World War II JB-2 Launch Site

About this property

The Santa Rosa Island Range Complex is a component of the Eglin AFB testing range, located 17.5 miles west-southwest of the main base, on Santa Rosa Island, sitting between the communities of Navarre and Okaloosa Island. The complex is part of the Eglin AFB overwater range that provides 86,500 square miles of overwater airspace that is jointly used for a variety of test and evaluation activities and training exercises. Range operations rely on land-based radar and electro-optical time-space-position-information systems to monitor and transfer test data to the Central Control Facility on Eglin AFB. These instrumentation systems, located on Santa Rosa Island and other locations provide coverage for test and evaluation activities in the Gulf of Mexico. The use of Santa Rosa Island (SRI) is evolving due to changes in threats to national security and the effects of hurricanes over the past decade. The SRI complex is used for Expanded Surf Zone Testing/Training, SABRE Mine Clearing Testing, Beach Obstacle Clearing and Neutralization, Small Boat Obscurant Testing, Expanded OA-HITL Tower Testing, Live Fire, Expanded Special Operations Training, Amphibious Assaults, and Expanded LCAC Training/Testing. .* Located on non-government controlled property on SRI. Established during World War II, the complex is a government controlled part of the island. In June 1944, Germany began bombarding England, especially London, with the V-1 flying bomb. In July 1944, parts of a V-1 salvaged by the Polish underground and recovered from crashed but unexploded bombs, were flown to Wright-Patterson Field and within three weeks America had completed its first copy of a V-1, the Republic-Ford JB-2, the United States’ first operational guided missile and the predecessor of the modern cruise missile. Eglin Field was chosen to test launching techniques. Eglin received its first JB-2 for testing in the fall of 1944. Three sites were created on Eglin's Gulf-side property, all designed to test different launching techniques. Two sites are located within a half mile of each other on Santa Rosa Island, on Air Force property. Recorded as Florida archeological sites 8OK246 and 8OK248, the remnants of these two JB-2 test sites, along with bunkers and debris fields from unsuccessful test flights, were identified as part of Eglin's initial historic property inventory. After identification, these were evaluated for historic significance and subsequently added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places on April 19, 1996. Site 8OK246 (30°23′57″N 086°42′19″W)is the remains of a JB-2 mobile launch site, containing two concrete pads and an observation bunker, all virtually unscathed. Abandoned to the elements, there is a JB-2 wreck south of the ramp. Although the ramp itself is missing, its concrete pillars stand against the passage of time.

Location

Categories

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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