Snark Missile Launch Complex

For the Snark flight test site for N-25 models[1] in the Tularosa Basin and for N-69 models in Florida, see Holloman SLED/Snark launch complex and List of Cape Canaveral and Merritt Island launch sites.

The Snark Missile Launch Complex (Environmental site ME500,[2] 46°42′17″N 68°2′28″W / 46.70472°N 68.04111°W / 46.70472; -68.04111[3]) is a Formerly Used Defense Site that was the only operational launch complex for Northrop SM-62 Snark Intercontinental Cruise Missile (ICM) and was built adjacent to Maine's Presque Isle Air Force Base.[4] "Operational Snark Launching Site I"[5] was selected by SAC's Strategic Missile Site Selection Panel[6] on 21 March 1957, land for the "new base [with] 740 men" was acquired in January 1958,[7] and construction of the $12,000,000 base[8] began in May 1958[1] by the J.R. Cianchete Construction Company.[6]

The 702d Strategic Missile Wing was activated on 1 January 1959, the first Douglas C-124 Globemaster II with a Snark arrived on 27 May 1959, and the complex had 6 corrugated hangars ("missile assembly and maintenance buildings") each of 420 ft × 80 ft (128 m × 24 m) with 2 fixed outdoor launch pads. For each launch pad with diameter 160 ft (49 m),[6] a missile was stored within the building on a launcher trailer attached to a tow vehicle, 1 at ready storage to launch from the outdoor pad within 15 minutes and behind it, 1 capable of launch in 30 minutes. Each building had 3 additional missiles in line behind the first wave (readiness of 4 hr, 3 days, and 5 days), and the missile launch control center was a hangar balcony.[9] In addition to the hangars and pads, the complex included "a jet engine run-up building, the warhead maintenance and inspection building, missile maintenance and guidance lab", a dormitory for night alert personnel,[9] and a compressor house for each hangar.[10]

First alert status was 18 March 1960, and 30 missiles were available in December[11] with 4 on alert.[12] After the 702d SMW was declared operational on 28 February 1961, 20 Snarks were on alert in the summer of 1961,[13] :28 and on 25 June 1961 the wing was inactivated[14] following President Kennedy's earlier announcement for "73 military establishments" to be closed[15] (Congress was informed on 30 March.)[16] The Snark Missile Launch Complex was purchased by the city in early 1962 for $56,000 (the city also bought "other parts of the former Presque Isle Air Force Base, ...known as the Skyway Industrial Park" in 1962)[17] and some of the remaining AFB area was redesignated "Presque Isle Air National Guard Facility".[12] Four of the hangars were used for woodworking in 1962[18] and in 1995, one was used as a flax mill.[19]

External image
row of hangars when new
map of complex with dimensions
modern hanger photo

References

  1. 1 2 Turner Publishing Co (1998). Air Force Missileers. Turner Publishing Company. p. 20. ISBN 9781563114557. Retrieved 2015-09-12.
  2. ↑ "PHASE I ENVIRONMENTAL SITE ASSESSMENT WEBBER OIL COMPANY PROPERTY 42 CHAPMAN ROAD PRESQUE ISLE, MAINE" (PDF). 20 May 2011. Retrieved 2015-09-12.
  3. ↑ "Former SNARK missile hangers and launch pads.". wikimapia.org. Retrieved 2015-09-12.
  4. ↑ "My First Adventure: Trans Lab, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia on a BMW G650X-Challenge | Adventure Rider". advrider.com. Retrieved 2015-09-12.
  5. ↑ "Ocala Star-Banner - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com. Retrieved 2015-09-12.
  6. 1 2 3 Lonnquest, John C.; Winkler, David F. (November 1996). To Defend and Deter: The Legacy of the United States Cold War Missile Program (PDF) (Report). Project 94-1264: USACERL Special Report 97/01. Champaign, IL: U.S. Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratories. LCCN n96-88039. OCLC 035600289. Retrieved 2013-08-13. power and water pumping plant measuring 160 by 102 feet; an engine run-up facility that was 99 by 61 feet; a two-story launch and surveillance building measuring 44 by 39 feet, and a 15,000-gallon fuel tank farm with a pump house and truck filling stand. (cites the “Installation Plan, SM-62 (Snark) for Presque Isle, Maine,” in the archives at the U.S. Strategic Command, History Office, Offutt AFB, Omaha, NE.)
  7. ↑ https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=p4YeAAAAIBAJ&sjid=jMsEAAAAIBAJ&pg=5811,2404724&dq=snark+presque&hl=en
    https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=aIo_AAAAIBAJ&sjid=V1UMAAAAIBAJ&pg=5623,5405872&dq=snark+presque&hl=en
  8. ↑ "Air Force To Build Snark Base" (Google news archive). Beaver Valley Times. December 16, 1957. Retrieved 2013-08-13. Scheduled for construction...in northern Maine near the Canadian border is a $12,000,000 base, equipped with the rocket launched, jet propelled Snark... Work on the Presque Isle base is due to get underway a few months before ground is broken for a $65,000,000 intercontinental ballistic missile base near Cheyenne, Wyo.
  9. 1 2 "SNARK". oocities.org. Retrieved 2015-09-12.
  10. ↑ "Plans for Construction Bidding on Presque Isle Snark Base Within a Week" (Google news archive). Lewiston Evening Journal. April 4, 1958. Retrieved 2013-08-13. one contract. It calls for six assembly and checkout buildings, each about 420 by 86 feet, a power and water pumpting plant, an engine run-up building, six compressor houses, a fuel oil tank, a fuel pump house, water distribution and sanitary sewer systems, and rehabilitiation of the existing administration [sic] and control building.
  11. ↑ Zaloga, S. (1993). Target America: The Soviet Union and the Strategic Arms Race, 1945-1964. Presidio. ISBN 9780891414001. Retrieved 2015-09-12.
  12. 1 2 "Northrop SM-62 "Snark" - Deployment". Strategic Air Command.com. Retrieved 2013-08-13.
  13. ↑ "Preliminary Comments on an Article from the Official Soviet Journal, Information Bulletin of the Missile Troops" (PDF). Washington D C: Central Intelligence Agency. 25 June 2009. Retrieved 2015-09-12.
  14. ↑ John C. Lonnquest And David F. Winkler (1996). "To Defend and Deter: The Legacy of the United States Cold War Missile Program" (PDF). Department of Defense Legacy Resource Management Program. Retrieved 2015-09-12.
  15. ↑ "The Lewiston Daily Sun - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com. Retrieved 2015-09-12.
  16. ↑ "Bangor Daily News - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com. Retrieved 2015-09-12.
  17. ↑ "The Lewiston Daily Sun - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com. Retrieved 2015-09-12.
  18. ↑ "The Lewiston Daily Sun - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com. Retrieved 2015-09-12.
  19. ↑ "Bangor Daily News - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com. Retrieved 2015-09-12.
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