Manson LA-88 Nike Missile Site - Chatsworth, CA

Los Angeles Defense Area (LA): Los Angeles was defended by a ring of 16 Nike sites. Headquarters sites were located at Signal Hill, Long Beach, Fort MacArthur, and at the Birmingham Army Hospital. As indicated by the number of sites, Los Angeles, with its aerospace industries, received extensive air defenses. Initially manned by the 1st Missile Battalion, 56th Artillery, later by the 4th Missile Battalion, 65th Artillery. Beginning in the fall of 1958, the LA-40 and LA-43 Nike sites were manned by the 720th AAA Missile Battalion of the California Army National Guard. Eventually, California National Guard units assumed responsibilities for manning the other sites. In 1968, the Army deactivated LA-94. LA-29 closed 3 years later.

Army Air-Defense Command Post (AADCP) LA-45DC was established at San Pedro Hill AFS, CA in 1960 for Nike missile command-and-control functions. The site was initially an AN/FSG-l Missile-Master Radar Direction Center. It was later equipped with the AN/TSQ-51 "Missile Mentor" solid-state computer system.



LA-45DC was integrated with the USAF Air Defense Command/NORAD Semi Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) air defense radar network as Site RP-39 / Z-39 The AADCP was inactivated 1 Sep 1974 along with the remaining Nike Hercules sites.