Alternate weapons and equipment-1950s

I remember reading a series of articles in the monthly POPULAR SCIENCE magazine(?) by Frank Tinsley about really WEIRD material for use by the Armed Forces. The first one was a variation of the c119 Flying Boxcar use for paratroops and freight. Tinsley proposed that the FREIGHT/Cargo section be detachable so it could be Air dropped! I kid you not. Also he talked about a small one man platform to carrier the Trooper of the Future. Oh brother. Last of all I DID see that the Army has something called the Mechanical Mule- a Very Small flatbed truck for field use. Comments please.
 
ED(Mister) said:
I remember reading a series of articles in the monthly POPULAR SCIENCE magazine(?) by Frank Tinsley about really WEIRD material for use by the Armed Forces. The first one was a variation of the c119 Flying Boxcar use for paratroops and freight. Tinsley proposed that the FREIGHT/Cargo section be detachable so it could be Air dropped! I kid you not.

Ever saw how Soviet airborne divisions were droping heavy weapons? Pack them in big box and attach parachute on it. Hang several meters of rope with sensor below it. When sensor hits the ground it activates braking rockets on box, slowing it down. Bottom of box is filled with balls made from crushable material so they reduce shock and vibrations from landing.

Rumours have it when this was prototyped Stalin ordered constructor to be in the box when it was tested first time.
 
During the 50`s and early sixties the US army tested and fielded a lot of highly unorthodo x and/or experimental weapons. The best known of these must be the Davy Crocket, a short range nuclear weapon carried on a Jeep and with a minimum arming distance of 300 meters.
The mechanical mule mutated until it became the Gamma Goat, developed by LTV and weighted 7.5 tons.
Other funnies were the M151 Jeep which featured a independent suspension and a deceided tendency for turning over or the Scorpion, a 90 mm self-propelled anti-tank gun without any protection for it`s crew.
There were also a lot of prototypes for one-man helicopters, flying platforms and the like.
They were usually rejected becase of costs, low range and/or being hard to use.
Alternate technologies which could or should have been developed: The US army tested several medium calibre rounds before selecting the 7,62 NATO which was deemed to strong by most other NATO members but adopted anyway. Just to be replaced 14 years later with the 5.56 NATO, which is about to be replaced by an intermediate range cartridge just like those tested during the 50`s.
 
As a child in the early 1960's I used to spend hours in the public library looking at archived "Life" and "Look" magazines from the 1930-s-1950's. I distinctly remember two stories about Soviet wonder weapons which were alleged to exist. One in Life from the late 1940's or early 50's featured an illustrated article about huge Russian battleship/carrier hybrids displacing over 70,000 Tons and armed with missiles, heavy guns, and 30 some-odd planes. Pictures were really detailed waterline paintings of sinister dark-grey ships sure to impress nerdy 12-year olds like me. Later in life I read the Russians actually produced fake designs and spotting books showing ships like these to mislead western intellegence they really existed. "Janes" never bought any of it but I sure did. The other, possibly from the late 50's or early 60's described and illustrated a huge nuclear powered Soviet bomber looking something like the Myaschev (sp) Bounder (a big delta-winged bomber made public AFTER the article), but much sleeker and more dangerous looking. Oddly, Aurora models in the 60's also made a plastic model kit of this mythical plane. They also made a "Mig-19" before the real one existed which had a high "T" tail and looked more like an experimental WW2 German jet than anyhting else.

I also remember the excitement surrounding all the futuristic flying platforms, flying jeeps,air cushion flying cars, atomic cannons, atomic powered planes/airships, etc which made growing up in the 1950'sand 60's (at least for a suburban white kid) much "funner" than today. Today, it seems to take an eternity to plan, design, and then (often not) produce a single new plane or tank. In the '50's and 60's it seemed like the USA and USSR would turn out odd-ball experimental fighters like hotcakes, some of which looked like they were built just to see if they could fly..
 
Thanks people..you too Straha. BTW whatever happened to the ever popular Atomic plane. I think I've got some ideas. How about it. Why wasn't it made?
 

Straha

Banned
ED(Mister) said:
Thanks people..you too Straha. BTW whatever happened to the ever popular Atomic plane. I think I've got some ideas. How about it. Why wasn't it made?
a way to get some of the more exotic technologies used/developed is to have a more intense cold war. Taft's USA/USSR control of all of europe might be a good place to start.
 
ED(Mister) said:
Thanks people..you too Straha. BTW whatever happened to the ever popular Atomic plane. I think I've got some ideas. How about it. Why wasn't it made?

IIRC, there was a nuke-propelled cruise missile which made it all the way to prototypes ( only problem, it leaked radioactive waste all along its flight track ).

Also in the 50s, there were various rocket propelled interceptors ( e.g. Trident ), with a higher climbing rate than SAMs.

Pluton is interesting, from a political PoV. Maximum 120 km nuclear missile, forbidden by law to be deployed outside national territory... in a country which has no hostile border... :confused:
 
What about if weird and wacky toys like the experimental 'Flying Flapjack' had been developed and utilised by the USAF ?
 
Yeah, also like the XF85 Goblin hook-on escort fighter for the B-36 or (I forget the name) that supersonic delta-winged retractable floatlane fighter built for the US navy. I also remember the British experimented with rocket powered interceptors and a flying boat (!) jet fighter. In the climate of the early cold war, if an engineer could imagine anything, the government was there to build at least one prototype!
 
There were proposals for Surmesable ships in the Fifties
Idea being the Ship whould creap along the Bottom, And the BB whould then popup and Bombard the Coast.
 
zoomar said:
Yeah, also like the XF85 Goblin hook-on escort fighter for the B-36 or (I forget the name) that supersonic delta-winged retractable floatlane fighter built for the US navy.

Sovs experimented with similar thing. It was scraped after several tests in which fighter couldn't re-atach itself to bomber and broke several canopies with "hook".
 
Melvin. Thank you so much for mentioning the flying flapjack. sounds like somethin Straha could use. BTW the Smithsonian AIR&SPACE magazine for MAY of this year had an article. The ORIGINAL model is being sent to Texas for two years renovation before being lent for display. DO NOT know if it will return to the Air and Space museum and it NEW annex near DUlles Airport. :cool:
 
Zoomar the jet plane was the SEA DART. There was a problem with water as it took off on SKIS! from the water. Engines weere on the top part of the wings. It never took off-so to speak. I believe most of the flights were disasters.
 
aktarian said:
Sovs experimented with similar thing. It was scraped after several tests in which fighter couldn't re-atach itself to bomber and broke several canopies with "hook".


You're right. IIRC it was in the 1930's with not one, but two, Polikarpov I-16's attached under the wings of a Tupolev TB-3. My understanding was the I-16's were not for defense but to carry bombs, sort of like manned stand off cruise missiles. I was unaware they were planned to re-attach themselves. Are you talking about a post war plane?
 
zoomar said:
You're right. IIRC it was in the 1930's with not one, but two, Polikarpov I-16's attached under the wings of a Tupolev TB-3. My understanding was the I-16's were not for defense but to carry bombs, sort of like manned stand off cruise missiles. I was unaware they were planned to re-attach themselves. Are you talking about a post war plane?

I don't remember much but yes, it was post war plane and fighters were for escort.
 
The British once played around with a flying Valentine tank which was supposed to fly thanks to rocket engines attached to it. They even built a couple of prototypes. Needless to say the tests proved to be disastrous to say the least.
 
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