Photo: Booster Rocket
Photo from: Missiles and More Museum
Photo from: Missiles and More Museum
Operation Bumblebee
Operation Bumblebee,a secret missile testing project under the US Navy and John Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, came to Topsail Island in 1946 (Stallman, 1996). Topsail Island was an ideal location for the testing site due to the fact that there were few residents on the island and the only access to the island was by a pontoon bridge (Stallman, 1996). In the beginning, no one was knowledgeable of the location of the operation and no one was allowed onto the island unless they were given clearance by the military (McAllister, 2006). In 1946, about two hundred Navy personnel, scientists, contractors, and civilian employees that were hired moved onto the island (Topsail Island Historical Society, 2009). Within the first year, the Navy and John Hopkins University ended up building the assembly building, nine towers, launching platform, bombproof room, mess hall, dorms, roads, buildings on the island and a revised pontoon bridge (Stallman, 1996). The eight towers (the ninth was the control tower) were built up and down the island, which contained a camera to record performance and data timing instruments (Stallman, 1996). During the time that the military was on the island, two hundred experimental rockets were fired during the year of 1947-1948 (McAllister, 2006; Stallman, 1996). These experimental rockets were three to thirteen inches in diameter and three to thirteen feet in length (Stallman, 1996). Thanks to the amount of testing of the missiles, the ramjet engine was proved to be a success. Today, the modern jet aircraft engines have been built around the original design that was formulated on the island (Stallman, 1996).
Photo: Tower Location Map
Photo from: Missiles and More Museum
Photo from: Missiles and More Museum
The Navy ended up closing down Operation Bumblebee in 1948 for a number of reasons. The first reason was that more range was needed to test the rockets since the rockets were extending beyond the islands 26 mile long length (Stallman, 1996). Also, the weather on the island was not cooperative and too unpredictable for the precise instrumentation required for testing (McAllister 2006; Stallman 1996). Finally, the island was beginning to become populated and boaters that were around the island were coming near the island too frequently for the Navy’s comfort (McAllister, 2006). The island, nine towers, and buildings were given to the land owners and the equipment that was on the island was given to the local town and county governments (Stallman, 1996). Today, you can still see the control tower, one tower in the exact same condition, four towers that were converted into homes and one tower that was converted into part of a fishing pier complex (Historical Society of Topsail Island, 2009). Unfortunately, one of the towers was destroyed from a hurricane and one was torn down due to a woman committed suicide by jumping off the tower (Missiles and More Museum; Historical Society of Topsail Island, 2009). Furthermore, the Assembly Building was eventually turned into the Missiles and More Museum, and the launching platform is currently the patio of the Jolly Roger Hotel and Pier (McAllister, 2006).