D
Dave Fawthrop
Guest
On Thu, 15 Jul 2004 10:15:10 +0100, martin <[email protected]> wrote:
| On Wed, 14 Jul 2004 17:55:06 +0100, Dave Fawthrop
| <[email protected]> wrote:
|
| >On Wed, 14 Jul 2004 16:45:08 +0100, martin <[email protected]> wrote:
| >
| >| On Wed, 14 Jul 2004 16:25:08 +0100, Dave Fawthrop
| >| <[email protected]> wrote:
| >|
| >| >On Wed, 14 Jul 2004 15:50:09 +0100, Mark <[email protected]> wrote:
| >| >
| >| >
| >| >| If your memory needs jogging further, does the 'Iraqi supergun affair'
| >| >| ring any bells?
| >| >
| >| >Jogs my memory.
| >| >They have sections of Sadam's Supergun at Royal Armouries, Fort Nelson
| >| >http://www.armouries.org.uk/extsite/view.jsp?sectionId=83
| >| >We saw them and they are most impressive.
| >| >
| >| >Because Sadam could plan a ?1?m bore gun to fire at Isreal, I would not put
| >| >*anything* past him.
| >|
| >| Don't you mean that western arms salesmen sold him the idea?
| >
| >No the story is well known. Gerald Bull a gun designer who had produced
| >small scale prototypes got Sadam to build the big one.
|
| Since Gerald Bull was paid for his services, first with money and
| eventually with his life I would describe him as a western arms
| salesman.
No he was an engineer/visionary *driven* by the idea of constructing and
testing impossibly large guns
| >It was so big that
| >you needed the side of a steep valley to build it in, aimed at Israel and
| >could not re aimed.
|
| a bit like V1 launchers and perfectly adequate for what both countries
| had in mind.
No! the 1m bore supergun was a *huge* construction. Basically a 512 feet
long 1m bore tube mounted at 45degrees up the side of a valley mounted on
huge concrete mounts. You have all seen Pen-y-Ghent, and some will have
climbed it, well Babylon would nicely fit against the steep bit near the
top, with not much hill to spare.
Photos of ?Baby? Babylon which was 340mmm bore by 40m long.
http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/iraq/other/supergun.htm
http://home.att.net/~Berliner-Ultrasonics/ordsuper.html#babylon
(lots of other info on superguns)
note the pickup trucks at the bottom.
Babylon was 3 times the bore and four times the length
| > Photos are at Fort Nelson.
If anyone is in the area, Fort Nelson is worth a visit.
Dave F
| On Wed, 14 Jul 2004 17:55:06 +0100, Dave Fawthrop
| <[email protected]> wrote:
|
| >On Wed, 14 Jul 2004 16:45:08 +0100, martin <[email protected]> wrote:
| >
| >| On Wed, 14 Jul 2004 16:25:08 +0100, Dave Fawthrop
| >| <[email protected]> wrote:
| >|
| >| >On Wed, 14 Jul 2004 15:50:09 +0100, Mark <[email protected]> wrote:
| >| >
| >| >
| >| >| If your memory needs jogging further, does the 'Iraqi supergun affair'
| >| >| ring any bells?
| >| >
| >| >Jogs my memory.
| >| >They have sections of Sadam's Supergun at Royal Armouries, Fort Nelson
| >| >http://www.armouries.org.uk/extsite/view.jsp?sectionId=83
| >| >We saw them and they are most impressive.
| >| >
| >| >Because Sadam could plan a ?1?m bore gun to fire at Isreal, I would not put
| >| >*anything* past him.
| >|
| >| Don't you mean that western arms salesmen sold him the idea?
| >
| >No the story is well known. Gerald Bull a gun designer who had produced
| >small scale prototypes got Sadam to build the big one.
|
| Since Gerald Bull was paid for his services, first with money and
| eventually with his life I would describe him as a western arms
| salesman.
No he was an engineer/visionary *driven* by the idea of constructing and
testing impossibly large guns
| >It was so big that
| >you needed the side of a steep valley to build it in, aimed at Israel and
| >could not re aimed.
|
| a bit like V1 launchers and perfectly adequate for what both countries
| had in mind.
No! the 1m bore supergun was a *huge* construction. Basically a 512 feet
long 1m bore tube mounted at 45degrees up the side of a valley mounted on
huge concrete mounts. You have all seen Pen-y-Ghent, and some will have
climbed it, well Babylon would nicely fit against the steep bit near the
top, with not much hill to spare.
Photos of ?Baby? Babylon which was 340mmm bore by 40m long.
http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/iraq/other/supergun.htm
http://home.att.net/~Berliner-Ultrasonics/ordsuper.html#babylon
(lots of other info on superguns)
note the pickup trucks at the bottom.
Babylon was 3 times the bore and four times the length
| > Photos are at Fort Nelson.
If anyone is in the area, Fort Nelson is worth a visit.
Dave F
