122mm rockets

I have just finished reading another book on SOG and I am somewhat confused about just how accurate these rockets were/are. I also watched a video I have in my collection where Chechnian Rebels are firing them from a mountain top towards a valley that is miles away and this got me to thinking.

I understand that they have a "maximum" range and that Trigonometry has to come into play here since they technically are not considered "guided". So, if one were to set these up to bombard say the camp at Dak To they would need to know the range from where they are to Dak To. Then, they would have to figure out the correct angle to set the rockets up at so that the rocket(s) would reach "burnout" at the right moment and fall to their target(s).

Is there more to this or do I have the basics right?

It seems to me that during Vietnam the enemy became really accurate with them or was it really just pot luck?

[Ambush Master]

Pot Luck !!! They blew up more in the Vills around the compound than in it !!! They are/were very unreliable. Usually they used very rudimentary "launchers" ie, a Bamboo stalk split in half that they layed them in !!! (Yes the bamboo was that large !!) There was a thread in here that showed some of them being launched in the sandbox !!

Also, they had charts and tables that got them close, similar to our "Mortar Tables".

Later
Martin

[HOLLiS]

[QUOTE=Ambush Master]Pot Luck !!! They blew up more in the Vills around the compound than in it !!! They are/were very unreliable. Usually they used very rudimentary "launchers" ie, a Bamboo stalk split in half that they layed them in !!! (Yes the bamboo was that large !!) There was a thread in here that showed some of them being launched in the sandbox !!

Also, they had charts and tables that got them close, similar to our "Mortar Tables".

We use to think the best place to be was the Target.... They seem to hit just about everything else.

[Jack Moroney (RIP)]

[QUOTE=HOLLiS]

Originally Posted by Ambush Master

We use to think the best place to be was the Target.... They seem to hit just about everything else.

Well yes and no. We used to get hit regularly at Ben Het, offen referred to as Being Het, by 122s and in one salvo they took out 6 vehicles that had just been delivered. Other than that, the craters made one hell of a ready fox hole after they stopped smoking

Jack Moroney

[HOLLiS]

[QUOTE=Jack Moroney]

Originally Posted by HOLLiS

Well yes and no. We used to get hit regularly at Ben Het, offen referred to as Being Het, by 122s and in one salvo they took out 6 vehicles that had just been delivered. Other than that, the craters made one hell of a ready fox hole after they stopped smoking

Jack Moroney

We had a "rat patrol jeep" get hit with one, fortunately it was just parked and no one was in it. They would go for Quang Tri air field and hit other targets. One night they hit 3rd Med Laundry. I would not want to be in it's impact area. They were very good with morters. I am glad they did not have a decent launching system for the 122.

[Jack Moroney (RIP)]

[QUOTE=HOLLiS]

Originally Posted by Jack Moroney

I am glad they did not have a decent launching system for the 122.

I am glad that they did not have a great resupply system for any of the larger ordnance they loved to throw at us. I have this picture in my brain housing group of some old man hauling a 122 rocket down the Ho Chi Minh Trail, setting it up on one of the bamboo launchers we used to find, setting it off and then being told, "Nuygen thanks a lot, now go back north and get another one".

[lksteve]

Originally Posted by MAB32

I understand that they have a "maximum" range and that Trigonometry has to come into play here since they technically are not considered "guided".

trigonometry comes into play with guided projectiles as well...precise measurements and navigation are the result of triangulation...

Originally Posted by MAB32

Is there more to this or do I have the basics right?

met data...meteorology has quite a bit to do with ballistic weapons...the rate at which the propellent burns is governed somewhat by atmospheric pressure (although subjecting said propellents to increased pressure, like an underwater fuze really speeds things up), the resistance the projectile encounters is also affected by atmospherics...wind and temperature, to varying degrees affect the flight of a ballistic weapon...

[Lancer33]

We used to get hit with them a couple of times a week at Camp Evans. Just a couple. You can hear them comming and you were real glad that there was a bunker right outside the hooch door.