If you use Chrome, you just have to highlite it, right-click and select ‘Search Google for; xxx’
I’m just ribbing you, mate :).
Truth be told, I wasn’t sure either until I read the answers in the thread (Lord knows I never humped anything even remotely military myself) - but I associate those big loopy antennas with old-timey HF radios ; AFAIK satellite and similar modern com gear come with smaller, stodgier antennas.
Just a quick hijack, but just imagine how freaked out the al-qaeda types would be if they were attacked at night with prehistoric weaponry.
Also, a “hang” is a misfire - dropped mortar in tube and it didn’t fire.
You’re thinking of a “hangfire”, and I’ve never heard that to refer to mortar rounds. It would just be “misfire”.
The word “hang” when talking about mortars refers to “hanging” the round at the top of the tube. “Hang!” means hold it above the tube. Also used is, “Hang it!”. “Fire!” means let go, allowing it to fall into the tube. When it hits the bottom of the tube, it fires automatically, so in a sense, letting go of the round fires it.
“Hang” is also used informally as I described in the previous post. It is used informally to refer to the entire act of firing mortar rounds. One person may be doing all the aiming, and the other person is doing all the hanging.
Hangfire:
Hang(it)! Fire!
[quote=“Bear_Nenno, post:65, topic:668472”]
Hangfire:
Hang(it)! Fire!
[/QUOTE]Thanks.
I didn’t see/hear a single thing different in the shot they said was a hangfire.
And, FTR, isn’t there a song by the Stones called “Hangfire?” I hear the word in my head sung by Mick.
Listen to it again, there is a noticeable difference in the time between hammer strike and the round actually firing. You can hear a metallic click, then a very slight delay, and then the bang. When a round has a delay like that, it is called a hang-fire. That is not a good thing, and usually indicates a problem with the ammunition.
Technically, a mortar round can be a hang fire too. If it is dropped in the tube and then takes a second or two to fire, it is a hang fire. If it doesn’t fire at all, it is a misfire. I can’t imagine someone would actually yell “hang fire” in the mortar pit when there is a hang fire, though. That seems like it would be confusing.
The British 2-inch mortars that we had worked like that as well.
E B Sledge was a Marine mortarman in WW2. His book With The Old Breed tells about his experiences fighting on Peleliu and Okinawa, covers the use of 60mm mortars in combat and is one of the most truthful accounts of combat ever written.
Yes, I’m planning to read it. It was the source for much of The Pacific (as you know).
Eugene Sledge wiki.
Good page on WWII mortars and other equipment– extraordinary down and dirty historians, “90th Infantry Preservation Group.”