Man finds missile launcher in Comal County, Texas

Jarrette Schule was cutting down trees on his rural property Tuesday in Comal County when he noticed a green metallic tube on the muddy ground.

“I had never seen it before,” said Schule, a 34-year-old Web developer. “I looked at it, and it kind of looked like a missile launcher.”

Schule took a closer look. It was a long, forest-green metal tube. A decal on it read: “Guided Missile and Launcher, Surface Attack.”

The discovery was the start of a surreal journey for Schule. Somehow, an unarmed anti-tank weapon — or a very good fake — wound up on his land at Beck Road and Kirk Lane in the Hill Country, miles away from a military installation.

The launcher was deep in the wooded property far from the road, in an area he was familiar with.

“I don’t know if it fell out of something or if somebody just dumped it,” Schule said. “There’s some crazy whitetail hunters around here. Maybe they’re going overboard?”

<snip>

Schule initially was nervous when he found the weapon. But as the hours passed, he did what most guys would do — marvel at the mind-blowing awesomeness of finding a missile launcher. He posted photos on Facebook and called his buddies, saying: “Guess what I found?”

Schule called the military police at Fort Sam. But their jurisdiction doesn’t extend off the post. Schule’s information was passed along to an Army criminal investigator, who visited Schule on Wednesday morning — about 19 hours after he started making phone calls.

The special agent walked into the house and saw the launcher sitting on the dining room table.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/Comal_man_finds_missile_launcher.html

Well, I feel safe. Glad nobody was too worried.

thats priceless.

I would have been tempted to shoot it off. Not the brightest thing to do I know, but how many chances are you going to get?

I don't know how likely that is.

:rofl:

The U.S. does not have any nukes that can be launched from the shoulder. All of them require some sort of vehicle.

I was specific to launched nukes as it was a Dragon missile canister (without the missile) that the guy found.

The U.S. backpack nuke timer could be set to a minimun of five minutes. I don't remember the different yields, but the size of the bang could be dialed in. It was jokingly refered to as "Dial-a-yield", as a takeoff of the "Dial-a-prayer" that was popular in those days.

Could you imagine setting the backpack nuke in place, selecting maximum yield, and setting it for five minutes, and arming it? How long does it take to smoke a cigarette?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Davy_Crockett_(nuclear_device)



That was our smallest nuclear missile 0.01 to 0.02 kilotons; good to
blow up a city block or so.

Atlant

at times the operators would be caught in the effects of the nuclear blast. Kind of spoils it.
Also, it was designed for use against the Soviets and the Europeans went crazy at theidea of a lot os small eternally radioactive areas all over their continent.
Whiners.


mark

still provide an interesting "proof point" of just how small a nuclear
device can be.

Tesha

early '60's...The nuclear bomb the US Air Force lost in western Canada being a good example. Nuclear cannon shells, nuclear powered aircraft, I think there the small devices you are talking about for use by infantry units. They wanted to give every commander in the field the authority to use a small nuke in combat without OK from higher HQ - blanket permission to nuke Europe piecemeal.
Europeans, for some reason, opposed this idea, and it kind of went away in the '70's.

mark

And if so I'd make sure it had a good long fuse. Then point it at the neighbors house (the one I don't like, that's always having loud parties, not the nice old couple).

:nuke:

It's a crappy 1960's era rocket launch TUBE. I repeat TUBE. There was no armament in it.

Davy Crockett (nuclear device)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The M-388 Davy Crockett was a tactical nuclear recoilless rifle projectile that was deployed by the United States during the Cold War. It was named after American soldier, Congressman and folk hero Davy Crockett (1786-1836).

One of the smallest nuclear weapons ever built, the Davy Crockett was developed in the late 1950s for use against Soviet troops had war broken out in Europe. Small teams of the Atomic Battle Group (charged with operating the device) would be stationed every few kilometers to guard against Soviet attack, using the power of their nuclear artillery to kill or incapacitate advancing troop formations and irradiate the area so that it was uninhabitable for up to 48 hours, long enough to mobilize NATO forces.

The M-388 round used a version of the W54 warhead, a very small sub-kiloton fission device. The Mk-54 weighed about 51 lb (23 kg), with a selectable yield equivalent to 10 or 20 tons of TNT (very close to the minimum practical size and yield for a fission warhead). The complete round weighed 76 lb (34.5 kg). It was 31 in. (78.7 cm) long with a diameter of 11 in. (28 cm) at its widest point; a subcaliber piston at the back of the shell was actually inserted into the launcher's barrel for firing.<1>




More:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Davy_Crockett_%28nuclear_device%29

the warheads would not still be viable after 50 years and the few they actually made are all stored in museums.

I remember being shocked when I was thriteen and read about these tiny nukes in "Nuclear War: What's in it for You."

}(

Glad he can be so glib about it, but I'd be more concerned about local militia groups and assorted RW nutcases practicing blowing up things with US Army weaponry.

Hide the cats & dogs, daddy has a new toy!

It was just reported that George Bush has called him and said it was his. He said it was just part of the stuff from some of the wars he started and he thought it would be a good idea to have some souvenirs.

they are capable of destroying vehicles and bunkers. if that fired into the ground and detonated he is done. I cant remember if that weapon armed after a distance or was hot out of the tube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwSCsV2rGY8

in the paper every day... :rofl:

There's nothing wrong with using a guided missle to run deer, bears, or small birds.

He was doing and estate auction and as the staff was setting up the auction, they found a mortar shell. The family members present offered that their grandfather had the shell for decades and would sometimes put it under the Christmas tree as a joke. During the auction an old guy walked up and told my friend that the shell appeared to be live and still capable of exploding. The guy said that he had usedthat very type of shell when he was in the army. The police and fire depts were called. Finally the bomb squad came and took the shell away. It was indeed a live shell. The surrounding buildings were evacuated after the bomb squad determined the shell could still explode.

:wow:

It does make one wonder if there was some kind of plan to shoot at an airplane.