Nike Missile Dyess Defense Area
On November 19, 1959, the Army conducted groundbreaking ceremonies at Dyess AFB for the battalion headquarters of the 5th Missile Battalion, 517th Artillery of the U.S. Army Air Defense Command. Installed to defend the SAC bombers and Atlas F missile silos stationed at and around Dyess AFB, the two Nike Hercules sites were controlled by a "BIRDIE" system installed at Sweetwater Air Force Station. Site DY-10, located at Fort Phantom Hill and site DY-50, located southwest of Abilene, remained operational from 1960 until 1966.
Units stationed at Dyess Air Force Base while the 5/517th was operational included SAC's 819th Strategic Aerospace Division, the 96th BW, and the 578th Strategic Missile Squadron. Several of the 578th's Altas F Silos are located near the Nike sites. The Army Air Defense Command Post was located 37 miles west at Sweetwater AFS. Both fo the sites were located near former Army posts. Camp Barkeley served as a World War II infantry division training center, while Fort Phantom Hill was a frontier outpost ans stop on the Butterfield stage route.
General information on Dyess Air Force Base can be found here.