Arlington Heights Army Air Defense Site

The Arlington Heights Army Air Defense Site was a Project Nike Missile Master site near Chicago, Illinois. It operated from 1960 until 1968.

Arlington Heights Army Air Defense Site
1211 S New Wilke Road, Arlington Heights, Illinois
Site information
Controlled by	Army Air Defense Command
Location
Coordinates	42°3′50.54″N 87°59′54.52″W
Site history
Built	1959 (1959)
In use	1960-1968

Installation started in late 1959^[1] after the United States Army had purchased 44 acres (18 ha).^[2][a] Adjacent to the Arlington Heights Air Force Station, the Arlington Heights Army Installation opened on October 28, 1960,^[2] as the 8th of 10 Army Air Defense Command Posts (AADCP) to have a Martin AN/FSG-1 Antiaircraft Defense System installed for Nike-Hercules command and control. In addition to the Army's 2 AN/FPS-6 radars,^[3] the radars of the co-located^[specify] USAF station provided AADCP data for the 45th Artillery Brigade's control of the Chicago-Gary Defense Area^[2] (10 missile batteries and their Integrated Fire Control sites). The vacuum tube AN/FSG-1 was replaced c. October 1967^[4][b] with a solid-state Hughes AN/TSQ-51 Air Defense Command and Coordination System, which controlled the combined Chicago-Milwaukee Defense Area after the Milwaukee Defense Area merged with Chicago-Gary in 1968.^{[citation needed]}

Project Concise ended the site's Nike operations in 1974, and 52 acres (21 ha) were transferred to the city parks district.^[5] A May 1979 golf course was built^[6] near the nuclear bunker^[specify]—the Arlington Lakes Golf Club has 90 acres (36 ha) with 14 lakes.

Site locations

• Nuclear bunker^[7]
• Co-located IFC site 42°3′11″N 87°59′40″W
• Co-located launch site 42°3′49″N 87°59′52″W

External images
Radomes.org images
nuclear bunker
Google overhead image of bunker

Notes

1. Before the 1960 Operation Skyshield and the Arlington Heights opening of a Missile Master, simulated Strategic Air Command bomber raids against the Chicago missile batteries indicated the Nike-Hercules was only 8% effective.^[8]
2. The 1968 McMaster map shows the Arlington AN/FSG-1 on July 1, and the last AN/FSG-1 was replaced on February 8, 1967, at the AADCP at Oakdale, Pennsylvania.