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But first, a bit of Artillery Pr0n

July 22, 2007 | | Comments (16)

One of the formerly-boring-but-presently-interesting places I've been to recently has a rather eclectic conglomeration of field pieces. Such as this:

The Bucket o’ Spuds Gun of ARGGHHH!

If we can haul it cross-country, cement it twixt the Castle flagpoles and fill it with enough powder to announce Retreat, half of central Kansas will be piling out of their cars to salute and the other half will think they wandered onto the set of "Jericho"...

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"It's better to be down on the ground wishing you were up in the air than up in the air wishing you were down on the ground." -- Old Aviation Maxim.

With the exception of aviating in combat, as John recently observed. Or, as graphically portrayeded by the display aircraft in this diorama, tucked into a corner of the Army Aviation Museum at Ft. Rucker. I've been the integer on both sides of that equation -- *not* simultaneously, thenkew -- more'n a couple of times. And if those Apache drivers in John's post hadn't been in that particular situation previously, they still had a good appreciation of what the two AeroScouts were thinking. To wit:

"Being up in the air and being shot at is infinitely preferable to being hip-deep in water next to the remains of your helicopter and being shot at." -- New Aviation Maxim.

Just trust me on that one, okay? BTW, scramble the newbies, Carb, ol' bean. Their POC on the ground speaks English...

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16 Comments

By John of Argghhh! on July 22, 2007 1:36 AM
I know the guy who flew *that* Loach, Rod Willis. We used to work with each other, before he moved off to be the CIO of a local company. His brother-in-arms and partner in crime, Hugh Mills, the author of Low Level Hell, is also a local.
 
By BillT on July 22, 2007 11:12 AM
Yeah, Hugh's got a definite knack for a TINS, doesn't he? Miss Clawd Four was Hugh's steed back in the day (the pic was snapped at Can Tho, also home to Yours Truly and Hubert), and Rod flew her doppelganger back here -- there are a couple of nice aerial shots floating around, but durned if I can remember which book I saw them in...
 
By BC on July 23, 2007 12:22 AM
John, Have you concidered scrounging a naval saluting gun from a scrap yard? The report is sharp and they don't use smokeless powder.
 
By John of Argghhh! on July 23, 2007 10:15 AM
BC - there are several options for a saluting gun out at the Castle. I already have the ">10 Gauge Winchester salute cannon. Another item up for consideration is a CG Cannon, which is actually the new Navy saluting gun. But SWWBO has been wavering on letting me get one of these, after the new Castle Argghhh! is firmly established. Or possibly a full-sized gun...
 
By DougK on July 23, 2007 11:01 AM
Hey, if you can't stand it anymore and you want to fly the OH-6A "Miss Clawd" (or "War Wagon" or "16161" of C Troop, 2/17th), may I recommend (as freeware) the following for Flight Simulator 2004: Richard Frady's (aka "Fr8ycat") excellent OH-6A in the included liveries of Hugh Mills' C Trp. 2/16th Cav "Miss Clawd", Don Callison's D Trp 3'5th Cav. "Pig Pen" and Condor bird 16161 (Jagflieger!), 2/17th Cav of the late Capt. Wilbur Latimer, KIA 19Jan71 in this aircraft and successfully flown and landed by his crew chief back at Phu Bai. You can also download, free, my own version of the base at Phu Bai (aka, Hue Airport), in high detail, from www.hovercontrol.com or at our home at www.com-central.net (also free). Not one penny is made from this enterprize...some of us are vets and we did it fer love. Richard had the cooperation of Don Callison and I had time at Phu Bai and a connection to 16161, which had a colorful, and lamentable history. Flight dynamics are good and it's a trip back in time...if you care to go. Phu Bai is done circa 1970-71 as the complete 101st Abn. base it became late in the conflict. Email me, John, if you want more detail or screenshots or something. It's had a lot of downloads as have Richard's birds.
 
By DougK on July 23, 2007 11:06 AM
Ooops...mispoke about "War Wagon"...Callison's ride as modeled ws "Pig Pen". That's how it's liveried. My bad. Burned neurons and all that.
 
By Justtisguy on July 23, 2007 3:53 PM
Just what kind of weird transitional hybrid Frankenpiece is that? I see muzzleloader, no recoil system, all-metal carriage, rubber-band tires for paved roads, and brakes. Google does not appear to be optimized for obscure artillery searches. And, Oooh! Capsquares!
 
By Justthisguy on July 23, 2007 5:00 PM
Oh, man! W00t Hoot Toot! A Golf Ball Gun! Cheap to shoot, ball bounces funny, so's good for riot control, and you could play golf with it, in a scary way! Lessee, tee shots are no problem, but you obviously couldn't play the next shot as it lies... I have it! An inverted trebuchet on another carriage! The long arm swings down, pops the ball a good one, and yer on the green! Now, for putts, I think we want a captive-bolt "stunner", adapted for the .22 loads they use in stud drivers. Those come in a wide variety of strengths. There you are! Now you can play golf like a man or, like me, a perpetual 10-year-old.
 
By Justthisguy on July 23, 2007 5:16 PM
Oh, Verbum Sapienti on the Golf Gun; the diameter standard for golf balls is a minimum, not a maximum. For aerodynamic and ballistic reasons almost all makers make the balls right down to the minimum size, but some may not. Get or make your own max. diameter gauge. Prolly not a problem; if it takes muscle to ram it, it's too big.
 
By Justthisguy on July 23, 2007 5:28 PM
Oh, P.s. ; Golf balls are carefully designed to enhance the Magnus Effect. With the right muzzle attachment on the golf ball gun I betcha you could amaze friends and neighbors with curve balls. I am *so* geeking out on this, as if y'all haven't figured that out already. I mean, the ability to shoot around *corners*!
 
By I'll Pay For This... on July 23, 2007 7:32 PM
All I have to say is, that certainly gives 'getting a chubby' a whole new meaning... *running away*
 
By Justthisguy on July 23, 2007 7:34 PM
P.p.s. I don't think you want velocity on the golf ball that's greater than allowed by The Rules of Golf. At the Reynolds Numbers at which golf balls fly, rough surfaces help keep the boundary layer turbulent, and attached. That's how we get the neat Magnus Effect. If the ball comes out of the piece at anything close to M=1, I dunno. If y'all buy that piece, I recommend a small charge, so the ball doesn't start out any faster than if hit by Iron Byron. That would be cheap, too, important if yer going to do it twice/da
 
By Barb on July 24, 2007 5:06 PM
Ya know, JTG - For a guy who hates golf, you have a plethora of trivial information on it stuck inside yer head! Just sayin'.
 
By eric on July 25, 2007 3:42 PM
I have a few corrections about your T128 75mm Anti Tank cannon. The thing is actually a T124E2 76mm Anti-Tank Direct fire rifle. A pretty rare item though not "extinct" Less than 100 made and only 2 shooters left. It was made in the Watervliet Arsenal and several of the design concepts where taken from the German PaK40 namely the double baffled muzzle break. Yours is missing the blast shield which by the way is made of aluminum and intended to protect the gunner from the HUGE blast when it is fired. You are also missing the Direct Fire Optics which would have been mounted on the upper left trunion carrier The most interesting thing about your gun is that it is number 2 on the carrage and recoil assembly. The gun having those numbers is the one that was used for the TM9-355. The tube and breech mechanism is the same as used in the Walker Bulldog Tank A great shooting gun if you can find the shells,propellant and projectiles. You can see me firing mine on Mail Call when R. Lee Ermey was at Knob Creek. It is also posted on youtube.com (search Mail Call Knob Creek)
 
By eric on July 25, 2007 3:58 PM
I have a few corrections about your T128 75mm Anti Tank cannon. The thing is actually a T124E2 76mm Anti-Tank Direct fire rifle. A pretty rare item though not "extinct" Less than 100 made and only 2 shooters left. It was made in the Watervliet Arsenal and several of the design concepts where taken from the German PaK40 namely the double baffled muzzle break. Yours is missing the blast shield which by the way is made of aluminum and intended to protect the gunner from the HUGE blast when it is fired. You are also missing the Direct Fire Optics which would have been mounted on the upper left trunion carrier The most interesting thing about your gun is that it is number 2 on the carrage and recoil assembly. The gun having those numbers is the one that was used for the TM9-355. The tube and breech mechanism is the same as used in the Walker Bulldog Tank A great shooting gun if you can find the shells,propellant and projectiles. You can see me firing mine on Mail Call when R. Lee Ermey was at Knob Creek. It is also posted on youtube.com (search Mail Call Knob Creek)
 
By eric on July 25, 2007 3:59 PM
I have a few corrections about your T128 75mm Anti Tank cannon. The thing is actually a T124E2 76mm Anti-Tank Direct fire rifle. A pretty rare item though not "extinct" Less than 100 made and only 2 shooters left. It was made in the Watervliet Arsenal and several of the design concepts where taken from the German PaK40 namely the double baffled muzzle break. Yours is missing the blast shield which by the way is made of aluminum and intended to protect the gunner from the HUGE blast when it is fired. You are also missing the Direct Fire Optics which would have been mounted on the upper left trunion carrier The most interesting thing about your gun is that it is number 2 on the carrage and recoil assembly. The gun having those numbers is the one that was used for the TM9-355. The tube and breech mechanism is the same as used in the Walker Bulldog Tank A great shooting gun if you can find the shells,propellant and projectiles. You can see me firing mine on Mail Call when R. Lee Ermey was at Knob Creek. It is also posted on youtube.com (search Mail Call Knob Creek)
 
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