The daily monitor leader. [volume] (Mount Clemens, Mich.) 1942-19??, 1944-01-21
. BEHIND THE SCENES
IN WASHINGTON .

mounted on fixed positions, the
weapons are mounted on air
planes travelling at from 200 to
400 miles an hour, and any dew
iation in the course Of the plane,
any movement in rough air or
any uncalculated or uncompen-
stated vibration throws off the
aim. This is the same difficulty
experienced with the dive
bomber. The necessity of hold.
ing the dive-bombing plane on
fixed course for only Is sec
onds or so before releasing the
bomb makes the plane itself
Vulnerable TO anti-aircraft fire.
Army Air Force and Ord
nance Department have been
experimenting with both air.
borone rocket guns and 75-mm.
aircraft guns for several years.
Col. Horace A. Quinn Of the
Army Ordnance Department
was the first man in the world
TO demonstrate that a high pow
cred 75-mm. field artillery gun
could be fired successfully from
a plane. The first installation
was completed in 1888. Colonel
Quinn supervised ground tests
CT BIB Douglas medium
bomber Of Aberdeen Proving
Grounds. In extended tests be-
fore the Air Corps Board at Ell
gin Field, Fla, in 1910, he oper-
ated the range finder. Later,
when the recoil mechanism was
perfected and the new gun as
sembly was mounted in a BIS,
Colonel Quinn acted as gunner
in tests along the California
coast in October 1912. Develop
ment of a new lightweight rs
and new gun mounts for air
planes permitted final tests with
pilot models in August l943.
when manufacture for the BIS
was begun.
ROCKET HAS LIMITED
RANGE
The shortcomings of the Ger
man rocket guns mounted in
pairs beneath the wings of Ger
man combat planes are perhaps
even greater than those of the
IS. u. S. ordnance men have
been experimenting with rock
els, too, as borne out by their
development of the American
anti-tank bazooka, so they know
about the characteristics Of
these weapons.
German plane-mounted rock
ct guns carry a she'll with an ex-
plosive charge equivalent to a
five-inch projectile-larger than
the rs, which is about three
inches. But the range of the
rocket is limited. The Germans
claim 1000 yards, but u. S. air
men say il is less than 1000
yards. It's trajectory is extreme
ly high. It's velocity is at first
slow, but it gains speed as the
rocket discharge delivers more
momentum. 1t is therefore not
as accurate as high velocity
shell.
A rocket shell lobbed into the
center OF a close formation Of
bombers at short range is. how
ever, nothing TO laugh off. It's
high explosive charge throws
pieces of Jagged metal in all di-
rections and they will tear holes
in anything they are lucky
enough to hit.
But the rockets disadvantage
es make it possible to overcome
its threat. The rocket carriages
slow down the plane by as much
as so to IS miles an hour, maxi
ing it q better target for oppos-
ing gunners in fighter and
bomber airplanes. And when
both rockets have been dis
charged, the plane is through
and must break off combat or
rely on its auxiliary machine
guns. Against single planes or
open formations, the rocket is of
minimum effectiveness.
Plane borne rockets can and
no doubt will be improved. But
at the present time the possibil-
tiles for development of the aer-