Post WW2 Top Secret Missile Program off the coast of North Carolina - Operation Bumblebee!
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- Опубліковано 7 гру 2021
- On a barrier island off the coast of North Carolina stands a concrete structure. Many think this was an observation tower, built to sight German submarines lurking off the coast during World War Two. The truth is much more remarkable! After the War, a top-secret Navy project used eight 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.
On December 1, 1944, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory or APL began a new research contract with the Navy to proceed with the development of guided supersonic ramjet 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 Bumblebee Cannot Fly
According to recognized aero-technical tests,
the bumblebee cannot fly because of the
shape and weight of his body in relation
to the total wing area.
BUT, the bumblebee doesn't know this,
so he goes ahead and flies anyway.
The project name "Operation Bumblebee" seemed appropriate because Dr Tuve understood that the new missile program faced similar long odds for success. Why? Because no one had actually built a working ramjet engine before!
Thanks to Missiles and More Museum and director Janine Stidley for her script review and for sharing videos and archival photos.
missilesandmoremuseum.org
Thanks to Jeff Wenzel for the drone footage and wonderful photo of the observation tower.
abovetopsail.com
Thanks to UNC-TV for video clip of present day tower.
Thanks to John Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory for archival footage.
Thanks to Lesics for the Ramjet Animation.
#TopSecret #RamjetInvention #OperationBumblebee
Great info and video.
Im not a bot
Thanks for your nice comments.
Great to see this. I was a GMM on the USS Albany CG 10. Worked in the forward TALOS missile house.
Grew up on topsail on a canal beside queens grant, directly across from one of the towers, may of them were turned into houses, this one had its windows boarded up, painted and houses built around it unfortunately but regardless! A Talos is on display at the assembly building where they put the missiles together but is not listed as a display location
They have a Talos missile at southbend International airport IN for a display 24/7.
Where can i find raw historical footage of this?
Its a classified project.I have the documents.
Great info and video.