Arlington Heights Army Air Defense Site
1211 S New Wilke Road, Arlington Heights, Illinois
Coordinates42°3′50.54″N 87°59′54.52″W / 42.0640389°N 87.9984778°W / 42.0640389; -87.9984778
Site information
Controlled byArmy Air Defense Command
Site history
Built1959 (1959)
In use1960-1968

The Arlington Heights Army Air Defense Site was a Project Nike Missile Master site near Chicago, Illinois. It operated from 1960 until 1968.

Installation started in late 1959[1] after the United States Army had purchased 44 acres (18 ha).[2][lower-alpha 1] Adjacent to the Arlington Heights Air Force Station, the Arlington Heights Army Installation opened on October 28, 1960,[2] as the 8th of 10 Army Air Defense Command Posts (AADCP) to have a Martin AN/FSG-1 Antiaircraft Defense System installed for Nike-Hercules command and control. In addition to the Army's 2 AN/FPS-6 radars,[3] the radars of the co-located USAF station provided AADCP data for the 45th Artillery Brigade's control of the Chicago-Gary Defense Area[2] (10 missile batteries and their Integrated Fire Control sites). The vacuum tube AN/FSG-1 was replaced c. October 1967[4][lower-alpha 2] with a solid-state Hughes AN/TSQ-51 Air Defense Command and Coordination System, which controlled the combined Chicago-Milwaukee Defense Area after the Milwaukee Defense Area merged with Chicago-Gary in 1968.

Project Concise ended the site's Nike operations in 1974, and 52 acres (21 ha) were transferred to the city parks district.[5] A May 1979 golf course was built[6] near the nuclear bunker—the Arlington Lakes Golf Club has 90 acres (36 ha) with 14 lakes.

Site locations

External images
image icon Radomes.org images
image icon nuclear bunker
image icon Google overhead image of bunker

Notes

  1. ↑ Before the 1960 Operation Skyshield and the Arlington Heights opening of a Missile Master, simulated Strategic Air Command bomber raids against the Chicago missile batteries indicated the Nike-Hercules was only 8% effective.[lower-alpha 3]
  2. ↑ The 1968 McMaster map shows the Arlington AN/FSG-1 on July 1, and the last AN/FSG-1 was replaced on February 8, 1967, at the AADCP at Oakdale, Pennsylvania.
  3. "Poor Rating for Hercules" (Google News Archive). The Milwaukee Journal. May 27, 1959. Retrieved 2012-04-01. (cited by Martinia & Haller 1998)

References

  1. ↑ "FPS-35 Oil Drippings". www.radomes.org.
  2. 1 2 3 Freeman, Paul (June 4, 2011) [2002]. "Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields: Illinois, Northwestern Chicago area". Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields. Archived from the original on June 22, 2011. On April 6, 1959, BG Peter Schmick, Brigade CG, announced the purchase of the land,along with plans for the construction of the [Army] Command Post, 5 radar towers and supporting buildings ... The official dedication…was made on October 28, 1960.
  3. ↑ "Corrections to The Second Edition of Rings of Supersonic Steel". Ed-Thelen.org. October 29, 2006. Retrieved 2012-04-01.
  4. ↑ McMaster, B. N.; et al. (December 1984). Historical Overview of the Nike Missile System (PDF) (Report). Environmental Science and Engineering, Inc. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-04-02. Retrieved 2011-09-16.
  5. ↑ "Arlington Heights Facts at a Glance" (chronology). Arlingtoncards.com. Retrieved 2012-04-02.
  6. ↑ Stimely, Margot (February 1996). Nike Base (Report). Arlington Heights Historical Society. Retrieved 2012-04-01.
  7. ↑ "1211 S New Wilke Rd" (Google Maps image). Retrieved 2012-04-01.
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