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StarGlider Historic Series - Nike Sites
The Pittsburgh area of Pennsylvania is one full of history, dating back to the earliest days of our country. Some of this history is preserved, in one way or another, in such places as the Fort Pitt Museum and the Braddock and Washington Trails. Ironically, some of our more recent history is all but forgotten - though it is still here if you know where - and how - to look for it.

In the early 1950's, as the Cold War between the U.S. and the former Soviet Union was esclating, technology gave mankind weapons of unimaginable destruction via the atomic bomb and ways to deliver these weapons across borders and oceans by way of the long range bomber. This was the dawn of the Nuclear Age. Pittsburgh was designated as a Prime Target because of its steel and manufacturing industries.

In order to protect these vital industries, our military constructed a series of 12 bases around the perimeter of the Pittsburgh area. These bases were armed with another new wonder weapon of the time - the surface-to-air anti-aircraft missile. These missiles were known as "Nike's" (in Greek mythology, Nike was the goddess of victory and triumph) and the bases that housed them were called "Nike Sites". The history of these missiles is a fascinating one in and of itself - but the missiles themselves are long gone. By the early 1970's, technology had given us the long range ballistic missile, rendering the long range bomber fleets of both militaries useless. The Nike's could not shoot down incoming ballistic missiles and by 1974, all of the Nike sites around the country were closed down and abandoned.

Today, many of these old Nike sites can still be found amidst the trees and shrubbery that have overrun them in their years of disuse. Of the 12 that once protected the Pittsburgh area, seven are pretty much still intact. One such site is known as PI-03L in Dorseyville, just off Route 910. This Nike site was active from October of 1956 through March of 1974.

Below are several pictures of the old site as it stands today (or, at least as of June 2007). Ironically, the field surrounding the launch site has been turned into two soccer fields for the kids. Many of the kids and parents that visit this site during the games have little idea what it was that once resided here - and why. A small piece of our local history is rapidly fading into the past.....

Launch Bay 3 - and a soccer net

Launch Bay 1 and access hatch

Access hatch

Broken ventilator

Access road to launch area

Fueling station for missiles

Wavy concrete helped contain spills as fuel for the Nike-Ajax (late versions) was red fuming nitric acid (IRFNA).
By 1963, the Nike-Ajax had been replaced with the larger, more formidable Nike-Hercules missiles which used solid
propellants for both the booster and main missile systems.