1963 Weapons Tests

[Slick]

http://xbradtc.com/2015/06/27/daily...y-air-force-weapons-effects-tests-circa-1963/

Not much I can add to this. Of note, the two F100s attacking the rail line with delay fuzed bombs. Sometimes, things don't work out so well.

 

[beihan62]

Hi Slick,thanks for posting that very interesting film,speaking from a preservation point of view it was a pity they had to use those trucks/tanks/dukws/planes etc,as targets,(surplus ww2)on the other hand it was interesting to see the effects of air attacks with various weapons and their effectivness on targets,
Thanks again,
Regards,
Don,

 

[HAZORD]

I watched the whole film with amazement. 1963 being very early in the Vietnam war, before procedures were really established in that war. I saw things in that film that I wouldn't have believed if I hadn't seen them done.

The first thing that really stood out was the use of the F104 Starfigher in an Air-to-ground role. That plane was always heralded as a super fast air-to-air interceptor to protect us from Russian bombers and other aircraft. The pilots could barely keep them in the air, and it certainly doesn't have the wings or structure for dropping napalm.

It was also interesting to see napalm used as the cure-all for everything. This film was evidently done before the public sentiment against napalm had formed.

Lastly, seeing the Air Force using Navy 5 inch Zuni rockets was a surprise. This was the first time I had ever seen that done.

Overall, a very interesting film.

 

[glevum]

The buildings being attacked around 6:30:00 - 7:00:00 look very similar the V1 ski site buildings.

Does anyone know if a ski site was built in the US post war?

 

[AMMOTECHXT]

The buildings being attacked around 6:30:00 - 7:00:00 look very similar the V1 ski site buildings.

Does anyone know if a ski site was built in the US post war?

I'm sure they were. I've seen somewhere, possibly on this site, that captured V1s were taken to the USA and tested in various ways. I'm sure that would have involved test firings.

 

[glevum]

I knew that some captured V1s were tested in the US post war, but always thought that they would only need to erect a catapult to carry out the firings.

The ski shaped buildings were where they stored multiple V1s.

 

[TimG]

These buildings were probably for the U.S. manufactured V1s ("Loons") which were 'reversed engineered' from parts recovered in the UK and Europe, which were intended for use in the invasion of Japan. However, the use of the nuclear weapons made this not necessary and they became the progenitor of today's Cruise Missiles.

TimG