Students Refurb Nike Missile, Return It To Missile Site

MIAMI (CBSMiami) – If you thought you saw a giant missile being hauled down the road on a back of a giant flatbed truck in Miami Friday morning, you weren't seeing things.

A refurbished 41-foot Nike Hercules Missile was moved from the George T. Baker Aviation School to Everglades National Park.

Students at the school spent almost two months refurbishing the shell.

The Nike Missile was delivered to the school in late August as part of the events surrounding the 50th anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis.

The students sanded, repaired, and re-painted the piece of Cold War history, which will be displayed at the historic Nike Missile Site HM-69, listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Officials from Everglades National Park said this is the first Nike Missile in 33 years to return to a Florida military base. The base was built in South Florida in response to the Cuban Missile Crisis.