The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current, 1944-07-20
Aberdeen Proving Grounds-Where Uncle Sam
Tests Sinews Of War Under Battle Conditions

directed by Col. Leslie E. Simon.
There the vital statistics of what
happens to projectiles in the interior
of the gun and in flight are studied
and tabulated.
WITH these statistics, accurate fir
W ing tables are worked out for
army gunners and automatic firing
devices are set to send shells and
bullets unerringly to their targets.
At Aberdeen are some Of the most
ingenious cameras in America. Be
cause they will operate at rate of
forty-thousandth to a hundred thous-
andth of a second, a proiecticle may
be photographed, from different an
giles, in actual flight.
In other wars it was difficult to
train men to fire big guns and valu-
able time was lost in endless calcu-
lation. Today all this is done by the
adaptation of business machines.
These tables, in the hands of Amer
lean gunners, are giving us the fire
power supremacy which has shat
tered the enemy on a dozen fronts.
LIVERY shot fired at the Aberdeen
"a laboratory is checked electrically
no fewer than 13 times and its flight
and destination are predicted and
recorded so accurately that the ac-
tual results will not vary from the
mathematical calculations more than
four feet in 80 miles. A complete
case history is preserved on micro
| film.
An automotive test and research
division is headed by 1t. Col. Edward
Gray. In this huge array of shops
test roads and laboratories, every
type of vehicle used by the army is
examined with fine-tooth comb.
Tanks, half-tracks, armored scout
cars, jeeps and amphibious vehicles
all are scrutinized for performance
quality and endurance. There is &
corduroy road with ruts made of con
crete. 1t is said to be the worst bi,
of roadway on the American contin
ent, and it is designed to test tanl
stamina.
THERE is an artificial hill full O.
= hairpin turns with the angle O.
the hill gradually increasing until i
is almost 80 degrees.
There is a concrete race tract
where the tanks are opened wide an,
dash around at 25 to 80 miles al
hour to test their endurance.
The proof fronts" is the nam
applied to the firing ranges. Every
thing is fired, from a 20-mm. air
craft cannon up to a 16-inch coas
artillery gun.
Today all cannon are supplied il
greater numbers and the troops worl
out all sorts of new combinations t
develop the fire power necessary fo
each particular emergency.
MUCH artillery is on self-propelle
1'A gun motor carriages, and 155
nm. gun may fire a few rounds an
be moved away before the enemy ha
time to locate the position and retur
the fire. Several 155-mm. guns ma
be combined to produce a barrag
which is deadly to enemy troops.
The 75-mm. tank gun provides tn
striking power for the potent Gel
Sherman tank which the axis ha
learned to respect. The 37-mm. ant
tank gun has been called "Littl
Poison" because of its effectiveness
against enemy tanks and armore
vehicles. The Comm. anti-aircrat
gun is highly-mobile, high-velocit
! weapon for use against either groun
or aerial charges.
The 105, of course, is the wor
horse of the army, being used as
: bombardment and anti-tank weapo
, as well as operating on self-propelle
, mounts for hit-and-run tactics.
THE 155 is long-range siege gu
/ = which can hurl 95-pound proie'
ticle for 15 miles. The largest mobi
field piece is the 240-mm. howitzt
! which is transported on two trailer
, The gun, in firing position, weigf
80 tons. This monster is ideal fc
, heavy bombardment, for it will hu
a 360-pound proiecticle from seve
to IA miles.
It's too bad the general public ma
not be admitted to the museum ;
Aberdeen Proving Ground. Thel
are few places in America more il
teresting. When a bit of equipmel
is captured on a foreign BATTLEFIELD,
it is marked with yellow paint: "FC
the Commanding General, Aberdee
Proving Ground, Maryland, U. S. A