Trip Report: Alexandria Business Trip
First published in 1998. Reformatted 2025. My employer sent me to corporate headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia, for new employee orientation. I stayed in the D.C. area until Sunday instead of flying home Friday evening. Just a reminder PIN means Permanent Installation Number and ILC means Installation Location Code; I include these for Air Force properties when I know them.Saturday, 6 December 1997
Dover AFB DE, ILC FJXT. I departed Alexandria at 0730. Took I-95, US 50, US 301, and State Route 302 across Maryland, then State Route 11, State Route 44, and State Route 8 to Dover. Ran into some snow flurries in Delaware, and it was a very windy and cold day. On Dover AFB I stopped at the BX and the museum. The museum has a hangar for display aircraft, with more aircraft on the ramp outside. I noticed the former ADC alert barns (Strobel & Salzman, first generation, eight bays). The former SAC alert facility (now Transient Maintenance and the Aero Club) still sports the corrugated metal entry tunnels.Museum hangar Newcastle Air Force Base DE, 39-40-30, 75-36-50. From Dover AFB I headed north on US 13 to the Newcastle County Airport (JLWS), FAA code ILG. This was formerly Newcastle Army Air Base, and briefly Newcastle Air Force Base (honest--I have a photocopy of the order). It is still home to a Delaware ANG unit, flying C-130s (notice the former ADC alert facility, a typical four-bay Butler first-generation alert hangar with a four-bay Strobel & Salzman first generation hangar--minus crew quarters--attached to it). I noted several hangars on the airport. Several different companies use the flightline. I was back at the hotel by 1500, driving 293 miles on this day trip.
View from terminal viewing deck
General view
General view
Sunday, 7 December 1997
Nike W-25C MD, 38-54-13, 76-39-08. Then I went to Queen Anne Bridge Road to find this Nike control site. It is now a mix of community-use facilities such as a radio club, boy scouts, preschool, and others at The front gate was open so I drove in and had the site to myself for a photo opportunity. Most buildings and three radar towers seemed to be fairly intact.Fence and non-historic sign
Radar tower
Building
Gate and sentry house
Buildings
Radar towers and building
Radar towers Nike W-25L MD, 38-54-10, 76-38-28. Nearby on Elmer F. Hagner Lane is the launcher site, now the Anne Arundel County Police Academy--gated and locked.
View from outside gate
Building
Gate and sentry house Davidsonville Family Housing Annex MD, ILC FBJS, 38-54-23, 76-39-05. Driving back past the control site, I noticed the Nike W-25 housing annex right across the street. I might have missed it, but the USAF installation sign caught my attention. It was transferred to the Air Force after its Nike service. The housing area was gated and locked, and the houses were boarded-up.
General view
General view Nike W-35C MD, 38-46-31, 76-44-41. Next, I took State Route 214 to US 301 and headed south to Croom Road. Taking a left on Mt Calvert Road led me to Croom Vocational High School. This was a Nike control site, as Mark Morgan indicates in Rings of Supersonic Steel.
General view
General view
General view Nike W-35 housing MD, 38-46-34, 76-44-13. I did not find the launcher site, but I did stumble onto the housing annex. It is still U.S. Govt Housing, according to a sign. Three multi-family buildings; two inhabited, one empty and in disrepair. I noted a fireplug dated 1956. This is one of many Nike housing areas closed under the 1988 BRAC process.
General view
General view Nike W-83L MD, 38-59-31, 77-19-35. Then I headed back to Virginia and went northwest on State Route 7 toward Herndon. My Virginia atlas showed Great Falls Nike Park in the area where Mark Morgan indicated W-83. I found it as advertised, playground and ball fields to the east of State Route 717, AKA Utterback Road, and just north of State Route 7. The park shows a few signs of Nike use; much of the barbed wire perimeter fence is in place, and a couple of monitoring wells have Corps of Engineers markings. This was the launcher site, and no Nike buildings remained, but I did find this fence post. A fiberglass radome is assembled on a concrete pad near the playground area; two panels are removed from opposite sides to form a shelter--sort of a cold war gazebo. The radome is marked with an AF contract number and later research showed this to be an Air Force radome for a gap filler radar. I wonder how it ended up on a former Army Nike site?
General view
General view
Vintage fence
Gap filler radome
Gap filler radome
Gap filler radome interior detail Then, it was time to head to the airport. I turned in the rental car at 1445, covering 189 miles on this Sunday drive in the country (492 miles total in 43 hours). And as for Washington National Airport, a nice new terminal building is in use. My server at lunch said it just opened last July. Makes travel in and out of DCA much easier than in the past. All in all a pleasant, though brief, visit. Updated January 26, 2025
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