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Locations of Former NIKE MISSILE SITES (text)

NIKE SITES IN DENMARK
Google Earth
Danish Nike sites from René Kiefer Admin and Operator cold-war.de

From Søren_Mikkelsen - February 11, 2013
Formed in June 1959 as 10th LVA , a department of the Danish Army .

In August the equipment arrived as mentioned , with the addition that the "concern about possible disturbances by Communist dockworkers" in Copenhagen was enforced by an upcoming statevisit of comrad Krusjtjov . So all the materiel had to be transported to Aarhus a week ahead and then by apr. 1000 rail wagons across Jutland , Funen and by ferry to Zealand .

In the south of Denmark (Greenland excluded) there were four NIKE units . In 1962 they were transferred to Royal Danish Air Force as :

  • Sqd. 531 : Gunderoed - north of Copenhagen
  • Sqd. 532 : Kongelunden - southeast of Copenhagen
  • Sqd. 533 : Sigerslev - south of Copenhagen
  • Sqd. 534 : Tune - southwest of Copenhagen
  • HQ : Avedoerelejren , Copenhagen . After 1971 at Airbase Skalstrup - south of Roskilde .
They were declared fully operationel together with the danish fighter squadrons in 1962 .

All launcher areas were above the ground and are visible (2013) on Google Earth .
There were three firing sections per unit , alpha , bravo and charlie , seperated from each other .

AJAX were phased out in 1971 and replaced with HERCULES .
Sqd. 534 was fitted with a HIPAR .

Since Denmark was and still is declared free of nuclear weapons in peacetime all the warheads were conventionel . It has later been "discovered" that a German unit just south of the border was a depot for nucs intended for the danish units in the event of war .

ASP was practiced first in US , later on Sardin , Italy .

NIKE was closed in Denmark in 1983 . I have read that the equipment were returned to US . And I might have heard that the missiles were sold to Norway .

This page gives a lot of information on the danish air defense (eng. version) http://www.fortress-scandinavia.dk/Stevns/Ramme_Museum_Stevns_eng.htm


A Story of HAWK -

I have read your story from Crete. It seems that we shared the same problem ; where is NAMFI ? Mine occured when I first got the idea of mapping all SAM's in Europe via Google Earth and suddenly remembered my ASP in 1981 .

Earlier we deployed an entire squadron for a month or so to the western coast of France , firing out in the Biscaye . Very nice indeed , but also very expensive . Before France , DK used the site on Sardin , Italy .

We took of from DK in a C-130 . 7 hours of flight due to the no-fly zone for NATO aircrafts east of the iron curtain . As this was the RDAF's first ASP at NAMFI we all were extra alert for making a good result . The stay was scheduled for almost a week with one spare day for technical problems or bad weather . Along our stay with an other danish sqd , there was also a NIKE Sqd. performing . Unfortunately they had to use the spare day for preperations , so I missed their Firing Day . But we saw two HAWK firings and manage to do produce a sufficient result , being beginners at NAMFI .

Explanation for "05 - MSL Freezer" and "06 - Cold MSL" : Our no. 1 missile was selected by NATO to carry out a test in arctic conditions . Temperature on Crete in late November was some 22 degrees C. , so our missile sleept the last night on this planet in a refrigerator truck and was kept there until the drone was about to be fired . Then it was very quickly and without any evaluation loaded to the launcher and took of .

Best regards - keep up the very fine work - and feel free to ask back

Btw : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AAXaTbBP34 is 2010 german Patriot ASP from Crete with some footage of the surroundings .

From Don Bender
There were four Nike missile installations established within the Kingdom of Denmark (a member of NATO) during the late 1950s. The four sites were located in the Copenhagen area, roughly 30-miles outside of the city. One site is reported to have been located on the island of Amager, directly south and southeast of Copenhagen.

Considerable controversy greeted the first Nike missiles delivered to this Scandinavian nation in 1959. At least one shipment of Nike equipment had to be diverted from Copenhagen to the port of Aarhus due to official "concern about possible disturbances by Communist dockworkers" in the Danish capital. However, on 5 August of that same year, "banner carrying members of an anti-nuclear weapons group" conducted a demonstration in the port of Aarhus.

During August, 1959, it was reported that "[T]wo hundred thirty-five Danish officers and men [had] been trained at Fort Bliss, Tex., to operate the rockets". It was reported that the missiles were delivered to Denmark without their atomic warheads.

Sources:
"Denmark Gets Rockets." The New York Times. 4 August 1959.
"Danes Protest Nike Cargo." The New York Times. 6 August 1959.
Miscellaneous personal communications.

From Erik Roggenkamp
Sqd. 534 was located in open farm land approx. 20 miles south west of Copenhagen.

There were 4 batteries around the capital, one north, one just outside Copenhagen's main airport, one 45 miles south of the city and mine SW.

They are now all in moth balls, for what I understand.

Yes, the cold war was pretty hot for us, It was not unusal for me to be picked up at home in the middle of the nite and spend several days locked in.

From Boggild Gammelgaard Lohse (former "Nielsen") - October 2009
Sqd. 533 was at Sigerslev (about 35 KM south west of Copenhagen)

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Updated Feb, 2013