Silly question about Whittier Narrows - Nike Missile site

[jason_sogolow]

I used to live in Whittier for about 6 years, moved to SoCal from NorCal to go to Whittier College. Was always interesting to see model planes from the 60 fwy, but was never interested in RC or CL until recently, so now I need to venture into Whittier Narrows Rec Area to have a look.

Having a look on Google Maps, I found the old la-14 nike missile site in there, wasn't aware the place contained another such a piece of history. I've had a bit of a weird fascination with these places as they were explained to me as I was unknowingly standing in one a few years back, Torrance airport.

Has anyone had a look at it, is there anything interesting to see there still?

Thanks,
Jason

[jason_sogolow]

My understanding of the Nike's is that they weren't intended to be nukes, or ICBMs. Back when the Bear bombers were the bigger concern, they were sort of the last line of defense in bringing those bombers down before they could put any of the big city in their sites.

Sounds like they were "augmented" later on to extend and adapt their mission.

-Jason

[Brett Buck]

My understanding of the Nike's is that they weren't intended to be nukes, or ICBMs. Back when the Bear bombers were the bigger concern, they were sort of the last line of defense in bringing those bombers down before they could put any of the big city in their sites.

Sounds like they were "augmented" later on to extend and adapt their mission.

  Definitely were nuclear - cut down on the guidance requirements and could take out several bombers at once.

    Brett

[jason_sogolow]

Wow, underscores the madness of the whole thing!

[Brett Buck]

Wow, underscores the madness of the whole thing!

    Madness of protecting one's self from avowed enemies with the most effective possible method?

    Brett

[Garf]

Radioactive pieces raining down on citizens? Not my idea of fun.

[Brett Buck]

Radioactive pieces raining down on citizens? Not my idea of fun.

    You would rather they have a marginal increase in cancer rates or have millions of people being converted to radioactive plasma? Because those were the alternatives.

    Brett

[Matt Colan]

We have an old nuclear missile site about a mile of so from my house from the 60s.  Definitely interesting to hear about, but I don't have any interest in looking at it since it's on private property and I'd have to trespass like one of my friends did to get a look at it.

[Howard Rush]

There's a Nike site on a hill near my house.  There may be some stuff still there.  I should hike up there and take some pictures. 

I worked at a former BOMARC site.   Seattle was a prime target.

The F-101 had nuclear air-to-air missiles.  

[jason_sogolow]

Madness of protecting one's self from avowed enemies with the most effective possible method?

No, the idea that detonating a nuke (or three) over the city you're trying to protect isn't the least palatable option.  I should note that I'm in the younger part of this group, when I was a little kid we figured anything happened we'd be crispy critters so quick there wouldn't even be time to fret over it, no worrying that you "might" survive it. Nice to know thats not so much of a problem these days, not that we don't have others.

Good thing we can still buzz a plane around in a circle to clear the soul of such concerns, at least temporarily.

One has to admit though, that to a kid born in the '70's, CL planes, flathead V8's, and Cold War military hardware, are all fascinating antiques! Don't get me started on my collection of  WWII surplus through 1950's Ham Radio gear!

Anyway, all of this caused me to do a little more googling, and site LA-96, on Mulholland west of the 405, has much to look at:

http://www.techbastard.com/missile/nike/sites/la-96-ifc.php

Thanks again,
Jason

[Howard Rush]

Thanks.  The one near my house is S-20. 

[Steve Fitton]

My Dad grew up near McGuire AFB in New Jersey, and remembers well the 1960 fire at the McGuire BOMARC complex.  The radio first reported that the warhead had gone off, which generated considerable alarm in the area...(!)

[Andrew Borgogna]

There were three versions of  the Nike missile, the Ajax, Hercules, and Zeus.  The Ajax (I believe) was conventional warhead only and intended for close in antiaircraft.  The Hercules was a nuke, but it was never intended to be detonated over land.  The idea was for the Hercules to fly out over the ocean and intercept a group of bear bombers long before they reached the US.  The Zeus was a anti-balistic-missile missile and was never deployed because of a treaty with Soviet Union to not deploy ABMs.  The Ajax and Hercules were quite different weapon systems with very different objectives.  The radiation issue with detonating a nuke was only a problem on the West coast because of prevailing winds bringing the fallout back toward the US.  On the East coast it was only a problem for our friends in Europe.