Hi guys. I was wondering if I should drill out the front of the rocket tubes I am going to put on my P-47's I'm building. Was the rocket pushed all the way up the front of the tube or did sit at the back of the tube? I found a great pic on the front cover of the book Fighters of WW2[Jeffrey Ethell& Robert T. Sand]. Also it looks like the interior of the tube might be painted in some kind of faded red. Any info would be greatly appreciated, THANKS Wingman out.

Wingman,

I know this is a bit off topic coming from an armor guy, but the tankers in WWII used 4.5 inch rocket tubes for their Calliope rocket launchers mounted on Sherman tanks. I've done a ton of research on these units. The 4.5 inch rocket was mounted in the rear of the tube, and the firing wires were also mounted in the rear. The tubes were plastic and had a fairly short life. For more technical info about the rocket launchers, visit my web page:

http://www.752ndtank.com/RocketTanks.html

Hope this helps.

Bob Holt

Hi wingman,

from what I've seen, you'd better drill them out.

A question of mine: where these the same 4.5 inch rockets as on the Calliope or were they more like the Bazooka (or is there no difference) ?

Frank

Frank,

I agree with you, definitely drill out the tubes.

The 4.5 inch rockets were very different from the 2.36 inch M9A1 Bazooka. The 4.5 inch rocket looked almost cylindrical in shape. The Bazooka rockets had a charge at the front, and a shaft connecting the charge to the stabilizer at the rear.

Both the 4.5 and the 2.36 inch rockets initially had stabilizer fins at the rear. Toward the end of the war, the fins were replaced with canted nozzles in a ring-like base.

Hope this helps.

Bob Holt

THX tank !

CU

Frank

Hi guys. Thanks for the help. I will probably drill them out , but very carefully, Thanks again, Wingman out.