SPACEPORT MICHIGAN
When Rockets Flew From the Great Lakes State: 1962-1971
GLEN E. SWANSON
1. INTRODUCTION
Everyone loves a good story. So it was 5 years ago when I first got wind of a whopper of a tale based on
rumour that an active rocket range once existed in the state of Michigan. Being a space flight historian
and a native "Michigander," if rockets once flew from the Great Lakes State, I had to know more.
During my off-and-on again research, I did confirm that an active rocket site once existed and that rockets
were launched over a period of six years. I was able to talk with those who were involved with the project.
Their accounts tell not of a routine scientific endeavour but of an adventure which includes humour, drama,
suspense - all the classic elements of a story waiting to be told - the story of Spaceport Michigan.
The idea of establishing a mid-continent rocket launching site was first proposed by the University of
Michigan's Institute of Science and Technology in 1962. On 1 November at a meeting of the National Academy
of Science's Space Science Board's Committee on High Altitude Rocket and Balloon Research, Mr. L.M. Jones
and Dr. Harold E Allen described a technical study being carried out by the Institute outlining the
possible advantages of locating a site in Northern Michigan. They pointed out that an immediate and vital
use of such a facility would be to add a station to the then existing Meteorological Rocket Network
(MRN).
The Meteorological Rocket network was established in October 1959 at the request of the US Army. The idea
behind establishing a co-ordinated launch system was twofold: need and opportunity.
At this time, the development of small rocket systems had given scientists a unique opportunity to study
the general structure of the atmosphere between 20 and 70 miles. It was impossible to explore these
altitudes with balloons and prohibitively expensive with sounding rocket experiments.
The first series of MRN firings occurred from two stations in October 1959. Successful results were
obtained from these first launches and a second series of firings followed in January 1960 from three
stations. The number of flights steadily increased each year as more sites were brought into use in the
Network. Continued expansion of the MRN on a national and international basis had been supported by various
scientific groups from around the world, including the US National Academy of Sciences.
In a recommendation drawn up during a 1962 Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) meeting in Washington, D.C.
the valuable results that emerged from the previous sporadic and localised launchings were recognised. As a
result, COSPAR strongly urged "an increase in the number of stations from the present 20-25 sites to at
least 50, so that reasonably complete maps can be drawn of the wind temperature patterns in the Northern
Hemisphere."
Because a large gap existed in data coverage over North America, the MRN sought to establish a station
somewhere near the interior of the continent. All the present launch sites were located in a semi-circle
reaching from Fort Greely in Alaska, down the Pacific coast, up along the Atlantic coast and ending at Fort
Churchill, Canada. Upon release of the University of Michigan's initial report in early 1962 [1], it was
suggested that the south shore of Lake Superior, in northern Michigan, would be a good location for a
rocket range. There were many places between the Upper Peninsula city of Sault St. Marie and the Wisconsin
border that have very low population densities where such a range could be safely located. The lake itself
could serve as an impact area.
It was also pointed out that the Midwest United States has many research groups that would welcome such a
nearby facility. Furthermore, the location would be farther north and closer to the geomagnetic poles than
any other US launching site except Fort Greely near Fairbanks in Alaska. In addition, co-ordinated
experiments with rockets, many of which were underway for the period of the International Year of the Quiet
Sun (IQSY, 1964-1965), could take advantage of the new site to significantly enhance the scientific value
of the US contribution to this international study.
Following the University of Michigan`s initial report, the National Science Foundation, the Space Science
Board of the National Academy of Sciences, the US Weather Bureau and other interested agencies requested
that they carry out a technical feasibility survey beginning in late 1962. "The MRN was looking for a
station in the centre of the continent because they, had things only around the rim and they wanted
something in the interior," said Dr. Harold E. Allen during an interview at his home in Ann Arbor. Now
retired, Allen worked for the University of Michigan as Range Director and was with the Michigan rocket
range project from the beginning. "The only place that they figured could be good would be somewhere in the
Great Lakes area. Here you would have areas that might be clear for the impact of the spent rockets. The
MRN approached me and asked if I would be interested in doing a survey for this. I said that I would be
delighted."
Their survey concluded that the tip of the Keweenaw Peninsula would be the most advantageous location and
that small and medium range sounding rockets could be safely launched from this point on a year-round
basis, although there were a few problem areas that would have to be overcome.
One of the biggest concerns involved the rocket impact area. The end of the Keweenaw Peninsula is located
almost in the middle of Lake Superior, one of the most heavily navigated waterways in the world. There were
10,000 cargo ship movements recorded through the locks at Sault Ste. Marie during the 1961 navigation
season, which usually lasts from May through December. an average of 38 ships per day. It would do no one
any good to have a spent rocket come crashing through some ship's hull, adding a totally new chapter to
Great Lakes folklore. Studies showed, however, that the impact areas for small rockets would well-clear
commercial shipping channels: and since there is little or no pleasure boating or fishing on this portion
of the lake, these areas would usually be clear at all times.
"The lake has a lot of traffic on it just as most of the Great Lakes do," recalled Allen. "But there is a
sizeable area above and below the shipping lanes for impact of small and medium size rockets. "The impact
area must not only be clear of ships but also clear of aircraft as well before a rocket could be fired.
There is considerable military and commercial air traffic in the area. especially during the summer months.
The airspace over the entire region is under continuous surveillance by the 665th Radar Squadron of the Air
Defense Command at Calumet Air Force Station, about 22 miles west of the launch site. Commercial air
traffic is under control of the Minneapolis Air Route Traffic Control Center. As a result, during an actual
launch both military and commercial pilots would have to be informed and under certain circumstances. may
be required to detour to avoid the impact area.
In spite of such assurances, it was recommended that once a site had been established, that most of the
rocket launches would occur during the winter months when both shipping and air traffic was minimal. This.
as we shall soon discover, had both its advantages and disadvantages.
2. IN THE BEGINNING: 1964
During the summer of 1964, construction began on the Keweenaw Range, which was activated on a temporary
basis using a minimum of facilities and personnel. The State of Michigan provided a grant of $52,850 for
this purpose, and the Goodman Lumber Division of Calumet & Hecla. Inc., donated 203 acres of land to the
University of Michigan. Access easements were granted by Calumet & Hecla and by the Copper Range Company.
Site preparation, access roads and the transportation of equipment to the site were arranged by the
Keweenaw County Board of Supervisors and the City Highway Commission.
There was a Coast Guard Station manned 8 months out of the year on nearby Manitou Island that could give
additional aerial surveillance and communications. A private telephone line owned by them ran past the site
to Manitou Island. They allowed the scientists at the site to tap into this line, giving them
communications to any place in the world.
Some sheet metal buildings were obtained from the fishery's department for use at the site. They had been
used to house generators for wires strung across rivers to kill lamprey eels. Said Allen, "They had the
lamprey eels pretty much under control so they figured that they did not need these buildings any more and
gave them to us."
Once built, five rockets and five AN/DMQ-6 meteorological payloads were furnished by the US Weather Bureau.
Two Arcasonde 11 payloads were supplied by the Pacific Missile Range of the US Navy. Both types of payloads
were manufactured by the Atlantic Research Corporation and were no longer in use at any established range.
The reason for their use in this case was that no tracking radar was available for range determination.
The DMQ-6 and Arcasonde II were intended to provide continuous wave ranging information using an auxiliary
ground based transmitter and a remitter in the payload.
An Areas rocket launcher was loaned by the US Army Research and Development Activity at White Sands Missile
Range, New Mexico. A van-mounted Rawinsone GMD-1A set, a power generator and a 75-foot telescoping tower
assigned by the US Army to the Willow Run Laboratory of the University of Michigan were loaned to the
Range. The tower was used as an antenna mount and for wind profile measurements required for determining
launcher settings.
Project personnel included three regular employees of the University of Michigan (John Wescott, Harold
Allen and Orest Chapilsky), two from Michigan Technological University at Houghton, Michigan (Peter Gels
and Robert Gaabo) and two from White Sands Missile Range (W.N. Jacobs and Billy Wilson). This represented
the bare minimum of crew and equipment sufficient for small rocket operations.
On Wednesday morning at 7:07 am, 6 August 1964, Michigan took its first steps toward the space age. A
slender Arcas rocket, about six feet long and weighing 76 pounds, was launched with a payload of
meteorological instruments to an altitude of 41 miles before plunging into Lake Superior 20 miles east of
the launch site five minutes later. A metallic parachute, which served as a radar target, lowered the
payload after ejection.
The Arcas measured temperature, air pressure, density and wind velocity, which were radioed back to the
ground until impact. No attempts were made to recover the payloads - except once. "We had a fairly good
north wind during one of our Arcas launches," recalled Allen. "One of the parachutes drifted ashore just
west of Marquette. Someone was driving along the road and saw this parachute float past heading into the
woods. He thought 'My God. somebody had to bail out of an airplane'. So he called the police. They got out
there and had a big gang search for the parachute. They finally found it stuck in a tree. They cut the
whole tree down and brought the thing back to us. We could have used it again if we wanted to."
Following the completion of the five Arcas launchings in September, the GMD and telescoping tower were
returned to Ann Arbor. The launcher was shipped back to White Sands for use on another project and the
Keweenaw Range closed for the season.
3. PROJECT WEBROC: 1965-1966
The Keweenaw Range was reactivated the following year to conduct research with the Office of Naval Research
for a project called WEBROC. A small defence company called Space Defense, based in Detroit, was the prime
contractor for this project.
The WEBROC project was led by a commander in the US Navy named Malcolm Ross, who attained fame for being
one of the first men to enter the fringes of space before the manned space programme. Before Project
Mercury, development of an effective spacesuit had begun, but scientists needed to check their initial
designs under actual space conditions. Ross and another man, Charles Moore, were placed in a pressurised
vessel attached to a balloon and successfully ascended to an altitude of over 120.000 feet [2].
The goal of the WEBROC Project was to set up a network of permanently anchored buoys in remote ocean areas
to obtain weather information. The buoys would house rocket launchers for firing small rockets with various
payloads. Fired remotely, these rockets would be tracked and their data transmitted to satellites. The
buoys would contain weather vanes, anemometers, water temperature sensors and other instruments designed to
record the surface conditions. Using these buoys, ground stations would be able to obtain valuable weather
data comparing surface conditions to that at various altitudes in these remote regions.
The rockets selected for use were 2.75-inch folding-fin aircraft rockets. Called "Mighty Mouse," they had
four fins that folded up so that they could easily fit inside a tube. These tubes were then put under the
wings of aircraft and found extensive use in World II.
To protect them from the elements, the developers of the WEBROC project planned to use these rockets in an
enclosed launcher housed in a pot on the buoy. As a result, the developers needed to know if they could be
fired from a closed-breech launcher.
"In 1965- 1966 we ran a bunch of tests at Keweenaw for the WEBROC project," said Allen. "In 1965 we made a
bunch of ground tests with closed-breech launchers to see whether it would effect the trajectory of the
rocket or whether it was possible to shoot the thing out without any damage to the rocket."
In 1966, additional testing was done from the Range using a buoy made out of six gasoline drums with a
small platform on it. On this platform another gasoline drum rested which contained four rocket
launchers. The idea behind this test was to see how well rockets could be fired from a buoy.
Allen recalls, "They brought the buoy out but by the time they set it up it was early fall and snow was
coming down. We put the thing together over at Lake LaBelle, which is on the South side of Keweenaw, and
the Coast Guard towed it out to the point. We tried to fire the rockets from the buoy but something
happened to the firing line. They would not fire."
They towed the buoy into Copper Harbor, made repairs and had the Coast Guard tow them back out for another
try. "I'll be damned but the same thing happened again. The Rockets would not fire," recalled Allen. Again,
they hauled the buoy back to shore to make repairs. By this time, the weather was getting bad and the waves
were getting pretty high. The Coast Guard was busy hauling up their own buoys so the team called upon a
local fisherman for help. "Wally Jamson took us out for one last time in his fishing boat," Allen
continued, "Again, the rockets would not fire. So we decided, what the heck, we know the problem is in the
connection to the boat so why don't we just simply take this thing down to the point and rather than fire
it from the buoy, just fire it from the ground. We did just that, and of course everything worked fine."
4. A LEAN YEAR: 1967
During 1967, the Range saw relatively little use. A company in Ann Arbor had an interest in
micro-meteorology and wanted some tests performed at the Range. They developed some very sensitive weather
instruments and wanted to test them in flight.
"Again, we decided to use the same 2.75-inch folding-fin aircraft rockets but put a payload on the front
end with titanium tetrachloride in it," said Allen. As soon as the rocket is launched, the several g's of
acceleration forced the titanium tetrachloride out through a small orifice at the rear of the payload bay,
creating a spray that rapidly evaporates and forms a cloud. The horizontal winds at different altitudes
would blow this cloud around which could then be photographed with fast-acting surveying cameras. The
resulting images would allow scientists to determine the wind directions and velocities of the upper
atmosphere.
5. PROJECT NOMAD: 1968-1969
Using results obtained from the Range during the WEBROC Project, Space Defense developed a bigger and more
sophisticated buoy for the Office of Naval Research. Called NOMAD, the buoy housed 50-60 launchers
containing 2.75-inch folding-fin aircraft rockets along with an extensive array of measuring instruments
and radio equipment.
Weighing nearly 10 tons and looking like a small ship, the Coast Guard Carrier Woodrush carried NOMAD off
the Keweenaw point where it was anchored in Lake Superior to be tested.
"We fired a number of rockets from the buoy itself by radio control," recalls Allen. Everything went well -
most of the time.
"Of course the rocket launcher was aimed straight up," explained Allen, "but as the buoy rocket around in
the water it would sometime change the rockets trajectory. Once a rocket landed about 50 feet off the
point. We always got under the van whenever a rocket went off so in case it did come down near us it
wouldn't knock anybody out."
The road to the launch site, where they were controlling the launches from the buoy, was supposed to be a
private drive. Gates were installed with warning signs clearly posted. However, this did not discourage the
curious. "Every once and a while somebody would come out there and decide it was a good place for a
picnic," recalled Allen. "So we would have to chase them off. They of course did not like that, but we did
manage to successfully complete the project.”
6. IN THE END THE APACHES CAME: 1970-1971
It is perhaps fitting that if the ambitious plans for the Keweenaw Range had to end, that they would end
with an ambitious launch.
"In the fall of 1970," remembers Allen, “I got a call from Will Nelson, head of the department. He said
that 'Goddard (NASA-Goddard Space Flight Center) wants to launch two Nike-Apaches from the Keweenaw Range.
Do you think you can do it?' I said that it will take some doing but we'll give it a try."
NASA wanted to secure data on stratosphere warmings, an annual winter phenomenon in which warmings of the
upper atmosphere spread southward from the Arctic. This warming effect pre-stages the change in seasons,
but scientists were uncertain as to what caused the initial effect. Through these launches, NASA officials
hoped to obtain data that would provide a reliable explanation as well as help in trouble-shooting various
radio communications systems.
Each Nike-Apache would travel more than 100 miles above the ground and radio back its data. The first
rocket to be launched, designated 14.167Gl, would carry a payload designed to measure the effects of
magnetic storms caused by solar flares. The second rocket, 14.373GI, would carry a payload of five basic
experiments designed to measure electron density, positive ion composition and distribution, energetic
electron precipitation, solar X-rays and Lyman Alpha flux.
So began the Keweenaw Range's most ambitious project. Because Nike-Apache rockets were considerably larger
and more powerful than anything launched before from the Range, a considerable amount of work had to be
done to prepare the site.
The first thing that had to be done was to survey the area. "We started in October," recalls Allen. "They
wanted an area big enough for their vans plus an enclosed heated building for rocket assembly and a rocket
launcher." NASA would furnish the rockets, launcher and various support personnel. "We had to furnish
everything else."
Land had to be cleared and roads had to be rebuilt to accommodate the heavy equipment vans. Concrete was
poured for the launch pad and buildings and five one-hundred-foot-tall poles had to be secured for the
antennas. "We selected five good straight white pine trees, cut them down and saved them for the antennas
said Allen, "and that was the easy part. You see there is very little top soil in that region so we had to
blast holes in the rocks using dynamite in order to put these things in." Building contracts were sent and
arrangements had to be made to assure clear air space and that no ships would be in the area during the
time of launch. "We were busy people," said Allen, "in the face of an oncoming north country winter."
The firings of the two Nike-Apaches were supposed to take place in the middle of December, but some of the
equipment from Goddard did not show until later that month. The instrumentation van, the heaviest and most
delicate piece of equipment to arrive was so heavy that they had to use a bull-dozer to help it up the
hilly roads that led to the site. "The community was very helpful during that time. Every time we fell into
a hole and had troubles, there was somebody in the area that could help us out."
By the end of December, they were ready for launch but the payload van did not arrive until the first of
January. By then, all hell had broken loose.
"Right after they got here we had the damnedest blizzard you ever saw," said Allen. "We got all set and
read to go and it snowed for 19 straight days without stopping. Ninety-four inches of snow fell that
month, a new record for the region. It closed everything," said Allen. "We had to get the county plough to
come out and plough the road out to the launch site. The county road commissioner himself came out with the
plough to make sure that they did a good job for us. He charged us only $10 for plowing 10 miles of
highway."”
"This storm was way beyond any limits that they allowed us to fire rockets," said Allen. "We were on the
wire with Wallops Island and with Goddard Space Flight Center all the time. We had orders not to fire the
rocket under those conditions."
Because these two rockets were more powerful and had a greater range than anything launched before from the
site, there was always the concern as to what degree the winds would effect their trajectories. "The one
disadvantage at the Keweenaw site was that we could not shoot toward Marquette," remembers Dempsey B.
Bruton Jr., Field Operations Manager at Wallops Island. Bruton worked at the Keweenaw during the time of
the Nike- Apache flights. "You also had the Canadian border running down through the centre of Lake
Superior. To avoid any international incident, we had to keep the impact inside the lake but not in
Canadian territory." At that time, this looked to be quite a challenge.
After waiting nearly the entire month for weather conditions to improve, Goddard called and said, "if you
don't fire it by the 29th, pack the rockets up and send them back to Wallops," recalled Allen. On 29
January conditions were marginal but they proved to be good enough for a launch. "We got one of the Nikes
off," recalled Allen," and they got the data back and everything was first rate."
The next day, conditions worsened and it looked as though they would not be able to launch the second
rocket. "The weather almost killed us," said Allen. "I was again on the phone with Goddard and they told me
that come the next day, if we don't get it off the rocket goes back to Wallops." "Everybody was pulling to
get this rocket off," remembers Burton. "And the wind was howling and the snow was flying but it was
steady."
To fire a rocket you select a place where the thing is going to hit - your target point. Under a no-wind
condition you can aim for that target with a rather small circle of error. But if there is a wind, you
normally have problems. If there is a lateral wind, it will have a tendency to cause the rocket to drift,
increasing your margin of error. If the wind blows on the rocket during the time it is firing (thrusting),
it will blow across the fins used for stabilising the rocket (if it is a lateral wind) causing the rocket
to tilt. Because these effects on the rocket can occur at different times during flight, it is important to
know the effect of the wind at every altitude in order to try to compensate.
Those that calculate the effect of the winds that determine the target and launcher settings are called
"wind weighters" because they calculate the effects or "weight" of the wind on the rocket. "We wind weighed
the thing," explained Bruton. "We set off high altitude balloons and took anemometer readings to try and
get the data as good as we could." The wind-weighters made calculations all that day and found that the
conditions stayed steady.
"The winds were blowing like mad," said Bruton, "but they stayed constant all the way up. So these guys
made their launchers settings and they were wild, they were big, but they were always nearly the same.'
Allen had fired hundreds of rockets from Wallops Island, Virginia and had confidence in the crew at
Keweenaw. "Goddard was concerned, and rightly so, that the rocket might land smack in the middle of the
city of Marquette" said Allen. "So I asked to speak with the Range Director from Wallops." Allen talked
with the Director reassuring him that they could launch the rocket on target. It began to get late in the
day and darkness began to fall. "Finally, he said 'OK let's do it."
"So we put the phone down and went away and fired the damn rocket," said Allen. On 31 January, the second
Nike- Apache Launched beautifully and landed within ten miles of the impact point. When they phoned Goddard
to explain what they had done, they were furious. "They flew off the handle," recalls Allen. "They were
going to shoot everybody." After getting word back from data recovery that all the data was great and that
everything was fine, they cooled down. They said, "I guess it was all right," recalls Allen, "but don't
ever do it again."
They never did do it again. The flights of 1971 were the last for the Keweenaw Range." After the two
successful Apache flights," recalled Allen, " we had all of this junk scattered around under six feet of
snow that had to be pulled up and taken back. It was well into February before we got everything shipped
out of Copper Harbor. That was the end. We never got any more contracts."”
In explaining why the Keweenaw Range closed down, Allen explained that it had more to do with a lack of
funding and interest rather than for any reasons resulting from their last two launches. "It got to the
point where they were not willing to spend any more money," said Allen. Dr. Fred L. Bartman agrees,
recalling that, "work at the site petered out after the two Nike- Apache flights as competition in this
field got greater and it became more difficult to get funding." Bartman served as director of the
University of Michigan`s High-Altitude Research Laboratory during that time.
Lack of support from NASA and other agencies also helped contribute to its premature demise. Bartman
recalled that, "NASA only had a nominal interest and was never really convinced that this was a good site.
Although they supported the effort up there for a while. they eventually became no longer interested." Even
if support for continuation of the site existed today, it would be difficult to operate safely. "At that
time the entire east end of the Keweenaw Peninsula was uninhabited," recalls Allen. "Today it would be
difficult to operate a site safely because much of the shoreline has been developed. Shipping and air
traffic through the region have also steadily increased over the years." Even though the site closed down,
those that worked on the project fondly recall more ambitious plans for the Range if it had survived.
There were plans on the board to increase the capabilities of the site to accommodate progressively larger
and larger rockets and more frequent launches," remembers Allen. "We sought to make it a permanent
facility with a larger yearly launch rate of medium size, two-stage, general-purpose sounding rockets of
the type we launched last." These long range plans even included the possibility of launching satellites
into orbit.
"NASA had a number of surplus Redstone rockets at the end of the Mercury programme and they wondered what
to do with them,"” recalls Allen. "We put in a proposal to fire some of them from Keweenaw for extreme
high-altitude research or for surveillance purposes over the Soviet Union. We could have fired [payloads
lofted by] them into polar orbits or northward over the Soviet Union and land them down in India, China,
Japan or even the Philippines. The trajectories went right over practically uninhabited country in Canada.
We would have had to get international permission but it would have been possible."
Once closed down, the land was given to Michigan Technological University (note: the property is still
owned by the U of M). Eventually, the property was abandoned and the buildings destroyed.
Seldom known, the story of Spaceport Michigan is only a small chapter, seasonal at best, in sounding rocket
history. For a while, rockets once flew from the Great Lakes State as a group of dedicated scientists tried
to push for a more permanent role in the space age.
7. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The author wishes to extend a special note of thanks to Dr. Harold F. Allen and Dempsey B. Bruton, Jr. for
lending many hours of their time during interviews and in searching through their files for photos. In
addition, the author is grateful to Peter Alway for providing the scale rocket drawings used in this
article.
REFERENCES
1. An informal survey of the extent to which such a range might be used was conducted as part of this
article. Senior investigators at various research institutes responded affirmatively to the idea with the
following reasons given in order of frequency and emphasis:
1.) Intermediate latitude point between Wallops Island and Fort Churchill.
2.) Latitude point of particular interest, i.e., near 45 degrees N.
3.) Geographical point of particular interest, centre of the North American land mass.
4.) Presumed simplicity of operations compared with the largest existing ranges: also relief from the
crowded schedules of these ranges.
5.) Other: intermediate magnetic latitude, distance from sea yielding very low concentrations of sea salt.
2. “Target Venus- There May Be Life There” Life Magazine. Vol. 47. No.25.21 December 1959, pp. 67-73.
SOURCES
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Site,” The Daily Mining Gazette, 6 August, 1964.
3. “Rocket Firings Seen Curtailed.” The Daily Mining Gazette, 6 April, 1968.
4. “Missile Site is Picturesque Area,” “Rocket Firing at Keweenaw Point Finished for the Season,” The
Daily Mining Gazette, 26 October, 1968.
5. “Point Buoy Project termed Big Success,” The Daily Mining Gazette, 26 October, 1968.
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Rockets ORA Project 05317,” The University of Michigan , January, 1963.
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Upper Michigan Range,” The University of Michigan College of Engineering Department of Aeronautical and
Astronomical Engineering, Ann Arbor, Michigan, June, 1963.
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14. Allen, Harold F. , “Technical Report Keweenaw Research Range ORA Project 06595,” The University of
Michigan, June, 1963.
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Nike-Apache 14.167GI and 14.373GI).
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City, New York, 1959.
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21. Bartman, Fred L., Ann Arbor Michigan, Interview, 18 February, 1991.
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