By the late 1940s, faced with the fear of a Soviet bomber force that could deliver nuclear weapons, the US Army embarked on a crash program to develop anti aircraft missiles for continental air defense. This was the Nike program and the first operational product of that missile was the massive and cumbersome Nike Ajax Missile.  Despite its WW2 era radars and punch card electronics it proved quite accurate against subsonic bombers and was rushed into service defending US cities.

One of the most important strategic points guarded by the system was Hampton Roads region, which, despite its largely rural demographics at the time, had the countries largest Navy Base, a huge Air-Force Base and the enormous Army Logistic Center at Fort Eustis.

The Nike Ajax was a massive, complex missile that  had two stages, a solid rocket booster ans a liquid sustainer that was fueled with kerosene and red fuming nitric acid. It used cumbersome radar and radio command guidance. It required a huge support crew and the missiles had to be hangared like aircraft. Guiding the weapons was manpower intensive too as the weapons had to be basically flown to their targets and data from several different radars coordinated with the radio commands.  To this end three little forts were built in the farmland  surrounding the Hampton Roads, one in Kempsville, one a station code named Patrick Henry and one cut out of the forests of Isle of Wight county....today that last one N-75 is the only one of the three remaining and it is one of the last surviving and best preserved of the mass produced Nike Ajax sites in the country.

In the early 1960s the Nike Ajax gave way to the nuclear tipped Nike Hercules which had much greater range and could handle supersonic bombers. In the 1970s, the station in Isle of Wight which was never upgraded to take the newer missile was decommissioned. Several years ago it was handed over to Isle of Wight County.




All of the original support buildings, except the guard shack survive. One of the three missile magazines has been covered with a skateboard ramp. but the bunker itself is unmodified. Even the flagpole is original. All the buildings are pretty much as they were in the 1950s except the guidance building, which had had all its electronics removed when the facility was abandoned. It is now a home for senior citizens. Even the off base housing survives...The Nike Park 'subdivision' consists of a dozen or so houses built as dependent family dwellings next to the administration buildings....a necessity for the integrated Army units in the then segregated south. All the dependent housing is intact, though they are owned by civilians now.


The barracks building has the original cots stacked and the only major modifications have been replacement of the asbestous insulation on the steam pipes with fiberglass and blocking off with plywood of two stalls in the latrine to create a ladies room. The barracks are used as a community center now.

To my immense chagrin, neither buffout nor stimpacks were found in the sinks...on the upside, no mirelurks either.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 06:48 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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