Buffalo and Erie County Naval & Military Park - Nike Hercules Missile
Bill Maloney 5/9/2010 |
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01 Nike Missile | 02 Nike Missile Launch Pad | 03 Nike Missile Launch Pad | 04 Nike Missile Rocket Booster |
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05 Nike Hercules Missile | 06 Nike Hercules Missile | 07 Nike Missile |
Nike Missiles at other Aviation Museums in the Northeast |
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Nike Missile at the AAF Tank Museum in Danville, VA | Nike Missile at the American Air Power Museum in Farmingdale, NY |
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Nike Hercules Missile at the Quonset Air Museum in North Kingston, RI | Nike Missile at the US Army Ordnance Museum in Aberdeen, MD |
Length: 41 Feet
Width: 11 Feet 5 inches
Crew:
Weight: 10,600lbs
Speed: 2,730mph
Range: 86 miles
Armament:
Nuclear warhead of up to 42 Kiloton Yield. The Nike Ajax missiles with High explosive warheads would have been used against single bombers. the Nike Hercules with Nuclear warheads would have been used against multiple bombers.
Entered Service: 1958
Unit Cost: $55,000 in 1958. It is not clear if this figure was just for the missile or if it included the nuclear warhead.
Neal Pritchett of Wisconsin has an excellent page on Nike Missile launch sites and their deployment:
http://www.notpurfect.com/travel/nuke/nike.html
There's an excellent diagram of the tracking and deployment of Nike Missiles against enemy Soviet bombers. Also Neal has photos of the remains of a Nike Missile base in Waukesha Wisconsin. Some of the buildings and radar platforms are still intact and of course the concrete launch pads are still in place.