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20 | Gazing into the Future
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229 20 Gazing into the Future As the icy standoff with the Soviets continued, none had a chillier task than Henry Bodson. Having progressed from one missile program to the next, he headed to Alaska to create battle stations of western defense in the arctic tundra. Already, about a hundred missile stations had been established near key U.S. cities, military installations, and key industrial complexes. But if Russia decided to antagonize the U.S., its closest target was Alaska, just fifty miles across the Bering Strait. The Air Force was building observation sites along the Alaska coastline, and the U.S. intended to rely on the Nike missile system as well as Air Force and Navy air defense systems for protection. Henry Bodson’s challenge was how to create Nike systems to withstand subzero temperatures and frozen tundra. He was not sure how he’d ended up with the endeavor in the first place. Well, this is a little disturbing. . . . What do I know about air defense? All my field experience has been surface to surface. Apparently, the powers that be figured that in the hinterlands, where there was no formula, an enterprising Bodson could figure it out. Belle was used to dutifully trekking with her husband from post to post, but this venture was far different. She adored green grass and blooming trees. Fort Richardson, near Anchorage, had two seasons—winter and getting ready for winter. Still, like most ’41 wives on hardship duty, she adapted and improvised. So it was not like visiting the dairy farm of her youth, but during the twenty-three hours of summer daylight, the Matanuska Valley grew cabbages so huge—sometimes up to thirty pounds in size—it inspired her cooking, as did Alaska king crab. In the kitchen, Belle would embark on new endeavors to make up for what she lacked in her frozen surroundings. Henry Bodson, in the meantime, attacked the tundra with fervor. One option for housing missiles, he quickly determined, was out of the question. Kazel-Wilcox - West Point.indb 229 3/19/2014 5:40:16 PM 230 ★ west point ’41 He couldn’t go underground. His classmate Charlie Fletcher had barely succeeded in heating the ground to insert railroad ties to support artillery back in his training days in Michigan. This was Alaska. Even Jules Vernes couldn’t get far into the earth in this territory. What were the options? Other Nike missile sites on the continent typically had subterranean facilities, which made sense for a number of reasons, including avoiding the purchase of pricey real estate near big cities. In an attack, the missiles would be raised to the surface, though such facilities were not without their elevator problems. Henry Bodson, on the other hand, had plenty of territory to work with. So he conceived an optimal surface configuration made up of two structures. The first was T‑shaped, its main wing housing living quarters for troops, while the stem sheltered battery fire- control trailers. Radar systems were mounted at roof level under protective covers. Several hundred yards away a second facility housed the missiles, with launchers mounted on carriages resting on rails that would allow for them to be rolled out for use. In essence, it was similar to what the Kennedy Space Center would later use on a much grander scale for space launches. But in the case of Alaska, the ’41 rocket man had created a western defense to help stave off the Soviet threat. ★ ★ ★ Like Bodson, other ’41ers continued to aim skyward. Air Force classmate Jerry La Rocca, after earning multiple masters degrees, in astronautics, aeronautics, hydrodynamics, and more, earned the nation’s first-ever PhD in rocket science. He headed to Cape Canaveral where launchpads had recently been established. The proving-grounds location was on a barrier island along Florida’s east coast, in an isolated area of Brevard County, and its range was the Atlantic Ocean. Cape Canaveral was growing by leaps and bounds in the early ’50s, its location providing room to experiment with powerful missiles with less risk to populated areas than was the case at White Sands. It also benefited from proximity to the equator, given that the rotational speed of the earth is greatest at the equator, translating into less rocket-engine thrust required for ballistic missile testing—and eventually space launches.1 La Rocca directed the Cape Canaveral range development and became director of missile tests. General Donald Yates was commander of the missile...