The Suffolk County Air Force Base Missile Annex (

SAGE Sage or SAGE may refer to: Plants * ''Salvia officinalis'', common sage, a small evergreen subshrub used as a culinary herb ** Lamiaceae, a family of flowering plants commonly known as the mint or deadnettle or sage family ** ''Salvia'', a large ...

codename A code name, call sign or cryptonym is a Code word (figure of speech), code word or name used, sometimes clandestinely, to refer to another name, word, project, or person. Code names are often used for military purposes, or in espionage. They may ...

"BED") is a

Formerly Used Defense Site Formerly Used Defense Sites (FUDS or FDS) are properties that were owned by, leased to, or otherwise possessed by the United States and under the jurisdiction of the United States Secretary of Defense. The term also refers to the U.S. military pro ...

(NY29799F12240/C02NY0714) on

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...

() that was a

CIM-10 Bomarc The Boeing CIM-10 BOMARC (Boeing Michigan Aeronautical Research Center) (IM-99 Weapon System prior to September 1962) was a supersonic ramjet powered long-range surface-to-air missile (SAM) used during the Cold War for the air defense of North ...

missile complex during the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

, west of

Suffolk County Air Force Base Francis S. Gabreski Air National Guard Base is an air defense military installation located at civilian public-use Francis S. Gabreski Airport, located just north of Westhampton Beach, New York. It is currently the home base of the New York Air ...

. Planned in 1955 for completion in February 1960 and activated as the 2nd operational BOMARC complex on 1 December 1959 (4 missiles by 1 January), the annex was part of the

New York Air Defense Sector The Eastern Air Defense Sector (EADS) is a United States Air Force unit of Air Combat Command (ACC), permanently assigned to the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD). A joint, bi-national military organization, EADS is composed of US ...

defenses. The annex included a Launch Area with 56 Mode II Launcher Shelters in 2 flights (e.g., 2 compressor buildings were available to simultaneously get 2 missiles to the "Standby" stage prior to "Fire-up".)

Missile Support Area

The Missile Support Area included offices of the Base Commander (Col Fred G. Hook, Jr. in 1959), an OOAMA representative, and the Commander of the

6th Air Defense Missile Squadron The 6th Air Defense Missile Squadron was an air defense unit of the United States Air Force. It was assigned to the New York Air Defense Sector of Aerospace Defense Command, at Suffolk County Air Force Base, New York, where it was inactivated on ...

; while

Boeing Airplane Company The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product ...

support was from an office north in

Riverhead, New York Riverhead is a town within Suffolk County, New York, United States, on the north shore of Long Island. Since 1727, Riverhead has been the county seat of Suffolk County, though most county offices are in Hauppauge. As of the 2020 census, the po ...

. Military police operated from a Security Control and Identification building at the SSW entrance to the annex from Old Country Road. Two flights of missile maintenance airmen used the Assembly and Maintenance (A & M) Shop for preparing newly received missiles, repairing BOMARCs that malfunctioned, and periodic recycling. "Missile Recycle" for 6 mo/2 yr component replacement from "ready-storage" used 5 A & M Shop stations after the missile had been transported to the Main Shop Room following defueling and warhead removal at the Launcher Shelter and decontamination at the Fuel Facility. The A & M Shop with 22 rooms included a "Control Room", and a Telecommunication (TELCO) Room with 2 SAGE Digital Data Receivers and a Digital Data Transmitter for communicating missiles' status to the remote launch control center in New Jersey.

Interceptor Missile Squadron Operations Center

The Interceptor Missile Squadron Operations Center (IMSOC) in the A & M Shop next to the TELCO Room was connected to the "Coaxial Distribution System" for communicating with Electrical Launching Equipment (ELE) in each Launcher Shelter's equipment room. The IMSOC used the "Prelaunch Command System" with a Squadron Supervisor's Station in the IMSOC that included "a desk-type console" with manual controls for acknowledging SAGE "alert orders and other commands". The console controlled missile warm-up (e.g., 2 minutes for IM-99A rocket fuel while 30 seconds was needed for IM-99B: arming of the igniter & activation of gyros, seeker, fuze, etc.) and to maintain the BOMARC at "Standby" (warmed-up & erected) until "Fire-up" by a remote Senior Director's keyed console (fire button) at the

launch control center The Rocco A. Petrone Launch Control Center (commonly known as just the Launch Control Center or LCC) is a four-story building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center on Merritt Island, Florida, used to manage launches of launch vehicles from Kennedy Space ...

(Weapons Director room) at

McGuire The MacGuire ( ) family is an Irish clan based in County Fermanagh. The name derives from the Gaelic , which is "son of Odhar" meaning "dun", "dark one". According to legend, this relates to the eleventh descendant of Colla da Chrich, great-gran ...

DC-01, which also was the launch control center for the missile complex on Fort Dix. The console then displayed whether the missile transitioned to the "Launch" or "Malfunction" stage, which determined the subsequent squadron operation needed at the Launcher Shelter (checkout of the empty shelter or deactivation of the faulty missile).

Civilian use

In 2009 the former

missile launch complex In military terminology, a missile is a guided airborne ranged weapon capable of self-propelled flight usually by a jet engine or rocket motor. Missiles are thus also called guided missiles or guided rockets (when a previously unguided rocket i ...

was being used as a county impound lot and county/

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and its principal Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement age ...

shooting range.

References

{{Reflist, 33em , refs= {{Cite report , date=3 December 1959 , title=IM-99A Bases Manual , url=https://www.militarymuseum.org/USAF-Missile-Base-Histories.pdf , location=Seattle, Washington , publisher=Boeing: Pilotless Aircraft Division , access-date=28 February 2021 {{Cite report , last=McMullen , first=R. F. , date=15 Feb 1980 , title=History of Air Defense Weapons 1946–1962 , volume=ADC Historical Study No. 14 , publisher=Historical Division, Office of information, HQ ADC , page=176 , quote=…in 1955, to support a program which called for 40 squadrons of BOMARC (120 missiles to a squadron for a total of 4,800 missiles), ADC reached a decision on the location of these 40 squadrons and suggested operational dates for each. The plan was as follows: … l. McGuire 1/60 2. Suffolk 2/60 3. Otis 3/60 4. Dow 4/60.. {{Cite NORAD Historical Summary , version=1959b , accessdate=2013-04-30 ''…the 6th Air Defense Missile Squadron (BOMARC) at Suffolk…6th ADMS…activated on 1 February 1959…operational on 1 December 1959. As of 1 January 1960.. the Suffolk squadron had four missiles available for air defense.'' Installations of the United States Air Force in New York (state) Buildings and structures in Suffolk County, New York Formerly Used Defense Sites Long Island Southampton (town), New York Surface-to-air missile batteries of the United States Military installations established in 1960 Military installations closed in 1964 1960 establishments in New York (state) 1964 disestablishments in New York (state)