Military Mobile Nuclear artillery

[RGJ/H. Alan]

This thing is big!!

 

Video link to see the beast in action an also some jeeps an a massive truck thing(One for antarmike) thrown in for good measure

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=fa9_1284436848

 

An heres a Wiki link for the SP on it

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_artillery#United_States_nuclear_artillery

 

 

Eddie.

[steveo578]

Is the such a thing of a Civilian Mobile Nuclear Artillery,

 

The nuclear artillery that gets me was called the Davy Crockett a nuclear mortar bomb fitted on a 155mm recoiless gun firing a weapon with a yeld of upto 250tons equiv. out to a max range of 4,000metres. :nut: it was carried in a M113 personel carrier

 

Steve

[Brooky]

Massive truck is IMHO a T10 transporter built by Kenworth

It was in fact the onle "double ender" out into production by the USA

It was popularly known as the Atomic Cannon

[ruxy]

Big - not required - all that was needed was a Davey Crocket tripod - anybody got one in their collection ?

 

 

 

I suppose the yanks had them on the North German Plains , did the British have a equiv. ??

 

Must have done but will still be subject of the OSA.

[steveo578]

ruxy

Big - not required -

 

I think Booky was refering about the 280mm atomic cannon-

 

But it would be intersting to see if any Davy Croketts exist outside artillery museums in the USA.

 

Off hand I don't think the British had anything like it -they certainly had access to 203mm shells though

[Gordon_M]

One of the US dealers has the rear end truck of the pair up for sale about $15000 or so. Not sure if it would be a lot of use without the front end and the bit in the middle though

 

Gordon

[David Harrison]

In the mid 50's BAOR had Corporal which was a modified V2- its fuel was very unpleasant ( I think fuming nitric acid came in somewhere!) of US origin with US provided warheads.

In about 1961 BAOR received Honest John Mk1 and 8" towed Howitzers (1941 or earlier vintage).These latter were towed by vintage (1938?) MACK's that were truly awful,,,each gun had a spare tractor for when the first broke down! I recall one gun & tractor celebrated their 50th combined birthday shortly after we were issued with them!

The H.J. were mounted on current 6x6 US GMC (maybe Internationals). The warhead and free flight rocket were carried on an LWB chassis truck (and 4 wheel trailer) similar to the launcher. The warhead & Rocket were "mated" using a US supplied "Wrecker" (after totally unsuitable British "Coles" cranes had been tried & rejected!)

There were three sizes of warhead (again under US control...but we had to guard them!)for the free flight Honest John - up to Hiroshima size) and one fractional yield shell for the 8".

A mark 2 launcher vehicle came in in about 1963/4 with a shorter "fold back" launch rail- a big improvement & "into action" times were cut down appreciably. Belgian forces certainly had HJ also.

[steveo578]

David Harrison

and 8" towed Howitzers (1941 or earlier vintage).

 

Good first post -welcome to forum. The manufacture date would be about 1941 or later as the 8inch howitzer was finally standardised on a M1 carriage in 1940, they played about with the design of the 8inch tube way back into the 1920s - lots of redundant WW1 guns and carriages to play with and get things right:-).

 

Whether by the 1960s a towed 8inch howitzer, -even for that matter an open mounted SPG like the M43, was valid on a potentially nuclear battlefield is debatable.

[David Harrison]

I sered with HJ & our lifespan if the Russians came was not expected to be long as Speznaz had nuclear artillery as a prime target. We adopted "scoot & shoot" to have minimum exposure, otherwise we hid! The 8" was smaller & easier to hide & came into action relatively quickly. Its advantage as a weapon was that its accuracy (compared to HJ) was excellent, so it was to be used against relatively small pinpoint targets,,,evena quarter kt would give a serious headache!

The shell only weighed about 100kg, so could be (and was) carried in the back of a Landrover! But don't tell the Americans who required there prcious warheads to be escorted by armoured cars, platoons of infantry all covered in warning flags!

D

[steveo578]

David Harrison

The shell only weighed about 100kg, so could be (and was) carried in the back of a Landrover! But don't tell the Americans who required there prcious warheads to be escorted by armoured cars, platoons of infantry all covered in warning flags!

 

Yes, the last thing you need with the S'naz looking for targets is warning flags or lots of activety:cool2: good stuff:-)

[Gordon_M]

Your 8" Howitzers were towed by Mack NO series 7.5 ton 6 x 6 trucks.

 

Although the variants were almost identical, they weren't old trucks, having started off as NO2 series during WW2 and getting to the NO7 by the time you got them.

 

Never driven one myself, but there are a lot around, and very popular, since as late as about 1995 you could by an obselete complete unit in drive-away condition for £1300 - couldn't give them away as petrol had just increased to a whopping 55p a GALLON, not litre.

 

Anyone here own one and want to say a word in their defence?

[Grasshopper]

The warhead and free flight rocket were carried on an LWB chassis truck (and 4 wheel trailer) similar to the launcher. The warhead & Rocket were "mated" using a US supplied "Wrecker" (after totally unsuitable British "Coles" cranes had been tried & rejected!)

 

 

 

We have an International Harvester M55 which was designed for this purpose. It was never fitted out for missile transporting though, unlike Firepower museums example which we once saw in open storage. Have seen a picture of it towing the trailer, one hell of a long rig!

 

The wrecker was the M62, the chassis and cab of the whole HJ units' vehicles being common to the M54 5 ton truck.

[abn deuce]

a shot of a rear tractor as mentioned earlier in a scrap yard back in the late 80's I think when I saw it

 

 

 

and a number of those long wheel base/ cargo bodied trucks

 

 

Would these have been the missile trailers ?

 

[Grasshopper]

No, the missile trailers were 4 wheelers, with the axles in the centre.

 

We once spoke to a chap who had been towed half way across Germany by Militant in an M55 with trailer. The vehicle had been "bulled up" and the paint brushes had been cleaned out in the fuel tank. Unsurprisingly green paint found its way into the fuel system and clogged it up!

[steveo578]

ruxy

....I suppose the yanks had them on the North German Plains , did the British have a equiv. ??

 

One of those wekends when odd things are found on the net. Evidently the British were develping there own version of the Davey Crockett, surprising for its time it was a form of Netron bomb hence the relatively low yield. Refered to as Wee Gwen it was discontinued due to absorbing too much fissle material and probably cash.

 

http://www.nuclear-weapons.info/vw.htm#Wee%20Gwen

 

Steve

[ruxy]

Interesting site - will have to wait for the next wet afternoon to slowly read through it.

 

I have done a bit of Gooooooogling around the words "Wee Gwen" with suitable words such as MOD & nuclear - strange - nothing turns up !!!

[steveo578]

Just goes to proove that search engines aren't infalible- I found and image of a Davy Crockett and found it to the site.

[ruxy]

The site owner - probably obtains his source material from the US where it will have been cleared , British munition for Davey Crockett probably still subject to UK OSA.

[Noel]

Just been skimming through some "Soldier" magazines which I was given as a child - found a few bits on artilery missiles - these from May 1956

 

[Noel]

September 1959 issue celebrates the first test firing of Corporal - on a range in the outer Hebrides

 

[antarmike]

Is the such a thing of a Civilian Mobile Nuclear Artillery,

 

The nuclear artillery that gets me was called the Davy Crockett a nuclear mortar bomb fitted on a 155mm recoiless gun firing a weapon with a yeld of upto 250tons equiv. out to a max range of 4,000metres. :nut: it was carried in a M113 personel carrier

 

Steve

 

I suppose when terrorists finally get hold of Nuclear weapons, they will be still be classed as civilians..........

[Noel]

From July 1957

[antarmike]

I had an Honest John, when I was a kid!

[Brooky]

I had an Honest John, when I was a kid!

 

Likewise!!!

Always wanted he Corgi Corporal missile set, but the finances would never run to it

[rog8811]

I thought this was the same animal as in the first post until I counted the wheels, I will post as it looks very much like its bigger brother.

 

Regards rog8811