Just in case somebody on this board happens to know the answer to this: how were russian katyusha rockets fired? Did an operator sit inside the cab of the truck to fire them or was there a remote wire hook up of some kind from the truck, with the operator standing many yards away?
Anyone happen to know this?
Katyusha question
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luftpanzer
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yeah that's what i thought too until someone on missing-lynx mentioned that he believed that the operator was inside the cab. So i did some thinking about it and studied pictures of katyusha in firing postions.
First off there is an armored windscreen and roof top on all katyusha trucks to protect the windsheild and cab of the truck.....if someone is inside it would protect them too.
Second i've studied several, greatly magnified pics of katyusha in firing position and have not been able to find one wire or cable leading from one truck....if they were remotely fired i should think i would have spotted one wire somewhere.
Third the trucks are parked pretty close together so if someone is firing them remotely i don't know where he is standing; not in between the trucks certainly, not behind (unless waaaaay behind) and clearly not in front either, so where?
Fourth, i found an illustration of a katyusha ready to fire on the net and there is clearly a person inside the cab
And lastly it is the simplest way of doing it and lord knows the russians usually adopted the simplest solution.
That said the german stuka zu fus was fired by a remote operator via a wire hook up to the vehicle. That vehicle was a sdkfz 251 and was armored and yet the designers still chose a remote firing method.
First off there is an armored windscreen and roof top on all katyusha trucks to protect the windsheild and cab of the truck.....if someone is inside it would protect them too.
Second i've studied several, greatly magnified pics of katyusha in firing position and have not been able to find one wire or cable leading from one truck....if they were remotely fired i should think i would have spotted one wire somewhere.
Third the trucks are parked pretty close together so if someone is firing them remotely i don't know where he is standing; not in between the trucks certainly, not behind (unless waaaaay behind) and clearly not in front either, so where?
Fourth, i found an illustration of a katyusha ready to fire on the net and there is clearly a person inside the cab
And lastly it is the simplest way of doing it and lord knows the russians usually adopted the simplest solution.
That said the german stuka zu fus was fired by a remote operator via a wire hook up to the vehicle. That vehicle was a sdkfz 251 and was armored and yet the designers still chose a remote firing method.
Last edited by aferguson on Thu Mar 17, 2005 10:58 am, edited 1 time in total.
In fact the correct answer is.......................both.
All katyusha from the very first ones to the present have had the option of being operated from either inside the cab or from a remote location via a 60m cable connection. Which was more common i don't know but i would guess from inside the cab as it is faster to both set up and bug out after firing to avoid counter battery fire.
All katyusha from the very first ones to the present have had the option of being operated from either inside the cab or from a remote location via a 60m cable connection. Which was more common i don't know but i would guess from inside the cab as it is faster to both set up and bug out after firing to avoid counter battery fire.