I have some doubts. I’ve grown up around Nike facilities, and visited 8 of them. I’m also a bush pilot, and have helped build small runways that I also operate from. I’ve got some idea of the considerations that go into runways and the aircraft that can use them. First concern is the runway numbering. The number looks yellow, and appears to be facing the wrong way. Runway numbering should be white, and placed at the threshold of a runway facing the magnetic heading from that threshold. Also, at a current heading of 127°, it would be Runway 13, although it’s possible and likely that magnetic shift can account for a different heading at the time of runway closure. The second concern is runway size. At just 900x35’, this is very small for a paved runway. Of the aircraft in service at the time, only an O-1 Bird Dog would have the capability of safely operating that strip, and even then with a 36’ wingspan would itself be wider than the runway surface. This would be a challenging strip for regular operation by an experienced bush pilot, and likely a one-way strip for a box-stock Bird Dog. What also doesn’t track is precedent from other sites. Every site I’ve visited either had a 5000’ runway capable of handling C-123 or C-130, or helicopter landing facilities. I’ve never seen a Nike site with such a small strip, let alone one so poorly positioned relative to the site. This site (NF-41) was built on a huge tract of land, combining what were originally two separate Ajax sites into one Hercules site by converting the northern facility into fire control and the southern facility into the launch site. The DoD certainly had the room and the budget to build a 2000-2500’ strip (which could be considered more normal for Army liaison-sized aircraft like the O-2, Beaver and Otter), let alone a 5000’ strip for cargo aircraft. They also had flat ground on which to place their runway, not being required to ramp it to clear other buildings. A little Google Earth archaeology shows no remnant of a similar structure at the once-independent southern facility, dating this strip to the 1960 conversion to Hercules. By this point, the Army operated the Bell 47, Piasecki H-21, and had just introduced the UH-1. There were plenty of easier options for air access than a tight strip only half-suitable to the lightest two-man liaison plane in inventory. Looking at imagery all the way back to 1995, the area immediately along the “runway” edge remains old growth forest, with no evidence of having been cut at any point since facility construction. This means the runway would’ve also had an impossibly narrow width, with no room for error as your wingtips would be in the trees. However, I also can’t offer a more reasonable explanation for this structure. The markings are *almost* correct and it has no other visible use from above. Based on standard IFC schematics, all other facilities are accounted for. It was a National Guard operated facility, and therefore may have had some leeway in construction, and may explain the decision for a small runway. Aerial imagery from 1934, 35 years before construction, shows it to be an area of clear field, and imagery from 1995, 25 years after shutdown, shows forest. It’s entirely possible that, at the time of construction, the vegetation was sparse or nonexistent. This still raises a problem with the need for a ramped runway end though. Anyway, I’d say it’s inconclusive. Half the evidence says it’s an impossible runway, a quarter says it’s nonsensical and unnecessary, and a bit of unproven supposition leaves the option that it was really, at least for a short time, intended to be an airstrip.

@forgottenworld

6 ай бұрын

Awesome research. Thank you for posting some effort to understand this. I am not a pilot but it would seem a bit of a mystery... This part of the base was just the control and the launch is a distance away... I struggled with trying to make sense of it myself...

Part of a bigger circle of Nike bases around buffalo ny. Hamburg east aurora Lancaster cambria and niagara falls.

@forgottenworld

6 ай бұрын

Yes, they are all over the country. Around most major cities and industrial centers.

is there more to the area or just the runway?

@forgottenworld

6 ай бұрын

There are a few buildings still there. Across the road is the launch facility for the base but it is now private property.

@forgottenworld

6 ай бұрын

@NewCoke-PepsiMan84 Wow, is there a way you can contact me or me you? I have never been on that other side.

@forgottenworld

6 ай бұрын

It's crazy how fast people forget...@NewCoke-PepsiMan84