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At the end of World War II the Navy established the US Naval
Ordnance Test Facilities at Topsail Island, North Carolina, for
Operation Bumblebee, a top-secret, experimental project to develop
and test ramjet missiles, which advanced the Nation's jet aircraft
and missile programs. So successful were the tests conducted at the
Topsail Island site that the ramjet proved its value, opened the
way for the advance of supersonic jet aircraft design and brought
the United States to the threshold of modern space technology with
the Talos, Terrier, Tartar and Sea Sparrow missiles aboard naval
vessels. Named after a bumblebee, which although aerodynamically
unable to fly, does not know this and flies anyway, this operation
lead to the maturing of supersonic aircraft and shipboard missile
design in the mid-20th century.
Spanning 18 months, an estimated 200 experimental rockets, each
measuring six inches in diameter and between three and 13 feet in
length, were fabricated at the Assembly Building, dispatched to the
launch site, and fired along a northeasterly angular deflection of
15 degrees to the shoreline for a maximum clear distance of 40
miles. Despite the initial success of the US Naval Ordnance Testing
facility at Topsail Island over its 18-month span, its location did
not fulfill completely the needs of a permanent base because
weather conditions and increased sea traffic interfered with
testing, and the facility was abandoned and its equipment moved to
other sites. This building was used to store and assemble the
missiles for testing- hence the name. Missiles were launched from
what is now the patio of the Jolly Roger Motel, one block away on
the ocean front. Reinforced concrete observation tovers dot the
island, and several have been converted to private homes.
The Assembly Building is now used as a community center, and
houses a small museum that has information on the island dating
back to the Native Americans that lived there. The museum has very
limited visiting hours, only one or two days per week. Don't count
on it being open when you visit. Missiles and More Museum, open
April-mid-October from 2:00pm to 4:00pm Monday, Tuesday, Thursday,
Friday and Saturday (closed Wednesday and Sunday). From November to
March the museum is only open by appointment. Contact the Chamber
of Commerce for further information
The buildings associated with this testing, the Assembly
Building, Facility Control Tower and Observation Tower No. 2
possess exceptional importance because they are the only
above-ground resources remaining at these three sites where the
Nation's burgeoning ramjet missile program grew from
experimentation to maturity.
Thanks for visiting!
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