M1 Rocket Launcher
date: label: date made
content: 1942
name: label: maker
content: General Electric Company
notes: label: Description
content: Physical Description
label: Description
content: M1 rocket launcher, 60 mm, known as a “Bazooka.”
label: Description
content: General History
label: Description
content: The United States had a growing stockpile of excellent antitank warheads but lacked a suitable delivery system. Colonel Leslie Skinner, a U.S. Army officer at the Ordnance Proving Ground, was an enthusiastic proponent of rockets. He suggested carrying the hollow charge at the tip of a high-speed rocket. He built a rocket to carry a grenade body, then took a modified 60-mm mortar tube and demonstrated the destructive force of his new weapon in front of high-ranking generals. The officers gathered to see the official demonstrations of other weapons were suitably impressed and Skinner's weapon was ordered into production immediately. The new weapon was soon modified for production and a month later, in May 1942, General Electric had built 5,000 ready for combat. The first model was known as the Rocket Launcher M1. The caliber of 60 mm or 2.36 inches was determined by the grenades used as the warhead, which were already in production. The Bazooka got its nickname for its similar shape to the popular 1930s and 1940s radio comedian Bob Burns’s musical instrument, a homemade trombone he called a Bazooka.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: Place Made
content: United States
topic: label: related event
content: World War II
label: related event
content: The Great Depression and World War II
setName: label: See more items in
content: Military and Society: Armed Forces History, Military
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content: Military
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content: ThinkFinity
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: U.S. Department of Defense. Department of the Navy. Marine Corps Museum
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: AF.67438M
label: catalog number
content: 67438M
label: accession number
content: 243351
objectType: label: Object Name
content: launcher, rocket
label: Other Terms
content: launcher, rocket; Firearms; 2.36 In; Smooth Bore
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 11 in x 55 in x 3 1/2 in; 27.94 cm x 139.7 cm x 8.89 cm