I had a tour of the Integrated Fire Control part of the Army Air Defense Nike Missile site NY-56 at Sandy Hook NJ. It's one of only two sites left, the other is under the Golden Gate in San Francisco. The Nike Hercules were the nuclear air defense system set up around all major US cities during the cold war. They were in use in the US until 1974. The Norwegians used them into the 1990s
They had a Nike Ajax and a Nike Hercules missiles on display. I took a lot of pics of both. I tried to capture the details of the missiles and the launchers. I also got some pics of the magnesium control trailer. The small hatches weren't windows, they were escape hatches in case the magnesium trailer caught fire. The Nike systems were supposed to be mobile and everything was built to be mobile, but it took 4 days to setup so they decided to build permanent sites. The mobile radars were put on raised platforms with raydomes while the trailers were attached either side of a cinder block building.
Here's the link to the Ajax photos https://s31.photobucket.com/user/Handeman/library/Rockets/Nike%20Ajax.
The Ajax was a conventional warhead missile while the Hercules was a nuke. The Ajax used a single Nike booster and had a liquid motor upper stage that was fired by a lanyard connected between the missile and the booster. At separation, the lanyard open valves that let the liquid fuels mix which cause instant ignition, kind of like the Apollo LEM assent motor. It did provide a very simple, guaranteed ignition.
The fin type assemblies between the forward steering fins and the larger lower fins were the radar receive antennas. The Ajax and Hercules were both beam riders and got telemetry and guidance from the missile tracking radar beam they rode. The missile batteries had to be a mile from the Fire Control area because they couldn't lock onto the missiles any closer and they needed to get lock while the missile was still on the pad.
The Ajax missiles flew at Mach +2.
They had a Nike Ajax and a Nike Hercules missiles on display. I took a lot of pics of both. I tried to capture the details of the missiles and the launchers. I also got some pics of the magnesium control trailer. The small hatches weren't windows, they were escape hatches in case the magnesium trailer caught fire. The Nike systems were supposed to be mobile and everything was built to be mobile, but it took 4 days to setup so they decided to build permanent sites. The mobile radars were put on raised platforms with raydomes while the trailers were attached either side of a cinder block building.
Here's the link to the Ajax photos https://s31.photobucket.com/user/Handeman/library/Rockets/Nike%20Ajax.
The Ajax was a conventional warhead missile while the Hercules was a nuke. The Ajax used a single Nike booster and had a liquid motor upper stage that was fired by a lanyard connected between the missile and the booster. At separation, the lanyard open valves that let the liquid fuels mix which cause instant ignition, kind of like the Apollo LEM assent motor. It did provide a very simple, guaranteed ignition.
The fin type assemblies between the forward steering fins and the larger lower fins were the radar receive antennas. The Ajax and Hercules were both beam riders and got telemetry and guidance from the missile tracking radar beam they rode. The missile batteries had to be a mile from the Fire Control area because they couldn't lock onto the missiles any closer and they needed to get lock while the missile was still on the pad.
The Ajax missiles flew at Mach +2.