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Show Army and Navy Turn to Rocket Weapons I As Answer to Need for More Fire Power Munitions Schedule Greatly Stepped Up To Meet Demands War rockets are not new. The Chinese used crude projectiles pro-jectiles in 1232 against the Tartars; the British fired them at American troops in the War of 1812, during the battle of Blandensburg, when they routed Stansbury's American brigade, and then marched to Washington. Francis Scott Key, going aboard a British prison ship in the Chesapeake to discover the fate of a friend, was obliged to stay aboard during the British rocket ship attack on Fort McHenry. On the basis of this experience, he wrote the rocket references in the American national anthem: an-them: "And the rockets' red glare, The bombs bursting in air." Rockets, however, were never used before in 20th century warfare. In this war these projectiles have become important and destructive destruc-tive weapons. Their considerable use in combat is one of the principal weapon innovations of this war. Amazing expansion of use and production pro-duction of American rockets, since the bazooka was invented in 1941, has been reported by the army, the navy and the Office of Scientific Research Re-search and Development. The increase in rocket production, of course, based on increased requirements re-quirements for rockets to use in combat, is shown by these facts: In November, 1944, the navy's bureau bu-reau of ordnance reported that by the end of the first quarter or early in the second quarter of 1945, the navy would be spending approximately approxi-mately $100,000,000 per month on rocket ammunition alone, which is as much as is now being spent per month on all types of naval ammunition. ammu-nition. In December, 1944, however, the navy's bureau of ordnance said that in a few months navy rocket production produc-tion would be stepped up by nearly 300 per cent. The army, which placed its first rocket orders of this war in 1941, had approximately $1,000,000 in rocket contracts during 1942. During Dur-ing 1943, the expanding rocket production pro-duction program had shot up by 2,400 per cent over that of 1942. And in 1944 the program was further increased by another 400 per cent over 1943 production, according to the army ordnance department. During 1945 the army will be spending approximately $12,000,000 per month on rocket ammunition alone, while the navy will produce rockets for all branches of the armed forces and will be responsible responsi-ble for loading and testing the projectiles. pro-jectiles. The army will be responsible respon-sible for the manufacture of a rocket propellant charge that will not dissolve dis-solve in ordinary solvents, such as water, and of rockets of sizes not produced by the navy. New Types More Powerful. Rockets used by the American armed forces today, including the navy's latest type airplane rocket and the latest plane type used by the army air forces, are even more potent weapons than the bazooka, which was the army's anti-tank rocket first put into production in 1941, and first used in combat in the North African invasions. According to the National Defense Research committee, rockets are accurate weapons when fired from high speed aircraft. And the navy reports that rockets fired from planes can be pinpointed pin-pointed on the target. In this war American rockets are fired from naval craft, aircraft, and from the ground or from ground ve- : - - :i '- ' .MS '., ?.: . r' i r '" . . 1 Most all pursuit planes are now being equipped with bazookas. This P-47 has six tubes, mounted under the wings. The rocket projectiles are fired electrically by the pilot. The picture shows a ground crewman loading one of the bazookas. Three of the big rockets are standing on end in front of one of the wheels in the foreground. This plane is also armed with eight .50-caliber machine guns. hides. Similar in principle to the Fourth of July skyrocket, these new rockets are artillery type weapons, with the rockets being equivalent to shells and the launching devices equivalent to guns. Fired from tubes that vary in length and diameter according to the type of rocket, the weapon have warheads carrying explosives, ex-plosives, or smoke, or incendiary chemicals. The tubehat extends to the rear of the warhead contains the propellant, a material that, after being electrically ignited, generates expanding gas. The gas, pushing against the head, forces the rocket forward. The M-8 rocket, that was developed devel-oped after the bazooka, is a 4.5 inch projectile that equals in firepower fire-power the 105-mm. medium artillery gun. The M-8 rocket weighs only 38 pounds. The M-8's launcher, M-12, weighs 35 tb 40 pounds, while a 105-mm. 105-mm. gun weighs approximately 12 tons. The M-12 launcher costs only $104, while a 195-mm. gun complete costs $8,406. M-8s Clear the Way. The navy put M-8 rockets to their first real test in the Pacific amphibi- i "V 4'VS Two men with a bazooka can blast a hole in a medium tank. This strange weapon, nevertheless, is light to carry and easy to handle. The forward man holds the tube and aims it, while the rear man loads the rocket missile. There is no recoil, since the tube is open at both ends. The rocket pushes against the air instead of a breech block. ous operations. By the time the European Eu-ropean theater invasion began, rocket-firing craft had become essential es-sential equipment for landings on hostile beaches. On the China-Burma-India theater M-8 rockets, fired by army air force P-51 Mustang fighter planes, carrying six rockets each, destroyed in 290 rounds of firing fir-ing six large warehouses, 12 medium-sized warehouses, one foundry, 1 four locomotives, 10 Japanese aircraft, air-craft, two river boats and four native na-tive shacks; and damaged two medium-sized warehouses, five medium-sized buildings, one locomotive, and 13 Japanese aircraft. P-38 Lightnings, P-39 Airacobras, P-40 Warhawks, P-47 Thunderbolts, as well as the Mustangs, are the fighter planes equipped with rockets rock-ets by the army air forces. Grumman Grum-man Avenger torpedo planes and such lighter navy fighter planes as Hellcats have been armed with rockets. rock-ets. Navy carrier task forces are using rockets in ever-increasing quantity. Army air force fighter planes, carrying rockets slung in underwing mounts, have combined rocket fire with bombing to destroy concentrations concentra-tions of armored vehicles, rail lines, rolling stock, trucks and troop convoys, con-voys, light field fortifications such as bunkers, pillboxes, artillery emplacements, em-placements, radio installations, and light naval and cargo craft, both in Europe and in the China-Burma-India theater of war. For more than two years the navy has been using a type of rocket weapon against Axis submarines. Now standard for all navy amphibious amphibi-ous operations is the rocket weapon that was used successfully in the invasions of North Africa, Sicily, Italy, and France, in the landings on Arawe and subsequent landings in the Pacific. Blast Shore Installations. LCIs (landing craft, infantry) attacked at-tacked with rockets at Kwajalein, Eniwetok, Guam. Several thousand rockets were hurled at Japanese shore installations by LCIs on Guam. These rockets were fired by electrical elec-trical control from multiple banks of launchers that had been welded to forward well decks. Operational and tactical reports of rocket successes from field commanders com-manders and in various theaters of war have increased markedly over 1942. After analyzing the wide destruction de-struction of enemy ground targets by refeket-firing P-47s of the Ninth air force, the operational research section of the force recommended more extensive use of airborne rockets. rock-ets. Since 1941 American rocket research re-search and development have been forwarded by the war and navy departments, de-partments, working with scientists of the Office of Scientific Research and Development. The latter is responsible, re-sponsible, among other things, for initiating and supporting scientific research on weapons of war. The air technical service command technicians, tech-nicians, the army ordnance department, depart-ment, and civilian scientists of the N.D.R.C. group, developed airborne rockets for tactical use in the war after only two years of research at Wright Field, Dayton, Ohio, and other oth-er proving grounds. While rockets have great fire power pow-er and mobility, and may be fired without recoil, which increases their adaptability for use where guns cannot can-not be employed, only when fired from high speed aircraft are they of pinpoint accuracy. Ground forces' rockets have great possibilities as a barrage weapon. Rocket launchers, as compared with guns, are relatively rela-tively simple and cheap to manufacture manufac-ture in mass production, according to the National Defense Research council and the army and navy. |
