M28/M29 Davy Crockett

M28/M29 David Crockett Story

During the Cold War, the Soviet Union was a potential enemy in Europe, and the U.S. military was primarily tasked with countering expected armored and infantry incursions that would span the divided German border. As such, the U.S. Army has always been interested in the largest and most powerful weapon on the battlefield, which at the time proved to be a tactical nuclear weapon. There are three nuclear cannons in the U.S. inventory - the "Atomic Anne", which are mostly concealed and relocated as needed while their crews await orders to fire. The size of these Anne units, the tractors required, and the number of people made them relatively difficult to actually hideso easy for Soviet elements to track and observe.

If the Soviets decided to invade Europe, Anne's house would surely be one of the first to be attacked. Also, the only other nuclear weapons delivery weapons at the time were expensive bombers.

In the general military concept of the era, this was seen as the U.S. Army's requirement for a more stealthy class of nuclear weapons. In 1956, a small device called the "Atomic Battle Group" (ABG) was developed for highly skilled infantry units for border surveillance between East and West Germany. Known as the "David Crockett", it is a 155mm tactical nuclear recoilless cannon that uses a long-range standard M28 or M29 launcher body to fire the M388 nuclear bomb.

Launcher components were developed at Rock Island Arsenal, and W54 warheads were developed at Los Alamos and the Atomic Energy Commission. Designer Davy Crockett, named after American folk hero, lumberjack and congressman, recounts how one day when he ran out of ammo and came across a bear he had to "laugh at the bear" die".

The Soviet Union's national beast is the bear, so it seems like a good fit for those in the atomic warfare group waiting for the Soviet "bear" to attack. There is some confusion that the M-388 is a "recoilless rifle", which means the barrel/barrel will have a spiral groove that forces the cartridge to spin when ejected from the barrel. This "rifle" was used in rifles, pistols, and even barrels as large as the giant Krupp K5 for long-range accuracy.

However, the barrel of the M-388 was designed to be smooth, heavy, and unrifled - known as the "smooth barrel".

David Crockett's original idea was for a squad of infantrymen to carry launchers, tripod mounts, and warheads into battle, and to place the launchers on separate mounts, load weapons, and engage enemy units. The concept was later developed to allow the system to be mounted on a jeep or tracked vehicle, allowing multiple warheads to be carried.

Once the crew was ready, the M101 "target" round was fired from a small 37mm rifle mounted under the Crockett tube (the rifle was later added as standard). Based on the landing of the scout wheel, the officer in charge determined that the angle and time calculations were validated within 100 feet of the target. Depending on the position of the advancing force, officers would determine the height of the eruption by flipping a switch on the side of the warhead. The shooter would also be exposed to a lot of radiation within a 1.7-mile blast radius, so he was encouraged to fire from behind the mountain and keep his head down during the detonation.

If location overruns seemed likely, some reports suggested that the unit in charge of Davy Crockett was tasked with destroying her systemsa technical secret at the time.

When launched, the David Crockett M-388 will rise from the launcher at 100 mph with a moderately loud "pop" and produce a large volume of white smoke towards the target fly away. Once launched, a nuclear device cannot be aborted en route. The 37mm sight gun has a rifled barrel, but the smooth barrel design of the regular launcher results in poor range accuracy. Test shots are usually hundreds of feet from the aiming mark.

However, even a poorly positioned nuclear detonation is still lethal, so errors are negligible. The blast damage would be large, and the radiation would compensate for the imprecise trajectory.

In days or weeks, the death zone was 1/4 mile from the blast site, and anyone within 500 feet would be dead within hours.

In 1963, US President John F. Kennedy visited the 3rd Armoured Division in Hanau, West Germany and spotted David Crockett on display when he stopped to talk to soldiers nearby. Kennedy asked about the weapon's marksmanship and was informed of its destructive power. Later that year, President Kennedy ordered all David Crocketts to be removed from Germany, although they remained in the U.S.

Army's inventory until 1971. Instead, shells with nuclear warheads began to be delivered more and more.

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