Nike Point Launch Battery
Date Activated: April 1959
Date Deactivated: May 1971
State: Alaska
Nearest Town: Anchorage
Defense Area: Anchorage
Coordinates:
Latitude: 61° 9'25.80"N
Longitude: 150° 3'21.60"W
Decimal:
Latitude: 61.157167
Longitude: -150.056
GPS:
Latitude: 61 9.43
Longitude: -150 3.36
This site is now a city park, Kincaid Park. 4 Launcher are standing, 1 was being used as a ski hut.
Anchorage was the southern component of the two Alaskan defense areas, under the operational command of US Army Alaska (USARAL) Air Defense Artillery Group. The city served as the primary commerce and transportation center for the state.
The AADCP was co-located with an Air Force radar station on Fire Island in Cooke Inlet. The HQ and HHB was located at Fort Richardson, north of Anchorage. Elmendorf Air Force Base, adjacent to Fort Richardson, hosted the Alaskan Air Command (AAC) air defense units of the Nike period. AAC units assigned included the 10th Air Division, the 5020th Air Defense Group, and the 317th FIS. The Strategic Air Command used Elmendorf as a bomber forward operating base under the 4168th Strategic Wing.
Annual service practice by the three Anchorage Nike-Hercules batteries was performed at Site Summit. Site Point was a dual site, with four magazines and sixteen launchers. One site was damaged during the 1964 Alaskan Earthquake and not returned to service.