quote:

Originally posted by Redleg06:
Thanks for that video CAS. At the 3:35 mark it mentions the 4 spin rockets. However, It didn't tell the whole story about them. Stop at the 2:27 mark and look at that backwards 'S' shaped device on the end of the rail. It's there to knock off a small metal bar that the crew attaches near the tail of the rocket (not shown in the video). Just as the tail leaves the rocket the bar gets knocked off and that ignites the spin rockets just behind the warhead.


The big puff of white smoke came out when the rockets ignited. Experienced firing crews would prank new 2LTs by not telling us that there was about a 3 second delay upon firing for the thermal batteries to heat up. That 3 seconds was the longest in my life and trying to figure out what to do next. The crew had a great laugh though!

One of my very best buds (about 12 years older than me) can tell you about EVERY electrical circuit in that vehicle (I'm pretty sure these are the ones he worked on). That was his MOS and he built the electrical guts of those things from A to Z. Can't remember where he was managing that equipment in Nam. On some hill in the middle of somewhere...

I am not mechanically inclined in the least, so I enjoy hearing his stories of how he learned this stuff, though it's WAY over my head and too technical for me.

Edit:
Nope...I should have watched cas' video and after reading that an Honest John rocket is unguided ARTILLERY and truck mounted, those aren't the ones my bud worked on. He worked on SAMs that were radar guided and rail mounted.

Finding the parts diagram wasn't too difficult. I also found this: FM 6-40-1 Field Artillery Honest John Rocket Gunnery. From what I can tell glancing through the 139 pages, it's what you need to know to launch the darn thing. My hat is off to the guys that made that happen on the fly without pocket calculators.

Met data (temperature, wind speed/direction at various altitudes), rotation of the earth, powder temperature, altitude difference between guns & target, etc, all done by hand until we got FADAC in mid-late 1969.


A few years later we used Radio Shack calculators. Something like these..

So does close count in rockets ?

Or is pin point accuracy mandatory?

Honest John Rocket firing event at a VIP(dog and pony)firepower demostration Ft. Sill, OKla in the early 70"s... Some one forgot to remove the locking pins that held the rocket to the transport/firing rail.... When the rocket ignited and began its path down range the rocket took the truck with it downrange... Before the end of the day the officer in charge of this firing postion had been demoted......... Personal physical knowledge of this event..I was there in person. Litterly in the blink of the eye both launcher truck the Honest john rocket were going down range at full speed.............. drill sgt.

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Bendable^^^^^^ The accuracy of the Pershing Missle (early to middle 70"s) as advertised "In a pickle barrel". .Have seen films showing the warhead actually entering the wooden pickle barrel from ranges in excess of + 400 miles.. Actual range was classified.... Plus actually nuke capable going into short orbit with re=entry enroute to target. ..Actually considered a mobile field artillery weapon (carried on a truck tractor pulling a erector launcher trailer fired from a verticle position). ....................... drill sgt.

quote:

Originally posted by drill sgt:
Personal physical knowledge of this event

The officer's demotion or the rocket?

229DAK^^^^^^^^^ the Officer in charge of the firing position...IIRC he was a Captain that morning before the VIP Firepower Show began... VIP"s consisting of high ranking military officers of both the United States as well as other Countries / high ranking government employees of the US as well as other countries / as well as Political Dignatries from all around the world.....As far as the rocket with its truck launcher it might have even cleared the impact zone area...............I was there on the opposite end of the firing line that day.. Was the gun chief on a M102(Viet Nam era) lightweight 105mm howitzer that was previously flown in by a chopper the day prior to the show/ nailed the firing plate to the ground and then fired a couple of test rounds then removed the howitzer but left the firing base plate in position...Next day our gun was flown in by chopper unloaded gun crew and positioned gun back on base plate that had been marked with masking tape for azimuth direction and immedately dropping barrel elevation to masking tape pre=marked area on the elevation cradle the firing 1 round the imedately lowering barrel to a cradle stop then by a stop watch firing 2nd round where both rounds fired at seperate times hit same target at the same instant in time..1 round went high angle while 2nd round took the short path and cut straight across to the target. Both rounds on same target at same time............ drill sgt.

Redleg, I was searching my brain on that one. Could not figure it out. But, I've never seen an Honest John except in pictures. Neat.

Redleg06.^^^^^^^^.... Camp Casey?? 69-70 I was a close by neighbor at Camp Sabre (Munsan-ri) 5th / 38th Field artillery( 105mm towed howitzer). ................................................... drill sgt.

quote:

Originally posted by drill sgt:

Honest John Rocket firing event at a VIP(dog and pony)firepower demostration Ft. Sill, OKla in the early 70"s... Some one forgot to remove the locking pins that held the rocket to the transport/firing rail.... When the rocket ignited and began its path down range the rocket took the truck with it downrange

I have kind of a similar story. I was a missile geek in the Navy; my "weapon" was the Regulus missile, shown in the photo on its launch ramp:



The engine did not supply enough thrust to get the bird airborn, so two JATO (Jet Assisted Take Off) bottles were used for additional thrust. The photo shows the one on the starboard side.

It was 1957, maybe 1958, my squadron was based at NAS Chingoteage, Virginia. That year's group of "admiral selectees" -- Navy Captains who had been selected for promotion to Admiral -- were on a tour of advanced navy facilities. We were the only Regulus squadron in the Eastern United States, so we were chosen to do a demonstration launch, flight, and recovery of a missile for the viewing pleasure of the tour group. Bleachers were erected to give the soon-to-be Admirals and other invitees a good view of the launch. A PA system blared with the launch crew intercom system, as well as radio dialog with the FJ Fury chase planes; the lead chase plane, "Charlie One" was piloted by our squadron skipper, who coordinated the countdown and timing for the launch.

As the chase planes maneuvered into position, the skipper commenced the countdown. The missile's engine was run up to 100% power, and when the countdown reached zero, the JATO bottles would be fired, the missile would take flight, and the chase planes would be right behind it, to assume control of the missile's flight path, just like flying a big RC model.

As the countdown reached zero, the launch officer in the control van flipped the switch to ignite the JATO bottles, one of which ignited; the other was a dud. The functioning booster, along with full engine power, provided enough thrust to get the bird airborn, but not enough to get the wings above stall speed. OOPS! The missile commenced a slow roll, and spiraled into the nearby woods, with a full load of JP jet fuel.

My division Chief, an E-7 Gunners Mate, decided to play hero. Instead of waiting for the fire crew and ordnance guys, he decided that he would lead a team into the woods to disarm the unfired JATO bottle. He told me that I had volunteered for the team. I responded that I had not volunteered for anything like that, I had not received any training on the booster bottles, there was no imminent danger to anybody, and a team of qualified people were on the way. He later wrote me up (refusal to follow an order), and I was completely exonerated by the skipper at the subsequent Captain's Mast.

A day to remember!

During an exercise, one of our crews fired a practice rocket at a target ~ 20 km away and it hit 13 meters off target. On the other hand, the conventional warhead contained 1,500 pounds of explosive so close would probably do the job.

quote:

the Officer in charge of the firing position...IIRC he was a Captain that morning before the VIP Firepower Show began

I'm just trying to figure out the OIC's demotion. So he was a 1LT by the end of the day? Who, at Fort Sill, had the authority to demote a commissioned officer? Demotion orders were cut by MILPERCEN within the day?

Drill Sgt, Munsun-ri/Mickey Mouse Corner? I never got over that way. Other than one trip to Seoul and two trips to Red Cloud I was at Camp Casey or in the field. The trip to Seoul was to scrounge some paint from an OCS classmate commanding the Hawk unit guarding Kimpo. He had his on-duty team running missile intercepts on all the incoming commercial flights. It was good training and he had lots of paint to share.

quote:

Originally posted by 229DAK:

quote:

the Officer in charge of the firing position...IIRC he was a Captain that morning before the VIP Firepower Show began

I'm just trying to figure out the OIC's demotion. So he was a 1LT by the end of the day? Who, at Fort Sill, had the authority to demote a commissioned officer? Demotion orders were cut by MILPERCEN within the day?

^^^^^^^ Not sure on who"s authority the OIC was demoted within hours.....I can see it happening because of the massive attendence with the VIP'S of the different attendees that to have such a human error occuring in front of all of the dignatries was a slap in the face to everyone involved not to forget the Post commander (2 star / Major General) at the time was in attendence. This event would have been in the early 1970"s. ................... drill sgt.

quote:

"Before the end of the day the officer in charge of this firing position had been demoted"

So, to be perfectly clear, it's not known that the captain was truly demoted by the end of the day? Again, my interest here is how this demotion could have happened so quickly. I understand this was a great embarrassment, but I will assume an investigation ensued (probably 15-6), evidence collected, interviews conducted with the HJ crew and if the conclusions of all that merited a demotion for the OIC, the provisions of AR 600-8-xx (or the comparable regulation at the time) would need to be followed. That doesn't happen by the end of the day.

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