From Mark Berhow (co-author):

The second edition of Rings of Supersonic Steel is now available!

Rings of Supersonic Steel
Air Defenses of the United States Army 1950-1979
An Introductory History and Site Guide

By Mark Morgan and Mark Berhow
Published by The Fort MacArthur Military Press, 2002.

Rings of Supersonic Steel is a short history of the United States' continental air defense missile network. The backbone of this defense, from 1954 to 1974, was the Army's Nike surface-to-air missile (SAM) system. This book provides a brief overview of the Army Air Defense Command (ARADCOM) and the major United States air defense systems: the Nike Ajax and Nike Hercules SAM systems of the U.S. Army; the BOMARC interceptor missile system of the US Air Force; and the U.S. Army Sentinel/Safeguard ABM systems. It is 194 pages long, with more than 150 illustrations, revised text and site guide, and a completely updated bibliography. This publication contains a complete survey of all Nike, BOMARC, and Safeguard sites in the Continental United States, Alaska, Hawaii, and Canada.

The illustrations for this second edition have been substantially upgraded with a more extensive selection of photographs. Both the introductory text and the site survey have been expanded upon and corrected with information from new resources cited in the bibliography and from fellow enthusiasts.

The book is available directly from the publisher/distributor. The price is $19.95 per copy plus $5.00 for shipping and handling. Discounts are available for bulk orders over 5 copies.

Hole in the Head Press
PO Box 807
Bodega Bay, CA 94923
sestokes@sonic.net.
rings-of-supersonic-steel.com

It will soon be available from the Fort MacArthur Museum Shop. See their page for ordering details.

Table of Contents

• I. Forward
• II. Glossary
• III. Introduction
• IV. Anti-Aircraft Weapons and Tactics, 1942-1949
• V. Postwar Developments
• VI. Army-Antiaircraft Command
• VII. The Nike Ajax Missile System
• VIII. The Nike Hercules Missile System
• IX. The Army Air Defense Command Structure
• X. USAF SAGE Combat/Direction Centers
• XI. Other American Surface-to-Air Missiles
  • BOMARC (USAF)
  • Hawk (Army)
  • Talos (Navy)
  • Ground-Based Terrier (Navy)
• XII. US. Army Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Defenses
  • Nike Zeus
  • Nike X
  • Sentinel
  • Safeguard
• XIII. Inactivation of Nike-Hercules and the Demise of ARADCOM
• XIV. The Stanley R. Mickelsen Safeguard Complex
• XV. Nike Ajax/Hercules Sites Today
• XVI. Site SF-88L: the last Nike Missile Site
• XVII. Bibliography (64 pages)
• United States Army Air Defense Site Guide (by defense area) (142 pages)
• Index

Supplemental CD ROM

During the past couple of years I have acquired a fairly extensive library of pdf documents of several of the references used in the preparation of this work that are no longer in print. It is my intent to offer these documents on a supplemental CD ROM. If you are interested in these documents please contact me for further information.

• Word Documents included:
  • OCR version of a section on Nike from U.S. Army Air Defense Digest, 1966.
  • AAA gun site list 1950-1959 by John McGrath
  • NIKE MISSILE SYSTEM & SITE: A Working Bibliography of MHI Sources

• PDF Documents included:
  • Cagle, Mary T., Development, Production, and Deployment of the Nike Ajax Weapon System 1945-1959, Redstone Arsenal, AL: US Army Ordnance Missile Command, 30 June 1959.
  • Carlson, Christina M. and Robert Lyon, Last Line of Defense: Nike Missile Sites in Illinois, Denver, CO: National Park Service, Rocky Mountain System Support Office, 1996.
  • Department of the Army, Subject: Excess Report, Nike HERCULES site D-FW-20 Terrell, Texas. September 27, 1968.
  • Lonnquest, John C. and David F. Winkler, To Defend and Deter: The Legacy of the United States Cold War Missile Program, USACERL Special Report 97/01, U.S. Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratories, Champaign, IL. Rock Island, IL: Defense Publishing Service, November 1996.
  • Moeller, Stephen P., "Vigilant and Invincible, United States Army Air Defense Command." Air Defense Artillery HQDA PB 44-95-3, May-June 1995, pp. 2-42.
  • Shiman, Phillip, Forging the Sword: Defense Production During the Cold War., USACERL Special Report 97/77 July 1997.
  • United States Army, Historical Study No. 4, Army Antiaircraft in Air Defense 1946 to 1954, Colorado Springs, CO: Directorate of Historical Services, Headquarters ADC, 30 June 1954.
  • Winkler, David F., Searching the Skies: the Legacy of the United States Cold War Defense Radar Program, United States Air Force Combat Command, Langley AFB, VA, US Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratories, Champaign, IL, June 1997.

Mark Berhow
PO Box 6124
Peoria, IL 61601

Site Index, Search

(Use the browser "BACK" button to return)

Glossary