UPDATE: **SOLD** Both were on eBay. See alternative press photos of the M-38A1D setup here.
“1961 Press Photo Army’s New Davy Crockett Atomic Warhead on Jeep Launcher. This is an original press photo. Washington, January 1 – New atomic weapon displayed – The Army tonight released this first picture of the warhead of its new atomic Davy Crockett weapon and said it would be carried by one man. Here the bulbous shaped warhead is on a launcher mounted on a jeep. The Army declined to give the weight of the device, which is intended t give a small unit of troops the fire power usually possible only from massed heavy artillery. Photo measures 8 x 10.25 inches. Photo is dated 01-01-1961.”
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ORIGINALLY POSTED MARCH OF 2018: There can’t be too many press release photos of the M-38A1D.
“1961 Press Photo Davy Crockett hand or Jeep portable weapons system”
Wait a minute – let me get this straight…..
It says, essentially, “hand held.” And then it says “… system is capable of firing atomic…shells.”
Atomic shells. We had / have Atomic shells. OK. So basically, this is a “nuclear bomb gun.” In 1961. A couple of dudes could walk up, whip out their handy Davy Crockett, pull the trigger – and it’s mushroom cloud time, Baby.
We could do that?
Absativly. I don’t think the program lasted very long but, it & Atomic Annie, a nuclear field piece were 2 ways to get the Army in on the Big Bomb game. Poor guys felt left out. Navy & Air Force both had bombers & missles. Atomic Annie worked well, but took time & manpower to set up. Making it vulnerable to air strikes. Someone will probably correct me but, I believe the 1st test ban treaty under Kennedy killed both programs.
My wife (who was a weapons expert in the AF) doesn’t know about that specific weapon, but she says it’s entirely possible. However, such a device would have obvious range limitations.
A big concern for the military also was wind drift of the radiation cloud with its limited range,could have been bad for U.S. troops as well.
I’m in the process of turning my 3B into a portable flamethrower carrier from a USFS hand pump tank. Only one person that’s got a fully mounted flamethrower, hotchkiss jeep in Europe. I never even heard of an nuclear attachment for jeep…truly Universal and awesome!!!
Now that’s what I would call Tactical. I don’t know about the soldiers life expectancy after firing that thing off. I most definitely would have that jeep running and my best double clutching fool behind the wheel! I wonder if they volunteered for this duty.
And they all appear to be one strippers. Go figure.