C-72 Addison NIKE Missile Site
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- Опубліковано 8 сер 2012
- A present day look at the two portions of the old Addison Illinois NIKE ( surface to air missile ) base. Most of this video concentrates on the hill where the base of the radar tower still stands. Towards the end, there is a quick look, down in the valley, at the location where the missile launch bunkers stood. The video is annotated with captions that describe the base and its mission.
I spent many late Saturday nights as a teenager in 1981/82 walking around that missile base in Addison.
We used to sneak in there and check out the abandoned buildings which we believe were barracks and also the silos.
It was very scary but we had a lot of fun!
Back in the 1970's, I thought it was just a radar station. I had no idea that surface to air missiles were near-by. In fact, I blew off a chance to explore in there. Not much left, now. The old radar tower and missile fuel pollute groundwater..... Thank-You for viewing and commenting!
There was a nike base like this one here in Terrell Tx. Its mostly gone now other than the radar tower/Platform. The missile site is privately owned now:( I walked around both sites when I was a kid. Great history there. I'll never forget the barracks buildings and power generator building.
Thank-You for sharing that info. You might be able to find out more about that particular base if you visit "Edthelen.org" who has the most complete NIKE website. And you are right about the memories. I am still stunned by the fact that my Chicago area suburb was near a Surface-to-Air" missile base! Sigh, the kids today will think that we are making this stuff up.....................
Thank You for watching and the nice comment. I have known people who have worked next door to the old base and they had no clue that live missiles used to occupy the site. Folks tend to forget how the Armed Services have defended the nation.....
I can recall from my childhood seeing two Nike missile sites in the Chicago area back in the mid 1960's. One up close was located near downtown Chicago at Montrose harbor along the Lake Michigan shoreline. I would accompany my dad going fishing (for lake perch) very near this U.S. Army facility. I remember it being obviously fenced in and seem to recall a revolving radar dish as part of the complex. The other Nike site was the Arlington Heights base with its "golf ball" like radar domes. You could see this traveling on the Northwest toll way (I-90). I've been to Nike park at Addison. Nice that a bit of Chicago Cold War history remains intact. Thanks for sharing!
I met a former Army Reservist who had been stationed at the NIKE site at Belmont Harbor. This guy said that he was there in the late 1960's during the "hippie Ers." i asked this guy what he thought of the missile system. He stated that he had his doubts as to whether a NIKE could take down a Soviet bomber. on the hand, he was scared to death of accidentally taking down a civilian plane. He said that the reservist were more interested in bopping with the hippie chicks, in the bunkers, than paying attention to national defense.
The missile storage facility is the parking garage for my condo. 465 W Dominion Dr, Wood dale.
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@@ipfeldspar Come see it.
There was a Nike Hercules site in my city Quincy,Ma back in the day. They had the HQ on a peninsula of the city and the missiles were posted on Long Island which is part of Boston, they built a bridge to it that is 3/4 mile long and now falling apart. The old HQ is an American Legion post, if you Goggle Earth Quincy, Ma you can still see where stuff was. I've used some of the spots for photo shoots.
This park has at least 2 mulberry trees growing along the boundaries of the park, right beside the fence. Fun healthy snack to eat if ur hungry. My friend used to work at that UPS too. (the one below the park). Its cool how you can see Chicago skyscrapers way in the distance from here. Also, one can see multiple fire-work shows during 4th of July from Nike Park. The park also has plenty of room for throwing a frisby. Really cool park!
I worked at the UPS facility (6039T). We used to play ball at the Park. It's always fun explaining surface to air missiles in the Chicago area.....!
SICK! I've never been here, but I've seen similar sites in Europe from WWII. Nicely done!
Thankyou, for this video. I always thought this little eerie park was in a strange location and the tower was odd.
When the Army shut down its NIKE bases it tended to unload the property on the closest organized government entity. In this case the Village of Addison gained this parcel as well as land south of there where the Village Public Works Department is located. There was also a housing site but I have never been able to pin that one down. In Treynor Iowa, that site is some sort of Community College. In Nebraska, some sort of not for profit has the property. In Iowa and Nebraska the structures are still there. In Addison everything has been erased. Thank-You for viewing and commenting!
was there in the early 70's until it closed. 24 on 48 off. was a range operator in the IFC after 2 year's active duty.
Be sure to check out Edthelen.org. He has the best NIKE web page and it is loaded with all sorts of information. Thank-You for viewing, but more importantly, thank-you very much for serving our nation!!!
I was there one weekend per month from 1968 till June 6 1971
The missile bunkers were not so secured back around 1980 when us then teenagers found them deserted, open and unguarded. All the buildings were still there and the underground works were flooded up to the top floor. But one could venture down into that top floor in waders.
Two levels n the bunker? I always thought in was a simple concrete box with one level.....?
This site was Battery B 202nd Artillery I
My Grandfather was stationed there during the 60's early 70's
While being in the Service can be tough, think the guys at Addison had access to anything they wanted or needed. It was the perfect suburban missile base. Lots of shopping close by, many restaurants, access to the City was not too hard, and they could put in their time without getting sent to a shoot em up. Not easy duty, but the location did mitigate a lot of stress. And, those guys all need to be thanked for their service. Also, I get a real kick out of explaining surface to air missiles around Chicago.
Are you going to do a video on it?
all of Canada's DEW line radar sent there information to the Norad underground base in North bay Ontario. They then passed the info on to There Norad Counter parts in Cheyanne Mountain Norad complex.
Good info. This leads to a air defense question... Did Norad then pass the tracking info to Whitefish Bay Wisconsin (just above the Illinois State Line) or did the DEW routinely pass it down to the air defense sites?
Irving P. Feldspar not to sure but I think Norad disseminated Info, on a Need to know Basis so If you needed to know at your station you would, But if It didn't effect you then you wouldn't be alerted. I could be wrong, but I think It would have been some ones job to alert who needed to be alerted to the situation what ever the threat was.
MrEddieG420
I'll guess NORAD also confirmed the radar return as a threat before it passed it down the line. I previously thought everything just got passed to Whitefish Bay which in turn sent it to Arlington Hts (Illinois/Chicago Command). Back in the bomber days the extra couple of minutes may not have mattered....?
Irving P. Feldspar Norad would scramble Cf-5 freedom Fighters if needed to Intercept But at the speed of there bombers it didn't matter. If it was a missile however at those speeds every second would have counted!
They could have funded the entire defense program with the right sponsors!
It was Illinois national guard.
Yup, be glad the missiles were not named "Addidas."