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On a barrier island off the coast of North Carolina stands this concrete structure.
Many think this was an observation tower, built to sight German submarines lurking off the coast during WWII.
The truth is much more remarkable!
After the War, a top-secret Navy project used these observation towers while testing a new type of propulsion
that revolutionized how we protected our Navy ships and eventually how our jets could fly
into the supersonic reaches of outer space.
This is the incredible story of Operation Bumblebee.
Next on Marking History!
This is the historical marker for Missile Tests,
conducted in secret by the US Navy between 1946 and 1948 on Topsail Island, off the coast of North Carolina.
The Navy built eight concrete observation towers and an assembly building to fabricate, launch and view
as many as 200 experimental rockets, as these scientists perfected the Ramjet missile.
As a result of these secret tests, the foundation of modern rocketry and jet propulsion was laid out here on Topsail Island.
Now let's learn more about the story behind the marker!
During World War Two, the US Navy experienced two devastating enemy tactics
which threatened the survival of our sailors and ships. Both involved enemy aircraft.
It September 11, 1943 and the USS Savannah was supporting the Allied landing at Salerno Italy in Operation Avalanche.
During an air raid, a high- flying German bomber launched a new type of weapon towards the Allied cruiser,
while outside the range of shipboard artillery.
The German bomb penetrated the armored top of USS Savannah's Number 3 turret and plunged through three decks
to the lower handling room where it exploded.
The blast blew a hole in the ship's hull and killed 197 men, including everyone in the turret and handling room.
It nearly sank the entire ship.
In October 1944, on the other side of the world,
Japanese Kamikaze bombers resorted to crash -dive attacks on our battleships and carriers.
Our naval ships did not have the high-speed long-range rockets necessary to stop the threats.
Obviously, these new enemy tactics were a serious threat to US Navy and maritime shipping.
The Navy needed to intercept and destroy these bomb-carrying aircraft before they came close enough to launch their weapons.
What they really needed was a supersonic surface to air missile!
Thus was born the Navy's next top-secret project, Operation Bumblebee!
In 1941 researchers at NACA (National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics) used a high-speed wind tunnel
to demonstrate the basic principles of operation of the ramjet engine.
Most people in the aviation industry believed that jet engines could never produce as much thrust as a propeller,
so this work was ignored until 1943 when U.S. Navy researchers were looking for ways to power their missiles.
On December 1, 1944, John Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory or APL
began a new research contract with the Navy to proceed with the development of guided jet- propelled missiles.
The goal was to produce a prototype interceptor missile --- or prove that it couldn't be done.
The answer was YES, it could be done, but it called for a vehicle that did not yet exist
a supersonic jet powered guided missile.
Enter Dr. Merle Tuve - founding director of Applied Physics Laboratory,
and lead scientist on this new top-secret program.
In early 1945, Dr. Tuve assigned the code word "Bumblebee" to this top-secret Navy project.
He was inspired by this quotation on an office wall.
The project name "Operation Bumblebee" seemed appropriate because Dr Tuve
understood that the new missile program faced similar long odds for success.
After the War ended in 1945, the Navy decided to continue the secret project.
After several successes at Island Beach New Jersey and Delaware beach,
APL and Dr. Tuve's team settled into a permanent secret facility on a barrier island
off the coast of North Carolina, in 1946.
Today it's called Topsail Island, but back then it was simply called the “sand spit.”
The location was perfect because of its isolation, accessed only by boat,
and its close proximity to Camp Davis for housing the 250 team members and their families.
Within months the Navy had constructed roads, an assembly building, control tower, eight observation towers,
pontoon bridge, launching platform, and bombproof shelter.
Their mission was to develop a jet-powered missile that could destroy an air target up to twenty miles away.
Eight observation towers were built, each one housing a radar system, telemetry instruments and cameras
to record performance data along the 26 mile sandy coast.
Towers were precisely located with distances scientifically derived from zero up to 16 miles away.
Triangulation of photo equipment from the towers recorded the flights over 10 to 20 miles
at speeds of up to one thousand five hundred miles per hour, so accuracy of the ramjet data was vital.
Basically the ramjet is an air- breathing jet engine that operates with no moving parts.
It relies on the missile's forward motion to draw in air and compress it for combustion.
Fuel, usually kerosene, is added and injected into combustion chamber
to be burned with help of a flame igniter.
The high pressure and high temperature gases are passed through the nozzle
converting pressure energy into kinetic energy and supersonic flight.
In order to accelerate to operational ramjet speed, a solid rocket booster is needed.
Initially, Operation Bumblebee used high velocity anti-aircraft rockets
strapped to the end of the ramjet to give it a kickstart.
And because the transistor had NOT been invented yet, sturdy vacuum tubes were utilized for the ramjet guidance systems.
An estimated 200 rockets were launched over the course of eighteen months off the North Carolina coast.
These tests provided a blueprint to the development of jet aircraft engine technology
and insights into rocketry incorporated later in NASA's space program
Three missile types were developed over those years of testing on Topsail Island.
Each had different applications for the Navy.
The Talos, a long-range antiaircraft missile, was created as the big gun of the Navy.
The first working prototype ramjet missile was flown in 1952
and the first tactical Talos missile was introduced into the Naval fleet in the Spring of 1958.
This surface to air missile extended Navy ship self-defense from a few miles to over the horizon and the edges of space.
In 1948 the Navy decided to close up shop at Topsail Island, North Carolina
and shift operations to White Sands, New Mexico, and Cape Canaveral, Florida.
They moved the secret guided missile program to take advantage of better weather conditions,
less sea traffic and more range over the ocean.
Years later, the booster rockets developed in Operation Bumblebee paved the way
to creating the solid rocket boosters on the Space Shuttle.
These rocket boosters were essential to space shuttle launches.
Today, you can still see the remnants of Operation Bumblebee.
Seven of the eight towers remain; a few remain undisturbed, guarding the North Carolina coastline.
Some are used as private homes and one was part of a fishing pier until a hurricane took it out.
And then, there is the Assembly Building.
It is appropriate that this building has been listed in the National Register of Historic Places
because of all the technology it has developed in Aviation and Rocketry.
And if you want to learn more about Operation Bumblebee, go no further than next door to the Missiles and More Museum.
You can't miss the Talos missile outside the entrance!
Inside, you will see missiles hanging from the ceiling, historic photos hanging on display
and awesome T-shirts hanging by the entrance.
The government had originally created Operation Bumblebee as a way to test the possibilities of guided missiles.
In the end, Operation Bumblebee produced the first tactical supersonic missiles
which helped launch the US into the 21st century.
The success of the Bumblebee program at Topsail Island, North Carolina can be plainly stated:
If history can be taught with stories
they can never be forgotten.
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