-4 "Bull" Bomber photo credit Wikipedia |
TU-95 "Bear" Bomber Wikipedia |
TU-22M "Backfire" Bomber photo credit Wikipedia |
?Soviet Airfield? A response |
Nike Missile Batteries and Community ServiceThis circa-1966 letter from the Battalion Commander of the Los Angeles Defense Area reflects the often-overlooked civic role of Nike missile units. Beyond their Cold War mission, soldiers assigned to Nike Site LA-78 in Malibu actively supported local organizations and contributed significantly to the regional economy through their payroll and daily presence in the community. ![]() |
| Sandy Hook NJ NY-56 | Tour Info |
| Site Summit Anchorage AK | More Info |
| Everglades Miami-Dade Florida HM-69 | History Info |
| Baltimore MD BA-79 | Project Info |
| Sausalito CA NPS SF-88 Nike Missile Museum | Museum Info |
| Base Tuono - Folgaria-Coe Italy |
Site Info |
Nike Cajun - Sweden 1962I have never heard of a Nike Cajun, until I recently received an email from Professor Thomas Lindblad from the KTH Royal Institute of Technology.So I Googled it and there it was ! Nike Cajun - Air and Space Museum It appears to be a Nike Ajax booster with a unique sustainer motor and front nose section. It was used in atmospheric testing in the upper atmosphere. The Nike Cajun could reach a maximum altitude of 120 km (394,000 ft). The maximum speed of the Nike-Cajun was 6,760 km/h (1,880 m/s; 4,200 mph). Much faster than the Mach 2.25 or 1669 MPH of the Nike Ajax. The Cajun stage of this rocket was named for the Cajun people of South Louisiana because one of the rocket's designers, J. G. Thibodaux, was a Cajun. Read more about the Nike Cajun and its 17-year-old launch crewman, Professor Thomas Lindblad Click to read about Nike Cajun
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Nike History
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Nike Site Technical information
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Nike Operational information
Support for Nike Field Batteries (and museums)
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On-Line documents
- Un-Numbered Documents - Numbered Documents |
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People and Trip Reports
Stories, Questions
STONED COLD WARRIOR (the TV pilot script) is a one-hour Cold War dramatic comedy and psychological spy thriller inspired by the real experiences of Nike Hercules missile veterans in 1970s South Korea. Young American soldiers guard nuclear missiles on a remote mountaintop while navigating fear, friendship, espionage, and survival beneath the shadow of global conflict.
Formal Names - (Of Nike Equipment)
New policy: I am introducing a
Photo Exchange so that those who wish to share can,
and those who wish, can ask. I hope this works better than my previous "no photos"
policy. You are still invited to look up web sites who specialize in a particular
area, and offer there.
Thank you
Good news ;-)) Nike not considered obsolete. ;-))
Subject: Status updat of my FOIA to Redstone Arsenal for the history of
the Nike Hercules weapons system by Mary T Cagle
Dear Ed,
Cory Newman
General diagram of a Nike Hercules site.
If you have comments or suggestions, Send e-mail
to Ed Thelen (ed@ed-thelen.org)
Some of my favorite videos
- Two lists of Nike Documents, List-Nike-Technical-Manuals.pdf and
GOGA-List-of-Manuals.pdf from Charles D. Carter
- Eight of the GOGA scanned manuals size reduced by https://www.ilovepdf.com/compress_pdf
- scanned by NPS, collection GOGA 35286
and Elevator Docs via Bruce Long,
Extracts for an Army Correspondence Course Program of the US Army Air Defense School
- for use with ADA Subcourse 8000
Nike Hercules Missile Crewman,, Part 1 (16B20)
and ADA Subcourse 802 - Part 11 (16B40)
- from Dennis Claudio, added August 27, 2021, 8.8 MBytes
- 2 MBytes, from Michael Keller via
James Fee Langendoen
Places to visit, physical and on-line
http://www.archive.org/details/nikeherc01 - To open,
click on "Unknown" in the "Stream (help)" box. Service can be a little slow. Spotted by Mike Stucka
A local HTML version,
(I worry about "good stuff" going away.)
Excellent pictures of Ft. Bliss, Juarez and El Paso, courtesy of Butchijo
and The 1974 digital conversion of Nike Hercules.
Also, there is an episode of Mannix, where they run around a HiPar dome, that was in the IFC area."
From Nike Veteran Matthew Cuerdon, Stationed in Korea DSD 2/44 in 1974.
Other -
,
Local Copy - Aug 2015
- then came Oct 2012, Hurricane Sandy - devastation :-((
- Hpasp provides Soviet equipment simulation
from this web site.
- I (Ed Thelen)
have not run the above program and can guarantee nothing.
- Yarbourgh's "How To" book
the "NFL" :-(( via Thomas Pepper, Oct 1, 2017
I'm now watching what we Americans call "Soccer" :-))
"Someone in Los Angeles offended Muslims."
reminded me of this "joke",
and a not so funny poem.
From Richard Brody, author of "Standing Guard at the 38th Parallel"
- What really pisses me off- glad you asked- is
that the dogs killed in Vietnam have a website dedicated to them, listing each of the
dog's names. None of the US soldiers lost (killed) in Korea after the war, (which never
really ended), are listed anywhere as casualties. Only their moms, wives and families
know, and some of us who were there and lost buddies :>((
Formal identifications (as per Ron Parshall).
Nike Ajax
Return to Technical
From: James Newman < jamesnewman1976 @ yahoo . com >
Date: Mon, July 17, 2017
I just got my FOIA to Redstone Arsenal US Army Material Command denied. I am going to appeal within the 60 day time limit. This document was denied under Executive order 13526 section 3.3 Section 4 "For State of the art technology" the document will remain classified for 50 years from its creation date until 2023. Vacuum tube technology of the early to mid-1950s is not state of the art technology. This system went defunct in 1980 when the last Nikes were decommissioned in Florida and Alaska.
A
ABC-Computer
Allen Telescope Array,
AnalogDiscovery,
Ancient Earth,
(Antikythera Mechanism Lecture,
Nature),
Antonov AN 124,
Apollo Guidance Computer,
Apple Crash,
Ardenwood Volunteer
N
Navy Seal Team 6,
NCRR Train-of-Lights,
NORAD,
the NFL is NFG,
Nuclear Fusion Is Already Facing a Fuel Crisis,
Nuclear Engineering & Ionizing Radiation Course OnLine - MIT
B
Baby Birds,
Babbage Difference Engine,
2nd Babbage Machine,
Beale Tour "Pave Paws",
Bletchley Park - 1998,
Burroughs/Electrodata docs,
Buying a Car,
O
Obama, Mystery Man,
Old FAA Radio and Beacon Navigation Aids,
Old Folks Jokes,
Oil - Shallow Oil Wells-Ferdig,
Oil - Museum Of Offshore Operations
Oscillator, Sulzer
C
ChatGPT,
China Trips 1996 &
2009,
Chronic Venous Disease - a &
b,
Computational Mathematics,
Computer-History,
Control Data Experience,
Crazyfornia,
Crete Nike Firing - 1998,
P
Pave Paws,
Pi, Pi (serious),
Plutonium,
Primate, Edgar, Leakey
pre-publication versions of Scientific Papers available
and the press, Adventures with the press,
Bull Crap Journalism,
Puzzlement,
D
Deutsches Museum
Dimensions, Troublesome
Q
Quantum mechanics ?? ;-),
E
Eclipse1999&2017,
Ed's Biography,
Einstein, Relativity
Electrified CVCC,
Electron-CryoTomography On-line classes,
Energy,
ERMA - 1950's B of A automation,
R Radiation, Ionizing,
RAMAC Project,
,
Robo-AO,
F
Ford Model-T Auto,
Fortran Histories,
Fujitsu SV600,
Feynman "Lectures on Physics" 3 vols.
S
Safer Human-Computer Interfaces,
SALT telescope,
Scientific Data Management System,
Amateur Seismology,
Siesta Lovers,
Software Defigned Radio, Point Reyes,
Solyndra-bankrupt,
StarLink, techie stuff
G
G.E. Computer Dept,
Good Ole Daize,
Google Books - local copy,
Gravitational Waves,
Green Bank Radio Telescope,
Gyroscope,
T
Thelen 1940s,
Teletype Mod 28 Maintenance,
TESS follow-on to Kepler Mission,
Taiwan vs Wuhan virus,
Tulare 2012 Antique Farm Equipment,
3 Doors Problem
H Designing IT to make Health Care Safer
at Gresham College UK,
Hubble seminar, a techie delight,
Humor
U
I
IBM 1401Project,
IBM Experience
V
Very Large Array, New Mexico
J
Japan Trip - 2005,
Jeff Foxworthy comments on the Taliban,
W
Washington Hospital "Visit" :-(,
Willits ROOTS Steam Engines,
K Kepler,
Don Knuth Pays Off (again??),
X
Xerox Alto Restoration ,
L
L&N 4725,
Left Foot Draggin,
LIGO,
London, Babbage Engine & Total Eclipse,
Lord of Arabia book,
Computer History Museum Docent Training, Lafarr Stuart on Lehmer ,
Landis&Gyr
Y
M
Macular Pucker,
Magnetometer,
Maps,
MBARI,
Measurex,
Mendocino Motor,
MRI,
Murphy's Law,
Musk/Twitter
Z
ZEUS,
- George S. Patton: American Ajax
- from Neil Shubin & PBS, "Your Inner Fish,
Reptile,
Monkey
- Prof Richard Muller: Former Climate Change Skeptic
(For those who were appalled by
the East Anglia College methods)
- Richard Muller: Physics for Future Presidents
- Lucky Luckadoo B-17, 100 years old
- Secret History of Silicon Valley,
Steve Blank
- Synthetic Aperture Radar, Scott Manley
- Abandoned Nuclear Antiballistic Missile Base
A 20-year History of Antiballistic Missile Systems
- The Insane Engineering of the X-15,
- "Colors" and "Rainbows, for physics teachers" - (my titles ;--) - by Walter Lewin, MIT
- Hubble seminar, a techie delight
- parallel projections and the Radon transform
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The Applications of Matrices | What I wish my teachers told me way earlier,
& 3Blue1Brown
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The Astonishing Simplicity of Everything
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Mathematics Gives You Wings
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Distant Early Warning Radar: "The DEW Line Story" 1958 AT&T - Western Electric
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Transistor Full Documentary
- Nuclear 101: How Nuclear Bombs Work,
Part 1,
Part 2
Nuclear Accidents: Lessons Learned (Dr. Brian Sheron)
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