Tango01  | 30 Sep 2012 9:41 p.m. PST |
This is the smallest nuclear weapon ever deployed by the US Military. With a range of a little over 2 miles the seventy-six pound W54 warhead had a yield equal to a 20 ton pile of TNT. More than 2,000 were made and deployed in Europe from 1961 to 1971. Obviously NATO never stopped obsessing about the rivers of Soviet armor they expected to come flooding toward them. This mechanism, usually mounted on a jeep, would give a couple of scared GI's a big jump in firepower!
See the M29 in action. YouTube link What a bloody surprice for the Russians! Amicalement
Armand |
| Only Warlock | 30 Sep 2012 9:53 p.m. PST |
Hah, I have an interesting link to this weapon! My Dad wrote the Field Manual at his first Duty assignment in West Germany and commanded one of the first few operational teams during the Cold War. One year during the annual exercises in Germany they ended it with a "Simulated" shot (Using a huge pile of conventional explosives piled with fuel-oil to create the Mushroom Cloud) Dad changed his MOS Shortly thereafter. |
| skippy0001 | 30 Sep 2012 10:22 p.m. PST |
My favorite weapon. In a previous post I wanted to mount four of them on a Ontos. |
| Mako11 | 30 Sep 2012 10:22 p.m. PST |
Crew under cover, two miles from ground zero of a weapon they've fired? Yea, I wonder who the brilliant person was that thought up that idea? Not likely I'd want to pull that string. |
| pzivh43 | 01 Oct 2012 2:24 a.m. PST |
Faced with a Soviet tank division (320 tanks), I might take a chance with the Davy Crockett! |
| Mako11 | 01 Oct 2012 2:44 a.m. PST |
Yea, I thought of that. I guess it depends upon which way the wind is blowing that day, since it's a tossup (and I mean which way the wind is blowing, literally, due to the radioactive fallout). |
| Panzergeil | 01 Oct 2012 3:57 a.m. PST |
The range of the weapon was greater than the blast zone, but not the radiation fallout kill zone. Unless mounted on the back of a jeep, it was a suicide mission. |
| Martin Rapier | 01 Oct 2012 4:28 a.m. PST |
Yes, as the OP showed, it is only a 0.02KT weapon and 2 miles under cover is plenty to shelter from the flash and blast. Fallout doesn't arrive at once and the whole of Germay was going to be a fug of fallout and chem once the tac nukes started flying. |
| Mardaddy | 01 Oct 2012 5:23 a.m. PST |
Reminds me of the Genie air-to-air nuke. link
Waaaay back in the day, I had a model of an F-101B Voodoo with an odd-looking (to me) underslung missile.
It was the Genie. Basically, it was meant to be a, "force multiplier," for the interceptors… If you expect to be heavily outnumbered with bombers, you shoot this unguided rocket into the bomber formations for, ah… "multiple hits." Surprisingly, 3,000 of them were made and we didn't stop operational deployment of them until 1988! |
| GarrisonMiniatures | 01 Oct 2012 7:45 a.m. PST |
These put todays nuclear concerns into perspective. Gaming 'what if's' based on either a potential Israeli nuclear strike on Iran or a potential Iran strike on Israel doesn't have the same sense of scale. |
| Martin Rapier | 01 Oct 2012 7:48 a.m. PST |
Oooh, the Genie is interesting. I believe there has never been a successful test firing of a nuclear weapon delivered by a ballistic missile, and there was some specualtiion that as they'd never bene tested they may well not actually work. Although the Genie was not delivered by ballistic missile, it was still a missile and successfully test fired (not sure I'd have volunteered to stand underneath it mind), which indicates that the ballsitci missiles would probably have worked too. |
| Saginaw | 01 Oct 2012 8:14 a.m. PST |
I wasn't around back in the '50s and early-'60s, but I've seen a majority of the contemporary educational films that were made at that time concerning what one should do in the event of a nuclear strike. It would seem that the general consensus was that nuclear war was a survivable event….or at least, that's what the government wanted the public to believe. Still, it's fascinating to see how much "promise" there was back then of living in a nuclear-powered future. |
 Legion 4 | 01 Oct 2012 8:37 a.m. PST |
Whether fired from the ground or from an aircraft … the firer's survivability would be in question, I'd imagine … for one reason or another … Of course, imagine if the Davy Crockett was used in Vietnam ! |
| skippy0001 | 01 Oct 2012 8:48 a.m. PST |
Martin Rapier:
I read somewhere ages ago that one third of the nukes could be duds. Which could account for the reason everyone built so many. A little tough to go to the range and pop off a few. Saginaw: I was born in 1953 and still remember 'Duck and Cover' exercises in 2nd grade. Mardaddy: They kept the Genie missile in case Rodan showed up:) So, we're all on a hill at Fulda Gap and two Soviet Guards Tank Divisions with a Motor Rifle Division are barreling along towards us. We have four jeeps with Davy Crockets. No Spetsnatz showed up to off us. Air parity ignores us. Using Fist Full of Tows, we can lob the nukes at them, at a scale of fifty meters per hex(using a gameboard) or inch we roughly have a blast/effect diameter of 2-3 kilometers depending on environmental conditions, how many T-55's can we take out?
Yes, think of it as one of those old math problems you hated when you were a kid. :) |
| Griefbringer | 01 Oct 2012 9:41 a.m. PST |
In a previous post I wanted to mount four of them on a Ontos. Is there not room enough for six of them? Of course, imagine if the Davy Crockett was used in Vietnam ! What about the prospect of the Charlie managing to capture a few of them? |
 John the OFM | 01 Oct 2012 10:15 a.m. PST |
I bet Bazooka Charlie would have liked to have had some.
link |
| skippy0001 | 01 Oct 2012 10:22 a.m. PST |
Griefbringer: the weight was too much for six. |
| kallman | 01 Oct 2012 10:37 a.m. PST |
John, Thanks for the link to Bazooka Charlie. Wow! What a career. |
| Razor78 | 01 Oct 2012 11:52 a.m. PST |
I was trained on the AIR2A Genie back in 1978, but its not a missile, it's a rocket. The difference? Missiles have guidance systems ….rockets do not. So it was an unguided nuclear rocket meant to be fired in the general direction of a Soviet bomber formation. |
| Lion in the Stars | 01 Oct 2012 1:52 p.m. PST |
Oooh, the Genie is interesting. I believe there has never been a successful test firing of a nuclear weapon delivered by a ballistic missile, and there was some specualtiion that as they'd never bene tested they may well not actually work. The Frigate Bird launch is the only full-up ballistic missile test. 600kt kaboom later… But you're out of your freaking mind if you think I want to be that close to a nuclear explosion! |
| skippy0001 | 01 Oct 2012 2:15 p.m. PST |
Oh, come on!!! Just this once….Think of the colors…right before your retinas melt…. Launch Now! Let's See If They Work!!! It's the perfect time! Everyone's bought survival gear for December 21st! Zombie-proof homes are being made as we post. Missile Silos have been turned into trendy homes! OK, guess not… |
| Legion 4 | 01 Oct 2012 5:38 p.m. PST |
Charlie couldn't capture any if they all were Nuc'd … |
| Mako11 | 02 Oct 2012 7:34 a.m. PST |
I remember the duck and cover drills back in elementary school, under those flimsy plywood desks with the skinny legs, and those plastic chairs. Given my location at the time, we would have been toast, since I grew up close to major air force, naval, and army bases. Would have been better to teach us to kiss our ass goodbye, but that wasn't PC, even back then. Most of the libraries and other major government buildings had these nice black and yellow signs on the outside, signifying they were useful as fallout shelters in the event of an attack. |
