U.S. Naval Ordnance Testing Facility Assembly Building
Posted by: 
deano1943
N 34° 22.033 W 077° 37.789
18S E 258161 N 3806007
This Historical Site is located near Rt. 50 on Channel Blvd., Topsail Beach, in Pender County, North Carolina.
Waymark Code: WMJ0N
Location: North Carolina, United States
Date Posted: 07/23/2006
Views: 21
At the end of World War II, the Navy established this U.S. Naval Ordnance Test Facility on Topsail Island, for "Operation Bumblebee", a top-secret, experimental project to develop and test Ramjet Missile's, which advanced the nation's Jet aircraft and Missile program.
This Assembly Building is a one-and-a-half story masonry building. The Assembly Building is used today as a museum called "Missiles and More Museum".
For 18 month, an estimated 200 expermintal rockets, each measuring six inches in diameter and between 3 and 13 feet in length were fabricated at the Assembly Building, dispatched to the launch site near-by, and fired along a northeasterly angular deflection of 15 degrees to the shoreline for a maximum distance of 40 miles.
The facility closed after 18 month of initial success because the site did not completely fulfill the needs of a permanent base test facility.
Building #: 93000909
Street address:
720 Channel Blvd.
Topsail Beach, NC USA
28445
County / Borough / Parish: Topsail Beach, Pender County
Year listed: 1993
Historic (Areas of) Significance: Event
Periods of significance: 1925 - 1949
Historic function: Defense, Air Facility, Naval Facility
Current function: Social / Meeting Hall / Museum
Privately owned?: yes
Primary Web Site: [Web Link]
Secondary Website 1: [Web Link]
Season start / Season finish: Not listed
Hours of operation: Not listed
Secondary Website 2: Not listed
National Historic Landmark Link: Not listed
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Visit Instructions:
Please give the date and brief account of your visit. Include any additional observations or information that you may have, particularly about the current condition of the site. Additional photos are highly encouraged, but not mandatory.