M51 Skysweeper
| M51 Skysweeper | ||
|---|---|---|
Breech Vertical sliding-wedge | | |
| Recoil | Hydro-pneumatic | |
| Carriage | Four wheel with outriggers | |
| Elevation | -6° to +85°[1] | |
| Traverse | 360° | |
| Rate of fire | 45 rpm | |
| Muzzle velocity | 854 m/s (2,800 ft/s) | |
| Effective firing range | 9 km (30,000 ft) (vertical) | |
| Maximum firing range | 13 km (43,000 ft) (horizontal)[1] | |
The M51 Skysweeper (Gun, M51, Antiaircraft or Gun automatic, 75-mm T83E6, and E7, recoil mechanism, and loader rammer) was an anti-aircraft gun deployed in the early 1950s by both the U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force. It was the first such gun to combine a gun laying radar, analog computer (director) and an autoloader on a single carriage.
The Skysweeper was introduced just as
The Skysweeper system was used for a relatively short period of time, from the mid to late 1950s in the US, and into the 1960s and 1970s in some overseas locations. By that time newer missile systems were closing the range gap, and the Army was busy developing new weapons like the MIM-46 Mauler for this role.
Development
Anti-aircraft guns naturally fall into several categories, each for a different altitude and speed requirement. High-altitude targets require very large guns to get the needed power into the shell to reach those altitudes, but at the same time have the advantage of not needing to move very fast because at that range the change in angle of the target was small—consider the seemingly slow motion of an airliner at cruise altitude. At very low altitudes there were only seconds in which to react when spotting an aircraft over local terrain, so a hand-swung weapon was the only possibility, no matter how inaccurate. The short ranges meant that accuracy was not needed, nor was a large gun needed to cover the range.
This left an intermediate altitude at which a small gun could not be used because the range to the aircraft was too far, and a larger gun could not be used because the targets were moving too fast. During World War II this niche had been covered by the
The
The Army publicly announced the Skysweeper system in the Spring of 1953.[3]
Deployment
Skysweeper deployment began in the early 1950s. Skysweeper was also part of the
In 1957, ARAACOM was renamed to US Army Air Defense Command (USARADCOM, ARADCOM in 1961) and, ARAACOM started to dramatically replace gun sites with fewer missile sites (
By the end of 1957 Skysweeper battalions remained at
Survivors
- Two Skysweepers are on display at the Air Defense Artillery Museum at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, one in the ADA Park and one at the temporary museum facility.
- A Skysweeper is part of the outdoor exhibit at the Rock Island Arsenal Museum in Illinois
- A pair of Skysweepers in varying states of preservation are on display at the Fort Lewis Museum outdoor exhibit at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington.
- A pair of Skysweepers are on display outside the gate of Camp Rilea just south of Warrenton, Oregon.
- There is a Skysweeper on display outside of the VFW in Elberton, GA.
- One Skysweeper is on display at the International Artillery Museum , St. Jo, Texas.
- One Skysweeper is on display at the American Military Museum, South El Monte, California.
- One Skysweeper is on display at the JGSDF Shimoshidu base, Chiba. Japan.
See also
- S-60 57mm Anti Aircraft Gunserved in the same role in the Soviet Army
References
- ^ OCLC 911907988.
- ^ "JGSDF Anti-Aircraft Gun PAGE". Strange-Mecha.com. Archived from the original on 2011-05-14. Retrieved 2010-12-16.
- ^ Red Bank Register. Red Bank, New Jersey. April 30, 1953. p. 3. Retrieved 2010-12-16.
is capable of conducting its own search for hostile aircraft--even in fog or darkness--and can shoot them down as far away as four miles.
- ^ RADAR EQUIPMENT - SITES & SPECIFICATIONS by Martin Shough (via the Internet Archive). Accessed 9 July 2008.
External links
- Moeller, Colonel Stephen P. (1995). "Vigilant and Invincible". Redstone Arsenal Historical Information. US Army Armament Munitions & Chemical Command. Retrieved 2013-11-07.
- Warrell, Kenneth P. (2005). "Archie to SAM: A Short Operational History of Ground-Based Air Defense" (PDF). Air University Press, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2006-07-22. Retrieved 2006-10-17.