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75-601: For a short time when it opened, Birmingham General Hospital was called Van Nuys General Hospital , but was renamed Birmingham General Hospital after Brigadier General Henry Patrick Birmingham (1854–1932), of the U.S. Army Medical Corps. The War Department approved the construction of the hospital on August 24, 1943. The land was farm land of the Encino Rancho and the Petit Ranch. The 80 single-story buildings were made of brick and some stucco. The hospital also had

150-480: A chapel , rehabilitation pool , gymnasium , fire station, bomb shelter, kitchen, movie theater, racquetball/handball court, Pacific Electric street car station (possibly Van Nuys station ) and a Prisoners of War (POW) wing. An Italian Service Unit with 40 Italian POWs from the North African campaign volunteered at the hospital. The Army hospital worked on general medicine of returning Veterans . There

225-587: A Birmingham General Hospital nurse. Desi Arnaz was stationed at Birmingham General Hospital during the war to entertain the troops there with the United Service Organizations (USO). Arnaz had a bad knee and so was transferred to the US Army Medical Corps. Arnaz also coordinated with the stars that visited the hospital. Arnaz was discharged on November 16, 1945. The TV show This Is Your Life came about as an idea for

300-663: A Defense Area formed a circle around these cities and bases. There was no fixed number of Nike batteries in a Defense Area and the actual number of batteries varied from a low of 2 in the Barksdale AFB Defense Area to a high of 22 in the Chicago Defense Area. In the US the sites were numbered from 01 to 99 starting at the north and increasing clockwise. The numbers had no relation to actual compass headings, but generally Nike sites numbered 01 to 25 were to

375-665: A battery in Leonardo, New Jersey on 22 May 1958, killing 6 soldiers and 4 civilians. A memorial can be found at Fort Hancock in the Sandy Hook Unit of the Gateway National Recreation Area . As early as April 1952, planners expressed concerns over the Ajax's ability to pick out targets in a packed formation. The Nike radar would see several nearby targets as a single larger one, unable to resolve

450-656: A ground-based computer associated with radar which would track both the target and the missile in flight. This was not the only Army missile project at the time; the US Army Air Force was involved in studies of the Ground-to-Air Pilotless Aircraft (GAPA), a slightly longer-range system based on what was essentially a drone aircraft. Bell had been invited to take part in GAPA as well, but declined as they wanted to concentrate on Nike. GAPA

525-405: A radio show for a veteran at the hospital. The show was created by Ralph Edwards in 1948. The US Army asked Edwards to "do something" for paraplegic soldiers at the hospital. In This Is Your Life the host would surprise one person by bringing on guests from that person's life in front of an audience. The people from the person's life could be colleagues, friends, and family. A Vet down on his luck

600-538: A serious problem for the planners, and especially the Corps of Engineers Real Estate Offices. As early as 1952 they had asked for a solution, which led to design architect Leon Chatelain Jr. developing an underground configuration. As the missile batteries were now protected and accidental explosions would be contained, the safe area was dramatically reduced, and that cut the land requirement down to 40 acres (16 ha). This

675-424: A signal from the computer. The warheads were surrounded by metal cubes providing a blast-fragmentation effect. The Nike Ajax system could attack only one target at a time, a problem it shared with its descendants. As the various Ajax missile sites were overlapped, this led to the possibility that two sites might attack one target while another flew past both. ARADCOM initially set up a coordination system not unlike

750-442: A single Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress . Flying faster means that the aircraft passes through the range of a gun more rapidly, reducing the number of rounds a particular gun can fire at that aircraft. Flying at higher altitudes often has a similar effect, as it requires larger shells to reach those altitudes, and this typically results in slower firing rates for a variety of practical reasons. Aircraft using jet engines roughly double

825-533: A unit to modify cars for those that lost the use of their legs, to drive with hands only. Actress Susan Peters also received a modified Birmingham car after a hunting accident. After the war on 31 March 1946, the hospital was turned over to the Veterans Administration and renamed Birmingham Veterans Administration Hospital . The veterans' organization Paralyzed Veterans of America was started at this hospital. The VA Hospital closed in 1950,

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900-522: A wing for women vets , women that served in WAVES ( Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service ), Women's Army Corps and Army nurses. For returning Vets, 800 beds were used for debarkation medical work. The first commander of the hospital was Col. Alvin C. Miller, from the US Army's Pearl Harbor Army hospital . Chief of the medical rehabilitation was Jack W. Gregory. Birmingham General Hospital also had

975-403: Is still used in care centers. At Birmingham General Hospital, Bors treated up to 220 Vets. From around the world, other military doctors visited Birmingham General Hospital so as to learn about these new medical techniques. The hospital was located 13 miles north of Hollywood ; as such, many Hollywood actors and actress came to visit the servicemen. Hollywood Radio personalities also visited

1050-422: Is used for the current Mulholland Junior High - William Mulholland Middle School. Part of the land was retained by the US Army and used for Cold War air defense missile battalion headquarters of the 551st Anti-Aircraft Artillery Missile Battalion, and later the 4th Battalion, 65th Artillery , up until November 1968. This headquarters facility was responsible for the management of Nike Missile Control Sites in

1125-623: The Royal Air Force 's plotting room from the Battle of Britain , with commands from a central manual plotting room being sent to batteries over telephone lines. This was clearly inadequate, and in the late 1950s the Interim Battery Data Link was introduced to share data between batteries. This allowed command to be devolved to the battery commanders, who could see which targets other batteries were attacking. This system

1200-619: The United States Army . The world's first operational guided surface-to-air missile, the Nike Ajax was designed to attack conventional bomber aircraft flying at high subsonic speeds and altitudes above 50,000 feet (15 km). Nike entered service in 1954 and was initially deployed within the United States to defend against Soviet bomber attacks, though it was later deployed overseas to protect US military bases, and

1275-839: The University of Michigan in 1876, and on February 18, 1881 he entered the army as an assistant surgeon of the Medical Corps . Birmingham's first tours of duty were with the Fourth Cavalry in actions against the Apaches in the southwest. He was promoted to assistant surgeon on February 18, 1886. During the Spanish–American War , he served in Puerto Rico and then in the Philippines . On June 4, 1898, he

1350-672: The hypergolic fuels, and a variety of service areas. Long distance surveillance was handled by the ACQ or LOPAR radar, short for "Low-Power Acquisition Radar." LOPAR included an IFF system and a system for handing off targets to the tracking radars. Two monopulse tracking radars were used, the Target Tracking Radar (TTR) to track the target handed off by the LOPAR, and the Missile Tracking Radar (MTR) to track

1425-404: The "amplitude null system", with the latter being selected. This study resulted in the development of tunable magnetrons for the 250 kilowatt X-band radars for tracking, and 1000 kilowatt S-band radar for target detection. Experiments demonstrated that the radar return from the missile at high altitudes was limited, and when calls for an extended altitude of 150,000 feet (46,000 m) were added to

1500-594: The 1950s quickly rendered the MIM-3 obsolete. It was unable to defend against more capable bombers or multiple targets in formation, and had relatively short range. Even while Nike was being deployed, these concerns led to the contracts for the greatly improved MIM-14 Nike Hercules , which began deployment in 1959. As Hercules developed, the threat moved from bombers to ICBMs , and the LIM-49 Nike Zeus anti-ballistic missile project started to address these. All of

1575-422: The 93,000  lbf (410  kN ) of booster power would accelerate the missile to supersonic speeds of 1,750 feet per second (1,190 mph; 530 m/s) at the end of a booster phase of 1.8 seconds, increasing almost continually to about 2,500 feet per second (1,700 mph; 760 m/s) at the end of the liquid engine's firing, then decreasing to 1,150 feet per second (780 mph; 350 m/s) during

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1650-609: The Allegheny JATO T39 2.6DS-51,000. The Navy's similar booster can be seen on the RIM-2 Terrier . A new series of test firings started in September 1948 but were stopped until May 1949 after a number of modifications were carried out. Funding problems then delayed the program until January 1950. From late January through April another 16 missiles were fired, with much better results. Through early development,

1725-723: The Hercules was deployed at new bases, providing coverage over existing Ajax areas. But plans had been made to convert existing Ajax sites to Hercules where possible, or close the Ajax base where it was not. As the Hercules had over double the range of the Ajax, fewer sites were needed to provide the same coverage. A total of 134 Hercules bases were commissioned, down from Ajax's 240. The last US Ajax site, outside Norfolk, Virginia , closed in November 1963. Ajax remained in active service in overseas locations for some time. The Japan Self-Defense Forces operated theirs until they were replaced by

1800-623: The Hercules-based Nike J in the 1970s. As the original Bell Nike team worked on Hercules, the nature of the strategic threat was changing. By the late 1950s the concern was the ICBM and little interest in the threat of bombers remained. Even before Hercules deployed, Bell was once again asked to consider the new threat. They concluded that the Nike B (Hercules) could be adapted into an anti-ballistic missile with relatively few changes to

1875-683: The Homestead AFB/Miami Defense Area, those starting with NY were in the New York Defense Area, and so forth. As an example Nike Site SF-88L refers to the launcher area (L) of the battery located in the northwestern part (88) of the San Francisco Defense Area (SF). Studies throughout the Nike project considered mobile launchers, but none were developed for the Ajax system. Missile sites were "relocatable" or "transportable", and all of

1950-496: The Los Angeles area which operated Nike Ajax missiles and Nike Hercules missiles . In 1945 the US Army opened the first Spinal Cord Injury Center at Birmingham General Army Hospital. The Center used the work of Doctor Ernest Bors (1900–1990), who was one of the foremost experts on neurourology in traumatic spinal cord injury. Bors had developed a holistic multidisciplinary approach for treating spinal cord injury which

2025-664: The Nike project had not been considered very important. A series of events in the late 1940s led to a re-appraisal of the situation, including the Soviet atomic test in 1949, the communist victory in China, and the Berlin Blockade . The June 1950 opening of the Korea War brought all of this to a head and new urgency was given to US defense. In October 1950, US Secretary of Defense Charles E. Wilson appointed Kaufman Keller to

2100-483: The Nike projects were led by Bell Labs, due to their early work in radar guidance systems during World War II . Part of the Nike Ajax development program designed a new solid fuel rocket motor used for the missile's booster. This had originally been designed for the United States Navy 's missiles, and was enlarged for the Nike efforts. The rocket was so useful that it found numerous applications outside

2175-473: The TTR and MTR were sent to the analog tracking computer, which continually calculated the impact point and sent radio commands to the missile to guide it. In order to maximize range, the missile was normally flown almost vertically to a higher altitude than the target, where the thinner air lowered drag and allowed the missile to descend on its target. At the correct time, the missile's three warheads were triggered by

2250-717: The Vets at Birmingham were moved to the Veterans Administration Long Beach Hospital. In 1952 the hospital was sold to the Los Angeles City Schools for $ 1.00. Los Angeles City School opened Birmingham High School - Birmingham Community Charter High School (BCCHS) on 1953, it served grades seven to 12. Mrs. Albert Zoraster, a member of the Havenhurst Elementary School P.T.A, was credited with having

2325-490: The administration area, area A, the magazine and launcher area with the missiles, L, and the Integrated Fire Control area with the radar and operations center, or IFC. Most sites placed the A and IFC on one parcel of land with the L on another, but some sites used three entirely separate areas. The IFC was located between 1,000 yards and a mile from the launchers, but had to be within the line-of-sight so

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2400-401: The challenge, and Project Nike was officially formed on 8 February 1945. The Bell team was given the task of attacking bombers flying at 500 mph (800 km/h) or more, at altitudes between 20,000 and 60,000 feet (6,100 and 18,300 m), and performing a 3 g turn at 40,000 feet (12,000 m). Bell reported back on 14 May 1945 (and a formal report the next day) that such a development

2475-520: The chance that any one shell will damage or destroy its target is very small. Successful anti-aircraft gunnery therefore requires as many rounds to be fired as possible. During the Blitz , British anti-aircraft gunners fired 49,044 shells in January 1941 for 12 kills, almost 4,100 shells per success. German gunners did better against Allied daylight raids, firing an estimated average of 2,800 shells to down

2550-484: The east to be located in the city itself. Moreover, various scenarios demonstrated that having a staggered two-layer layout of the sites would offer much greater protection, which argued for some bases to be located closer to the urban centers. For range safety reasons, launch sites had to have considerable empty land around them in the event of an accidental warhead or fuel explosion. Originally this would require about 119 acres (48 ha) of land per site. This presented

2625-538: The existing missile, which they called "Nike Ajax", while a slightly enlarged missile with the XW-7 warhead was known as "Nike Hercules". The Army selected the Hercules option, ordering it into development in December 1952. At the time, the missiles were officially known as Nike I and Nike B . As part of DA Circular 700–22, Nike I officially became Nike Ajax and Nike B became Nike Hercules . The nuclear-armed Nike B

2700-497: The hospital. During late 1944, the Jack Benny Christmas program was broadcast from the hospital. Among these regular visitors were: Ronald Reagan , Anne Jeffreys , Basil Rathbone , Mary Pickford , Linda Darnell , Al Pearce , Charles Laughton , June Haver , Jimmy Stewart , Bagelman Sisters , Clarence Nash , The Charioteers and Bob Hope . The hospital was used for the 1950 Hollywood movie The Men which

2775-435: The impact point and send guidance signals to the missile encoded in the second radar's signals, and detonate the warhead on command (as opposed to a proximity fuse ). The Ballistics Research Laboratory was asked to calculate the proper warhead shaping to maximize the chance of a hit. Once determined, Picatinny Arsenal would produce the warhead, and Frankford Arsenal would provide a fuse. Douglas Aircraft would provide

2850-506: The individual aircraft. The warhead's lethal range was smaller than the resolution, so it might not approach any one of the aircraft close enough to damage it. This led to suggestions about equipping the Nike with a nuclear warhead, which would be able to attack the entire formation with a single round. Bell was asked to study this in May, and they considered two options; one using the WX-9 warhead on

2925-614: The mid-war period, the US Army had reached the same conclusion as their German counterparts: artillery-based anti-aircraft weapons were simply no longer useful. Accordingly, in February 1944 the Army Ground Forces sent the Army Service Forces (ASF) a request for information on the possibility of building a "major caliber anti-aircraft rocket torpedo". The ASF concluded that it was simply too early to tell if this

3000-430: The military world as the Ajax missiles were decommissioned in the 1960s. Many sounding rockets used the booster as their first or second stage, and many of those used "Nike" in their name. The inherent inaccuracy of anti-aircraft artillery means that when shells reach their targets they are effectively randomly distributed in the target area. This distribution is much larger than the lethal radius of any given shell, so

3075-405: The missile airframe and carry out aerodynamic studies, while Aerojet would supply a solid fuel rocket booster for initial launch, and Bell Aircraft would provide a liquid fuel rocket for the upper stage sustainer. The initial design used a thin upper stage with eight JATO -derived boosters wrapped around its tail. The resulting cluster looked quite boxy at launch time. It was expected that

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3150-426: The missile as it flew toward the target. Launch of the missile was accomplished by lighting the solid fuel booster, which provided 59,000  lbf (260  kN ) of thrust for three seconds. The booster pushed the missile through the sound barrier, and it remained supersonic for the rest of its flight. The MTR picked up the missile as the booster fell away, and then tracked it continually after that point. Data from

3225-567: The missile. The role would require considerably greater upgrades to the radars and computers instead. These efforts gave rise to the Nike II project in 1958, soon known as LIM-49 Nike Zeus . Unlike the earlier Nike efforts, the Zeus would never reach operational status. Like the Ajax and Hercules, Zeus could only attack a single target at a time, although by deploying multiple radars it was expected that up to six missiles could be guided at once. This

3300-443: The newly created position of Director of Guided Weapons to speed their development. Keller examined the various ongoing projects and decided that Nike was the best developed. He recommended that development of Nike be accelerated and that an initial production run of 60 launch stations and 1,000 missiles should be completed by 31 December 1952, with continued production of 1,000 a month after that date. In January 1951, Wilson approved

3375-461: The next four years, 265 batteries were constructed around the majority of major northern and coastal cities. They replaced 896 radar-guided anti-aircraft guns, leaving only a handful of 75 mm Skysweeper emplacements as the only anti-aircraft artillery remaining in use by the US. All of the Skysweepers were removed from service by 1960. Several Nike Ajax missiles exploded accidentally at

3450-400: The northeast and east, those numbered 26 to 50 were to the southeast and south, those numbered 51 to 75 were to the southwest and west, and those numbered 76 to 99 were to the northwest and north. The Defense Areas were identified by a one- or two-letter code which were related to the city name. Thus those Nike sites starting with C were in the Chicago Defense Area, those starting with HM were in

3525-558: The order of 75 miles (121 km). A new long-range search radar was introduced, the HIPAR, but the original AQU radar was retained as well, now known as LOPAR. The tracking radars were also upgraded to higher power. But with those exceptions, Hercules was operationally similar to Ajax, and designed to operate at existing Ajax sites, using their launchers and underground facilities. Conversion from Ajax to Hercules began in June 1958. Initially,

3600-520: The plan, in spite of additional testing being required. A new test series of the proposed production model was carried out starting in October, and on 27 November 1951, Nike successfully intercepted a QB-17 target drone. Twenty-two further tests followed that year. In the new year a new test series started, including a live-fire attack on a QB-17 in April 1952 that was viewed by visiting brass. Production

3675-610: The production run. In 1957, the National Guard started taking over the anti-aircraft role, replacing regular army units at Bliss. Deployment of the Nike I was under the direction of the Army Anti-Aircraft Command (ARAACOM). ARAACOM initially proposed a series of widespread bases surrounding cities and major military sites. However, while planning the deployment around Chicago , it became clear that Lake Michigan would force sites protecting approach from

3750-415: The radars could see the missiles as they launched. The launch area normally consisted of two or three underground facilities and their aboveground launchers. Sites with four to six launchers were not unknown. A single launcher site normally held twelve missiles, eight in the service area and four in the underground ready area or on their launchers. When an alert was received, the missiles were transferred to

3825-621: The requirements, a transponder was added to the missile to boost the return. These changes, and many more, were summarized in a 28 January 1946 report. The project called for four rounds of test launches starting in 1946, with the aim of having a production design by 1949. The first test firing of a static round was carried out at the White Sands Proving Ground on 17 September 1946 and then returned to Douglas in California for study. The next week an unguided example

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3900-480: The speed and altitude over piston-powered designs, limiting the number of shells so greatly that the chance of hitting the bomber dropped almost to zero. As early as 1942, German flak commanders were keenly aware of the problem, and expecting to face jet bombers, they began developing missiles to supplant their guns. The western allies maintained air superiority for much of the war and their anti-aircraft systems did not see as much pressure to improve. Nevertheless, by

3975-415: The surface one at a time using an elevator, then pushed along rails on the surface leading to the launchers. The launchers bisected the rails, so the missiles were simply pushed over the launchers, connected to the electrical hookups, and then raised to about 85 degrees by the launchers. The missile launch area also contained a separate fueling area surrounded by a large berm, a required safety precaution given

4050-467: The team was forced to give up on the clustered booster concept. Invariably small differences in thrust between the different JATO bottles would lead to significant thrust asymmetries, ones that overwhelmed the stabilizing effect of the fins in spite of them being very large. Instead, the project selected a larger booster being developed by the US Navy 's Operation Bumblebee , creating a new version known as

4125-402: The vision of using the former hospital as a school. Congressman Joseph F. Holt helped make her vision a reality. The school's principal, Dr. John I. Abbott, quickly transformed the shuttered hospital grounds into a school facility. For example, the chapel was converted into a drama classroom. Some original VA buildings, along with the old pools, are still on the high school campus. The land also

4200-443: The zooming period. Early in the program, it was realized that existing radar systems based on the conical scanning method did not supply the performance needed for a high-speed missile. In particular, conical scanning radars required some time to settle on an accurate track. The decision was made to use a monopulse radar system for Nike. Two systems were considered, one using phased signals, and another using signal timing known as

4275-516: Was Fort Meade , who started receiving their missiles in December 1953, replacing their 120 mm M1 guns . This site reached initial operational status in March 1954, and went on full round-the-clock combat status on 30 May. The Army considers 30 May to be the "birth date" of the Nike system. On 15 November 1956 the missile was officially renamed as the Nike Ajax , as part of DA Circular 700–22. Over

4350-466: Was Marlon Brando 's first film; in it, he plays the part of an injured-in-combat World War II veteran. Brando lived as a wheelchair-user for several weeks among the patients in preparation for the role. Birmingham General Hospital was used along with its actual name in the 1950 movie Backfire . The movie was inspired by the work carried out at Birmingham General Hospital's Spinal Cord Injury Center. The main actor plays an injured Vet who falls in love with

4425-474: Was also sold to various allied militaries. Some examples remained in use until the 1970s. Originally known simply as " Nike ", it gained the " Ajax " as part of a 1956 renaming effort that resulted from the introduction of the similarly named Nike Hercules . It was initially given the identifier SAM-A-7 (Surface-to-air, Army, design 7) as part of an early tri-service identification system, but later changed to MIM-3 in 1962. Technological development during

4500-672: Was canceled in January 1963. As Ajax missiles were removed from service, thousands of unused booster rockets were left over from the program, and more when the Hercules was removed from service years later. These proved perfect for all sorts of roles, notably as the boosters for various sounding rockets . These designs often, but not always, included "Nike" in their name. Examples include the Nike-Cajun , Nike-Apache , Nike-Smoke and many others. A complete Nike Ajax system consisted of several radars, computers, missiles, and their launchers. Sites were generally arranged in three major sections,

4575-514: Was fine when the threat was a few dozen enemy ICBMs, but as it became clear that the Soviets were placing almost all of their effort into ICBMs, Zeus looked increasingly unable to deal with the hundreds of targets that would result. Serious technical problems also arose, including electromagnetic pulse and similar effects that blocked radar, questions about the missile's ability to damage enemy warheads, and above all, rapidly rising costs. Development

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4650-581: Was further improved with the introduction of the Missile Master system, which replaced manual plotting with a computer-run system, and then the simpler and smaller Missile Mentor and BIRDIE systems. The Nike batteries were organized in Defense Areas and placed around population centers and strategic locations such as long-range bomber and important military/naval bases, nuclear production facilities and (later) ICBM sites. The Nike sites in

4725-500: Was handed to the newly formed US Air Force in 1948, when that force evolved out of the Army Air Force. At the ranges and speeds being considered, even a supersonic rocket will take enough time to reach the target that the missile needs to lead the bomber in order to properly intercept it. Bell proposed a system using two radars, one tracking the target, and another tracking the missile. An analog computer would calculate

4800-611: Was in charge of the ambulance service of the army and the gas defense service of the medical department. In 1918, he retired as a colonel, then went right back to active duty. In 1930, he retired by operation of law as a brigadier general. Birmingham died at age 78 on May 4, 1932. He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery . A World War II US Army Hospital called the Birmingham General Hospital from August 24, 1943 till March 31, 1946 in Van Nuys, California

4875-399: Was indeed possible. They concluded that: A supersonic rocket missile should be vertically launched under the thrust of a solid-fuel booster which was then to be dropped; thence, self-propelled by a liquid-fuel motor, the missile should be guided to a predicted intercept point in space and detonated by remote control commands; these commands should be transmitted by radio signals determined by

4950-507: Was launched in August 1952. By the end of the year, three complete ground systems and 1,000 missiles had been delivered to White Sands. The complete system was set up by January 1953, and an underground launch site first fired on 5 June 1953. Crew training was carried out at Fort Bliss with the missiles fired toward White Sands. Service deliveries began that year, and eventually, a total of 350 launch systems and 13,714 missiles were produced over

5025-414: Was launched, and similar tests followed until 28 January 1947, ending the first test series. During one test a missile reached an altitude of 140,000 feet. A second test series followed in September and October 1947, including several improvements in the design in order to address problems with the booster. A further series in 1948, originally planned for 1946, continued to demonstrate problems. Eventually,

5100-566: Was named after him. The Hospital serviced troop returning home from the war. From 1946 to 1950 the Hospital was named the Birmingham Veterans Administration Hospital. In 1952, the Hospital was sold to the Los Angeles City Schools where it eventually became Birmingham High School . Nike Ajax The Nike Ajax was an American guided surface-to-air missile (SAM) developed by Bell Labs for

5175-540: Was opened to tender, and was picked up by other companies, notably Boeing . This led to a semi-formalized agreement that the Army Air Force and the Ordnance Corps would split development based on whether or not the design "depend[ed] for sustenance primarily on the lift of aerodynamic forces" like GAPA, or "primary on the momentum of the missile" like Nike. As part of the Key West Agreement , GAPA

5250-490: Was originally going to be a slightly larger Nike I, just wide enough to carry the new warhead. But during early development, the decision was made to move to a solid fuel upper stage. This required a larger fuselage and was heavier as well. In order to get the new missile into the air, the booster engine was replaced with a new design using four of the original boosters strapped together. The new missile offered interception altitudes well above 100,000 feet (30 km) and ranges on

5325-454: Was picked as the first person on the show Truth or Consequences . The show was a hit and This Is Your Life was started as its own show. Henry Patrick Birmingham Henry Patrick Birmingham (March 15, 1854 – May 4, 1932) was a surgeon and an American brigadier general active during World War I . Birmingham was born in Brooklyn, New York . He received his medical degree from

5400-515: Was possible, and suggested concentrating on a program of general rocket development instead. The introduction of German jet-powered bombers late in 1944 led to a re-evaluation of this policy, and on 26 January 1945 the Army Chief of Ordnance issued a requirement for a new guided missile system. The request was passed to Bell Labs , then a world leader in radar, radio control, and automated aiming systems (see Hendrik Wade Bode ). Bell accepted

5475-547: Was promoted to major, brigade surgeon of volunteers, and on April 23, 1908 he was promoted to lieutenant colonel, Medical Corps. In 1914, he was the chief surgeon of the Vera Cruz Expedition under General Frederick Funston . On October 2, 1917, Birmingham was promoted to brigadier general and the same year he received an honorary master's degree from the University of Michigan. During World War I, Birmingham

5550-483: Was special care for Vets with central nervous system syphilis , rheumatic fever , quadriplegic and paraplegic and shell shock . Due to the war efforts Penicillin was being mass-produced by 1944. The Hospital made use of this new wonder drug in helping Vets. The hospital was also one of the first to use an antibiotic ointment on patients. Maj. Joseph Weinberg used the new antibiotic ointment to help patients with infected compound fractures . The hospital also had

5625-513: Was the system tested at White Sands in 1953 and with its success, on 28 October 1953 ARAACOM directed that most deployments would use this option. The system used a basic building block with four above-ground launching stations over an underground battery with additional missiles. Missiles were raised to the surface on an elevator and then pushed, by hand, along rails to their launchers. Stations normally consisted of four to six of these basic building blocks. The first site to build their Nike I system

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