Word: launcher
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1940-1949
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...portable, one-man weapon that fires a whopping 4.5-inch, three-foot-long projectile was described by the Army last week. It is the M-12, a bazooka-like rocket launcher consisting of a factory-loaded plastic tube and tripod, weighing 35 Ibs. in all. A one-shot piece designed for close-range use, it is fired by dry-cell batteries, is replaced forthwith by a new barrel; the empty goes to the rear for a new loading. By a wire hookup, several M-12s can be fired at once by the same gunner...
...driver, went on to hit the officer beside him between the eyes, killing both men. The cycle skidded into a ditch, catapulting the third German headfirst to his death against a stone wall. The doughboy retrieved his grenade from a tree trunk and rammed it back on the rifle launcher; it was still good...
...reasonable guess may be that Germany has developed a rocket launcher-perhaps something like an enlarged version of the U.S. Army's tank-busting bazooka-and hopes to use it, not for any futuristic terror bombing of London, but for a rapid-fire barrage of explosive projectiles against Allied invasion craft in the Channel...
Unlike the better-known bazooka (TIME, May 3) which carries its own propellant like the rocket it is, the rifle grenade is fired by a special blank cartridge. A sheet-metal cylinder filled with high explosive, the grenade slips over a launcher clamped to the barrel. A finned tail keeps it straight in the air, increasing range (now 75 yd.) and accuracy...