Bomarc Missile Site: Part 1.5 | Bangor

Bomarcs in New Jersey.

Before I head off to the Bomarc site again to take more pictures, I wanted to reflect a bit on just exactly what it is I'll be visiting. Primarily through explanation of the technical aspects of what used to be there and perhaps a bit of exploration of what could have happened should things not have gone right.

It would really help if you read this, from here on out, in the voice of John Henry Eden

The Bomarc missile! At the time it was one of the many business ends of America's SAGE system. A series of 22, 300-ton, IBM supercomputers that prove as long as something has a screen, someone will find a way to put porn on it.

Would you like to play a game? 

Hailed at the time as a critical part of America's defensive perimeter. The SAGE (Semi Automatic Ground Envrironment) computer would take information from gap filler radar sites, texas towers and also airborne platforms, and compare it to mighty handfuls of punch cards full of data from the Federal Aviation Administration. If something showed up on radar that wasn't on record with the FAA, either manned (i.e. an F104) or unmanned (Bomarc) interceptor would be dispatched.

The SAGE system and its network of nuclear-tipped unmanned aircraft was seen as a protective umbrella of sorts, so that children in the 50s could do what children in the 50's did. Which, according to "documentaries" produced by IBM meant rowdily lining up to go inside for recess and being scared shitless while being told to hide under their desks in drills that were supposed to increase their likelihood of not having their skin burned off should the Soviets drop the bomb. That, and putting models together of their great Defenders.

Dear Santa

The USAF held 26 of these (potentially) nuclear tipped, 16,000 pound unmanned aircraft, capable of Mach 2.5 on the outskirts of Bangor from the late 1950's to the early 1960's. At the time, the city had a population of 39,000 people (as opposed to 33,000 as of 2012.)

Why is population important? These things were before solid fuel. Also, they had to have their engines 'jump started' with a mixture of pressurized air and helium. You've got some pretty volatile technology that was supposed to propel a nuclear warhead, only a few miles away from the rest of the city. In 1960, at McGuire AFB in New Jersey, a helium tank exploded in one of the missile launch structures and started a fire that burned uncontrolled for 30 minutes and took a total of 15 hours to completely put out. Fortunately, the warhead didn't detonate. 75 acres are still fenced off due to radiological contamination.

Let me recap this: The sleepy town of Bangor Maine (or Derry, Maine if that's your thing) was one home not only to one of the major air force bases of the Cold War (easternmost in the country) but also to twenty six supersonic unmanned interceptors that were liquid fueled and outfitted to carry W40 nuclear warheads (with a 7-10 megaton yield.) Should a situation requiring them to launch arise, it would have meant that the Soviets were on their way.

...Am I the only person around here who thinks old Bomarc sites are really cool? Not only for the fact that they were essentially nuclear capable, supersonic UAV's, but because of their "the future is now!" vibe? I mean, *this* happened FFS.

Sources:

Bomarc Missile Accident Site
Semi Automatic Ground Environment