The Niagara Falls Air Force Missile Site[2] was a Cold WarUSAFlaunch complex for Boeing CIM-10 Bomarcsurface-to-air missiles. It was operated by the 35th Air Defense Missile Squadron. Equipped only IM-99Bs (46 missiles: solid-state, solid-fuel booster),[4] the site had 48[5] Model IV "coffin" shelters,[6] after an initial design with a secure area of ~20 acres (8.1 ha) to have 28 shelters (the planned site had additional area for 84 "future shelters").[7] Launch control for the site's missiles was by central NY's "Hancock Fieldcombined direction-combat center" (CC-01/DC-03) at Syracuse, New York. DC-03 was operational on December 1, 1958;[8] (CC-01 was the "first SAGE regional battle post", beginning operations "in early 1959".)[9]
Construction began in 1959.[10] The missile site and squadron were activated on 1 June 1960, and missiles were operational on 1 December 1961. In January 1962 the RF-62E gap filler radar site at Brookfield Air Force Station in Ohio became a "major off-base…installation" of the Niagara Falls site, transferred from Wright-Patterson AFB.[2] In 1962, command of the BOMARC base transferred from Col. John A. Sarosy[11] to Col James L. Livingston.[12]
The site was the first BOMARC B launch complex to close, on 31 December 1969.[13][14] The closure was part of a realignment of "307 military bases".[15] The missile site was vacant until turned over to the Niagara Falls Municipal Airport.[16][failed verification] The 1959 "Access Road" is now Johnson Street of the "Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station (NFARS) Fuel Depot", built over the area of the BOMARC shelters, which are still visible. The former northwest corner of the missile site is the current Tuscarora Road military gate.[5]
The 35th Air Defense Missile Squadron (BOMARC) was constituted on 17 December 1959 and activated on 1 June 1960 in the Syracuse Air Defense Sector. It was transferred to the Detroit Air Defense Sector on 4 September 1963, the 34th Air Division on 1 April 1966, the 35th Air Division on 15 September 1969, and the 21st Air Division on 19 November 1969. It was inactivated on 31 December 1969.[citation needed]
^ abcMueller, Robert (1989). Air Force Bases(PDF) (Report). Vol. I: Active Air Force Bases Within the United States of America on 17 September 1982. Office of Air Force History. p. 600. ISBN0-912799-53-6. Retrieved 2013-08-15. Brookfield GF Site (RF-62E), Brookfield, OH, Apr 1952 (opl)-Jan 1963 (tsfrd to Niagara Falls AF Msl Site, NY)
^McMullen, R. F. (February 15, 1980). History of Air Defense Weapons 1946–1962 (Report). Vol. ADC Historical Study No. 14. Historical Division, Office of information, HQ Air Defense Command. p. 189.
^Condit, Kenneth W. (1992) [1971]. "Chapter 15: Continental Defense". The Joint Chiefs of Staff and National Policy: 1955-1956 (Report). Vol. VI of History of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Washington, DC: Historical Office, Joint Staff.