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.

[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...

[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".

[QRQ 30]

Let me say this about that. At Khe Sahn the 122s were the little ones. We were shelled continuously by 152s. The rocket is an area wea[pm rather than pinpoint. When the area is the size of KSCB they rarely missed.

A few memories.

Since you can hear them from ignition to impact they scare the shit out of you.

We had a shower stall made of corrugated tin. It looked like a collander. You needed a buddy outside listening for incoming. Ears became very well tuned and you could hear the rockets and guns from their positions in Laos.

I believe their FO hated me. It seems they would wait until I was "comfortably" seated on the shitter, and then fire one off. He then no doubt laughed his butt off as I came running out of the latrine trying to pull my pants up and hit a trench. The funny part was that the latrine was in a fairly well protected bunker.

99% of all wounds at Khe Sahn were head wounds. Curiosity didn' pay.

It is begining to sound like to me that these 122's were a much smaller version of the modern day Scud. Same principals seem to apply.

QRQ 30,

I was reading somewhere that during the seige for KS the ammo dump sustained a direct hit by a 122(?). If so, did they or would they have had to fire a few inorder to "walk" them in until they had the range? I ask because a few books make it sound like it was one rocket and one "lucky" direct hit.

[The Reaper]

Originally Posted by MAB32

It is begining to sound like to me that these 122's were a much smaller version of the modern day Scud. Same principals seem to apply.

Negative.

The BM-122 is an HE rocket.

A SCUD is a missile, much larger and more complex, with a full support package and a variety of payloads.

TR

[QRQ 30]

Rockets are an area weapon. Normally, to be effective they are fired in salvo. The NVA did fire single rounds hoping to hit something. Indirect fire weapons are not fired at point targets. Mortars are similar. To hit a target you fire for effect, not single rounds.

[HOLLiS]

Originally Posted by QRQ 30

99% of all wounds at Khe Sahn were head wounds. Curiosity didn' pay.

I was East of you, LZ Stud/Vandergrift to the coast. Mostly on Mutter's Ridge. I had friends at Khe Sahn in grunts and ATs (ontos).

We were told to have our flak jackets on, helmets on and be down in our holes at 1400. So naturally we looked, a large fix wing flew up the valley west of Mutter's Ridge low (lower than we were on the ridge) and turned around and came back. Nothing happened or so it seemed. Never did find out what the plane was about. That valley was used by the Bac Biet to go between RVN and N Viet-Nam.

[QRQ 30]

If you haven't already done so, go the the VA and tell them you were exposed to Agent Orange. I used to watch the C-123s spraying the tree line and thought they had balls. Flying at very low level amd armed only with sprayers.

I used to scoff at the tales of AO but now I am 100% disabled by problems which they atrtribute to AO.

Check out my web site. They set up two ONTOS right behind my condo (bunker) There is a picture in the FOB-3/Khe Sahn section. It was a welcomed addition to our LAW's, especially after Lang Vei.

[HOLLiS]

Thank you for the photos and sharing your web site. You have a super family.

My primary MOS was 0353, Ontos. In 1969 they were phased out. I was sent to III MAF CAG/CAP(toi tieng biet), from there to 3rd Division on the D. I am 100% P&T. Heaviest use of AO was in Summer of '69 in Quang Tri, I did not like reading that article. My secondary MOS was 0311.

Best,

Hollis

Great info coming in, I really appreciate it!

QRQ 30, are you willing?