Artillery and missile testing at Fort Miles is Feb. 21 lecture topic
The Fort Miles Historical Association will host its next lecture at 10 a.m., Saturday Feb. 21, in the north gun room of the Fort Miles Museum within Cape Henlopen State Park, Lewes.
Kaitlyn Dykes, Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control - Parks and Recreation interpretive programs manager for the Fort Miles Museum and Historical Area, will lead the presentation exploring the history and significance of the Eastern Test Range.
Fort Miles was a critical component of the United States’ advanced artillery and missile testing infrastructure near the end of World War II and during the early Cold War. It provided a site for testing the Army’s proximity-fused artillery shells and the Navy’s Bumblebee surface- to-air anti-aircraft missile.
Unlike conventional artillery shells that exploded on contact with their target or with a preset timer, shells equipped with proximity fuses used reflected radio wave transmitters and receivers to detect proximity to their target and were detonated without direct contact. From February 1944 to September 1945, the men at Fort Miles fired more than 150,000 proximity-fused shells into the waters off Cape Henlopen from nine different artillery pieces.
Admission is free, but online registration is recommended to ensure a reserved seat. To learn more, go to fortmilesmuseum.org and select Historical Lecture Series 2/21/26 under Fort Miles Tours and Events.
