Archie to SAM: A Short Operational History of Ground-Based Air ...

FROM GUNS TO MISSILES
The safety issue was driven home when in May 1958 an explosion
of seven Nikes near Middletown, New Jersey, killed six
soldiers and four civilians and caused property damage for
miles. 28 The reason the Army phased the Ajax out of service in
1964 had little to do with safety; it was replaced by a more advanced
version.
In 1953, the US Army Ordnance Corps, Bell Laboratories,
Western Electric, and Douglas began work on the Nike Hercules
(fig. 42). One reason for the development of a successor to Ajax
was that by early 1952, it was clear that its radar had difficulty
dealing with aircraft that flew in formation. One solution
was to use a nuclear warhead. Because of the size of the proposed
nuclear warhead (30-inch diameter), the Army decided
it was more efficient, albeit more time consuming, to develop a
new missile rather than modify the Ajax. There was, of course,
also a desire to improve the system’s performance. The secondgeneration
Nike was to employ an atomic warhead against formations
of aircraft flying as fast as 1,000 mph at a maximum
altitude of 60,000 feet and at a horizontal range of 28 miles.
Hercules could be fitted with a conventional fragmentation
warhead as well. It would build on the existing Ajax technology
and be compatible with the Ajax ground equipment. 29
The proposed missile was somewhat larger than its predecessor.
The Model 1810 Hercules was seven feet longer, considerably
wider, and four times heavier than the Ajax. The Army
made good use of its experience with missiles in general and
the Nike in particular as it was able to begin deployment of the
Hercules in June 1958. 30 Flight tests with research and development
missiles began in early 1955 and extended through
June 1956. In sharp contrast to the Ajax record, Hercules had
few difficulties with the booster but did encounter problems
with the sustainer (main) engine: 12 of the first 20 flight tests
in 1955 were terminated, half by sustainer problems. In addition,
the program suffered a setback in September 1955, when
a Hercules blew up on a test stand, killing one civilian and injuring
five others. This led the Army to adopt a solid-fuel sustainer
engine in 1956, which proved to be more reliable without
a loss of performance. 31 The Army began to test the Hercules
against drone aircraft (again the QB-17) in 1956, achieving its
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