THE BOMARC MISSILE SUFFOLK COUNTY AFB (65 miles East of NYC)

THE BOMARC MISSILE WAS ONCE PART OF THE USAF SIXTH AIR DEFENSE NETWORK ON THE EAST COAST NYC AREA HAD TWO USAF BASES EQUIPPED WITH BOMARCS MACGUIRE AFB NEW JERSEY AND SUFFOLK AFB LONG ISLAND NY, THE LATTER SITE NOT FAR FROM MY HOME WAS A FAVORITE HAUNT WHEN I WENT URBAN EXPLORING COLD WAR SITES THE SITE SOUTH OF WHAT IS NOW CALLED GABRESKI AIRPORT OR AIRBASE SINCE THE 106th RECOVERY AND RESCUE PJs ARE DEPLOYED THERE AND ARE THE PRIMARY RESPONSE TEAM IF ANY SPACE SHUTTLE LAUNCH IS ABORTED THEY ARE THE GUYS THAT WOULD PICK UP THE SHUTTLE CREW, AND ALSO THE SQUADRON WAS THE RESCUE TEAM THAT DITCHED THERE HELO DURING THE "PERFECT STORM" AND LOST MEN DURING A MISSION THAT WENT BAD, BEFORE THAT SUFFOLK COUNTY AIR FORCE BASE OPERATED OUT OF THE AIRFIELD FROM THE LATE 40s THROUGH THE EARLY 70s PART OF THE "SAC" NORTHEAST AIR DEFENSE NETWORK THAT DEPLOYED INTERCEPTOR SQUADRONS OF f-104/106/102 AND THE VOODOO 101 INTERCEPT AIRCRAFT THESE AIR WINGS WETRE PARTED OUT TO MINOT AFB IN THE EARLY 70s AND SOME WENT TO S. VIETNAM AND GERMANY THE BASE HAS A f-106 DELTA DART AT THE FRONT GATES AND A JOLLY GREEN RESCUE HELICOPTER, THE CONCRETE ALERT HANGARS ARE STILL THERE AS ARE THE RUNWAY ALERT AIRCRAFT STAGING SPOTS ALSO THERE ARE SOME HEAVY ORDNANCE STORAGE BUNKERS THAT MOST LIKELY HELD NUCLEAR TIPPED AIR TO AIR MISSILES TO BRING DOWN SOVIET BOMBERS AND SOME NUCLEAR ORDNANCE WAS MOST LIKELY STORED THERE, BUT SOUTH OF THE BASE THE BOMARCS WERE QUIETLY INCORPORATED ON TO THE SOUTHERN SIDE OF THE BASE, STORED IN SHEDS THE ROOFS WOULD SLIDE OPEN AND THE MISSILE WOULD COME TO ITS FIRING POSITION AND LAUNCH- HERE IS A LITTLE MORE BACKGROUND ON THE MISSILE


Boeing and Michigan Aerospace Research Center (MARC)



BOMARC, The missle site in Westhampton was operated by the 6th Air Defense Missle Squadron of the USAF Air Defense Command (ADC). It was operational with the first version of the BOMARC missle, the BOMARC A, from 1959 through 1964. The base has 56 missle shelters. Each missle was armed with a 10-Kiloton nuclear warhead. The former missle site is currently used by Suffolk County as a police training facility, motor vehicle impound lot and archives.

THIS ARTICLE BELOW RAN IN A LOCAL PAPER  AND DESCRIBES THEIR ARRIVAL TO SUFFOLK AFB (it also talks about the US Army Missile Sites West of the base that housed the NIKE/HERCULES Nuclear ground to air missile system)

The base was transferred to the county after its closing and has been used as a firing range for police, an impoundment yard for vehicles and for storage of old equipment and county records. .

To get some background on the BOMARC base, I went to Google, putting in the words BOMARC and Suffolk. Among the first websites listed was that of the New York State Military Museum which related: “BOMARC, the missile site in Westhampton was operated by the 6th Air Defense Missile Squadron of the USAF Air Defense Command. It was operational with the first version of the BOMARC missile, the BOMARC A, from 1959 through 1964. The base has 56 missile shelters. Each missile was armed with a 10-kiloton nuclear warhead.”

 http://www.dmna.state.ny.us/forts/fortsA_D/bomarc.htm



What was that? “Each missile was armed with a 10-kiloton nuclear warhead.” The atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima had the TNT equivalent of 13 kilotons.
There were further details on other websites. They told of how the mission of the BOMARC base in Westhampton—and BOMARC bases set up all over the nation—was to blast Soviet bombers from the sky. Why use nuclear-tipped missiles? That way a direct hit need not be made. Once a BOMARC missile came close to the Soviet bombers, the atomic weapon on its tip would be detonated and destroy not one but part of a formation of bombers.

A November 21, 1958 front-page article in the New York Times (downloadable from the New York Times’ online archive) was headlined: “Riverhead Missile Base to Get Bomarcs With Nuclear Warheads by ’60.” It began: “The Suffolk Bomarc Base, ninety miles east of New York City, will be equipped with anti-aircraft missiles carrying nuclear warheads. The missiles, which have a range up to 250 miles, will be launchable from the site near Riverhead, L.I.” There would be 56 Bomarc missiles “at the ready.” The article spoke of there being, a day earlier, a “press conference by Army and civilian engineers” and “Air Force and Boeing Airplane Company specialists” at which these “experts confirmed that the Bomarc base would soon be fully operational atomically.” The story further noted: “No special provisions have been made for atomic hazards; they are not needed, the engineers said.”



Curiosity led me to information on the Nike bases I knew were set up on Long Island around the same time. BOMARC was an Air Force project and its acronym combined the names of its developers: BO for Boeing and MARC for Michigan Aerospace Research Center. Nike was an Army missile program and named for the mythical Greek goddess of victory.



There are numerous websites about the Nike bases established on Long Island and elsewhere in the U.S. and how the Nike Hercules model was nuclear-tipped—with bases on Long Island armed with nuclear-tipped Nikes including those in Rocky Point, Amityville, Lido Beach, Oyster Bay and Lloyd Harbor. While a main reason for the BOMARC base in Westhampton was to intercept Soviet bombers headed to New York City, the Nike bases were primarily set up to defend facilities on Long Island considered strategic, among them, according to the New York State Military Museum website, Brookhaven National Laboratory and military industrial facilities including the then Grumman Corp. and Republic Aviation factories.



There were three types of Nike nuclear tips: “low-yield” 3-kiloton; “medium yield” 20-kiloton; and “high yield” 30-kiloton
I put together an article for Long Island newspapers on the metal scavenging project at the ex-BOMARC base and referred to some of the history of nuclear-tipped missiles on Long Island. Editors inquired: how could this be? If these nuclear-tipped missiles were detonated over and around Long Island, wouldn’t there be impacts to people on the ground? Absolutely. We would have had warheads with vast explosive power—comparable to and greater than the Hiroshima atomic bomb—detonating all around us, spreading deadly radioactive fall-out.

With all the violence of recent years—and our concerns of violence ahead—we should give thanks that somehow we got through this Cold War atomic nightmare.
1951 Jun 1, 1951 - The initial USAF unit assigned to Suffolk County AFB was the Connecticut Air National Guard's 103rd Fighter-Interceptor Wing (103 FIW), which was federalized and brought on to active duty on 1 June 1951. Its 118th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron flew F-47N ...


From Francis S. Gabreski Air National Guard Base - Wikipedia, the free … - Related web pages

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_S ...



1952 Oct 16, 1952 - The squadron left Presque Isle on 16 October 1952 and was reassigned to Suffolk County Air Force Base, New York, where the squadron remained for three years before returning to Presque Isle.

From 75th Fighter Squadron - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - Related web pages

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/75th_Fighter_Squadron



1956 May 1956 - My chosen profession was as an Air Traffic Controller in the Air Force. I re- enlisted in May of 1956 and was promoted to T/Sgt when I was Chief Controller and Station Chief at Suffolk County Air Force Base on Long Island.

From Joe D Gibson - Related web pages

www.rockabillyhall.com/JoeDGibson1.html



1957 Aug 14, 1957 - The nursery of the Suffolk County Air Force Base at Westhampton, L.' 'L, will gain from the annual Hampton Night Ball on Friday evening. The dinner I dance will be given on the Marine Deck of the Bath and Tennis Club in Westhainpton Beach. Proceeds of the event will be used for ...

From HAMPTON BALL FRIDAY; Dinner Will Benefit Suffolk County Air Base ... - Related web pages

select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res ...



1958 Feb 20, 1958 - Police departments in towns near the Suffolk County Air Force Base were alerted tonight to look for a possibly live warhead on a Falcon air-to-air missile. The -in.ch and yellow warhead has been unaccounted for since 8:10 AM when an explosion and fire deStroyed a supersonic F-102A ...

From WARHEAD OF MISSILE IS SOUGHT IN SUFFOLK - Related web pages

select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res ...



1963 Apr 11, 1963 - However, on 11 April 1963, the wing was redesignated and activated as the 52d Fighter Wing (Air Defense). Stationed at Suffolk County AFB, New York, from 1 July 1963 - 30 September 1968, wing aircrews flew F-101 Voodoos.

From Spangdahlem AB History
Facebook - Related web pages

www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=318544518552



1966 Oct 29, 1966 - HAUPPAUGE, L. L, Oct. 28 -Suffolk County Police received over 80 calls last night reporting brightly colored unidentified flying objects over Long Island's South Shore. At the Suffolk County Air Force Base at Westhampton Beach, an Air Force spokesman said the base had received many ...

From Suffolk Reports More UFO's - Related web pages

select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res ...



1967 Oct 31, 1967 - Cabby's last duty assignment was as Commander of the 52nd Fighter Wing at Suffolk County Air Force Base at Westhampton Beach, New York. Colonel Francis S. Gabreski was retired from the United States Air Force on 31 October 1967 after 27 years of ...Cabby's last duty assignment was as Commander of the 52nd Fighter Wing at Suffolk County Air Force Base at Westhampton Beach, New York. Colonel Francis S. Gabreski was retired from the United States Air Force on 31 October 1967 after 27 years of dedicated and heroic service to his country, and certainly one of the nation's most decorated, colorful and respected warriors. Gabby was subsequently inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in Dayton, Ohio. As ...

From The Inner Seven - Related web pages

books.google.com/books?id=uaUPF3ycG7IC&pg=PA49 ...



1969 1969 - In 1969, Suffolk County Air Force Base in Westhampton Beach was closed, but with the help of the Suffolk County Legislature, became the new home for a new unit mission related to aerospace defense.

From Welcome to the First Aero Company - Home Page

www.firstaero.org/



1971 Dec 31, 1971 - On 31 December 1971 the 52d Tactical Fighter Wing was transferred from Suffolk County AFB, NY to Spangdahlem. Upon activation in Germany, the 52d possessed two tactical squadrons: * 23rd Tactical Fighter (F-4D Blue Tail Stripe, Code: SP) * 39th ...On 31 December 1971 the 52d Tactical Fighter Wing was transferred from Suffolk County AFB, NY to Spangdahlem. Upon activation in Germany, the 52d possessed two tactical squadrons: * 23rd Tactical Fighter (F-4D Blue Tail Stripe, Code: SP) * 39th Tactical Electronic Warfare (EB-66 Yellow Tail Stripe, Code: SP ..

From Spangdahlem Air Base at AllExperts - Related web pages




THANKS to Bill Geerhart over at the blog "Conelrad Adjacent" and his website"Conelrad.com" his contributions of cold war history and propaganda is priceless and appreciated and "karl Grossmans" blog for the long island history- thanks shelter_6