Urban Exploring

reply to post by Cosmic911


I was actually in the Army but went to work for the Navy!...lol. Inert is a good thing by the way. I want to try and visit some of the old Nike bases here in NJ.

I was looking more closely at the F-15 picture and the surrounding area and i noticed that the grass and area looked well manicured, is this part of the base still active?..I may have read it in an earlier post that it was but i just find that picture so interesting.

reply to post by Blu82


Nice catch! Yes, I do believe there is still work being done up there. One article cited that the facility did work on the F-22 so that's pretty recent.

Check out this website!

www.missilebases.com...

What a blast I had looking at that website, There is a Nike base here in Gloucester Twp that id like to get into but for some reason DHS/FPS police have been patrolling the area again.

reply to post by Blu82


I wonder if kids have been vandalizing it or something?

reply to post by Cosmic911


Its not in the best of areas and i believe from one of the retired cops i work with that worked in Gloucester Township is that there is alot of flooding on that site from either rain or it was purposely filled in.

I forgot I had a webpage on the Nike SF88 site. I've photographed the comm site at the top of Wolf Ridge, but don't seem to have the shots online. The Nike site you see is maintained by volunteers. They can only maintain so much, so they let the comm site go.

On the day I shot these photographs, the trailers were not open. I was in the trailers once and it had the "fire" button. Maybe one of those deals where you have to press two buttons at the same time. I forgot the exact details.

www.lazygranch.com...

Originally posted by gariac
I forgot I had a webpage on the Nike SF88 site. I've photographed the comm site at the top of Wolf Ridge, but don't seem to have the shots online. The Nike site you see is maintained by volunteers. They can only maintain so much, so they let the comm site go.

On the day I shot these photographs, the trailers were not open. I was in the trailers once and it had the "fire" button. Maybe one of those deals where you have to press two buttons at the same time. I forgot the exact details.

www.lazygranch.com...
[/quote

Those pictures are amazing! Gives a great look into Cold War-era operations. I'd love to visit that site. It looks well-maintained! Where was this again? Thanks for sharing!

reply to post by Cosmic911


Oops, your question got put in the quote section. I didnt see the question.
www.nps.gov...
is the location.

Acme Jef (not a typo) has a good website on all the bay area Nike sites. Most are parks these days. Comm sites are now repeater sites.
acme.com...

reply to post by TheLoneArcher


Very cool site. Thank you!

reply to post by gariac


I wonder what the range was on these missiles? Were they designed to destroy Soviet bombers carrying conventional weapons or nuclear?

You can probably get the range from google. My recollection was the Nike wasn't a terribly smart missile and needed human control. Given the low altitude of attacking forces, I doubt the missiles had to go more than 90 miles, even if the range was greater. Basically the bombers had to be detected, and that required line of sight. The klaxon would go off, the crew would pile out of the nearby barracks, and man (opps I mean staff) the facility. All the time, the Soviets are still headed towards San Francisco.

Back then, the threat was getting nuked by the Soviets. They wouldn't bother with conventional weapons. The Soviets had a lot of defections back in the day, so to become a navigator, you had to be very trusted. (There was a time you needed a dedicated navigator.) So the Soviets flew bomber missions (basically training since it was the cold war) as a cluster. One or two bombers had a navigator on board, so all the planes followed the bird that knew where it was going. Now why is this relevant? Well the idea was you explode a warhead on the Nike above the fleet. The shock wave knocks the wings off the planes, and they all fall into the ocean.

The crews would train with actual missiles in Texas. Not a single bullet let alone a missile was ever released at an enemy from the Golden Gate reservation. I know no missiles were ever launched from Marin. I don't know if they did live firearm training there.

Lots of old bunkers out there. Some have entrances that you can literally fall into if you leave the trail. All the weaponry is long gone, but the infrastructure still exists.

Just north of the GGNRA is Mount Tamilpias. It has some of the Nike infrastructure as well. Historically, it was the Mill Valley AFB. What is let of the facility is now a Joint Surveillance Site (JSS). These are combination FAA and DoD facilities. The FBI has their repeaters at the JSS.

I suspect the Groom Lake Bald Mountain facilities is a JSS, though it doesn't appear in an FAA listings. The Nellis ATC is done by military controllers, so no need to bring the FAA into the scene.

I seriously need to take a trip to Camp Hero, Im so intrigued by that site, I almost wanted to get some scuba gear and head under the water and see whats down there!!!

Originally posted by Blu82
I seriously need to take a trip to Camp Hero, Im so intrigued by that site, I almost wanted to get some scuba gear and head under the water and see whats down there!!!

I live in Upstate NY and live only 6 to 8 hours away from Camp Hero. I would love to organize a trip to Long Island. I would love to get a group together to go. I would love to get inside some of the underground bunkers there, but I think they have all been sealed off.

Count me in!..I live about 3 hours from Montauk so its an easy drive fro me from South Jersey. It would be nice to organize a group and "explore"

reply to post by Blu82


That would be awesome! I would love to organize an "expedition."

reply to post by Skooter_NB


Check out this C-130 upside down!

i82.photobucket.com...[/IMG]]C-130

www.28dayslater.co.uk...

a other verry intresting urban exploration forum

I don't have any scans of the blue prints as I'd need a scanner that big! If you're really interested I wouldn't mind sending you a couple in the mail...I have a ton of them!

If they are in good condition, would it be feasible to send an interesting one or two to australia?

cheers