ON THIS DAY: March 10, 1955, Anti-aircraft missiles deployed to protect Pittsburgh

PITTSBURGH — It’s hard to imagine now, but Pittsburgh was once ringed by military encampments with anti-aircraft guns and nuclear missiles pointed skyward to protect the city from enemy air raids.

Pittsburgh successfully converted its impressively vast war industries of World War II into equally powerful businesses following the war. The postwar boom attracted scores of workers to the region as production skyrocketed and the city became a major transportation hub. The region’s influence was so widely felt that national security concerns became evident.

Defense planners worried that Pittsburgh’s industrial might would be directly targeted by the Soviets and, as the Cold War deepened, their concerns only grew. The city was considered to be especially vulnerable, with no natural defenses such as mountains. Pittsburgh’s scenic strength was seen as its strategic weakness with rivers pointing right at the heart of downtown. Industrial areas were also clustered along the easily found rivers, which made for excellent navigation landmarks from the air.

The U.S. Army formed the Army Anti-Aircraft Command in July 1950 to operate batteries of anti-aircraft guns and missiles. The local headquarters was located on the South Park Military Reservation in Broughton, Pennsylvania.

More than 1,000 military officers were stationed at 12 installations scattered throughout the region, usually on hilltops and protected by woodlands. Hastily made above ground barracks and offices squatted on large underground bunker complexes that were eventually hardened to survive nuclear attacks.

Col. Stephen Mellnik was charged with overseeing the city’s air defense. The city was already protected by 90mm anti-aircraft guns, but the Soviet threat was deemed severe enough that defense planners authorized the deployment of the Nike guided missiles to ensure the safety of local industry, making Pittsburgh one of 14 strategic locations in the country to receive the system.

Nike missiles were the world’s first guided surface-to-air missiles. Their development was prompted by the realization at the end of WWII that conventional anti-aircraft artillery was inadequate against faster and higher flying jet bombers. The expectation was that they would only be fired if the city was under direct attack.

Of the $15 million earmarked on March 10, 1955, for expanding the air defense of Pittsburgh, Col. Mellnik said that approximately half would be for new Nike missile sites, with each protected by a ring of 90mm guns. The balance would go to support the existing 90mm gun installations that encircled the city.

The first Nike Ajax Training Package to arrive in Pittsburgh was deployed to the North Park installation. It was used to train soldiers on the new equipment before other local sites were operational. Defense requirements prescribed that 60 percent of the men were to be ready at all times to launch their missiles within 20 minutes.

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Nike Missile Defense in Pittsburgh Publication illustrating the Soviet bomber threat. Picture courtesy the Nike Historical Society, http://nikemissile.org/ (Nike Historical Society)

In 1958, missile defense of Pittsburgh went nuclear. Upgraded missiles, called the Nike Hercules, were armed with nuclear warheads and were capable of attacking entire formations of supersonic aircraft up to 90 miles away. With the addition of nuclear warheads, security on the sites were dramatically increased, with military police and police dogs patrolling the grounds 24 hours a day.

For much of the Cold War, Pittsburgh was one of the most heavily defended cities in the U.S.

Fortunately for Pittsburgh, the city was never seriously threatened by a Soviet air raid. But the concern the nation’s military planners showed helped to instill regional pride and a sense of national importance to residents, who also felt reassured that the protection was there.

By June 1974, only a few missile batteries were still operational. They were deactivated at this time and most were dismantled shortly thereafter. They were rendered obsolete by increasingly powerful and faster intercontinental ballistic missiles, or ICBMs, which could be fired from the Soviet Union with little warning and no bombers needed.

Some sites survived, or at least, portions of them did. Several of the above ground structures have been repurposed and are still in use today. The bunker portions mostly fell into disrepair and have been filled, paved over or, if still intact, tend be prone to water leaks.

A few of the sites have been repurposed into private residences, but the conversion into home, sweet home, is daunting by any measure.

Due to their size, the old missile sites are more commonly taken over by government groups and businesses.

The site in West Deer has been turned into a retirement home and school buses are stored at the installation behind South Fayette Intermediate School. The Allegheny County Police Academy is located on the North Park site. A center for Native Americans uses the site in Dorseyville. In Collier Township, a Nike Missile Command Center has been turned into a craft brewery.

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