nam pilot

Well now ain't this an interesting post - let me treat it as a sort of a riddle and see how much I can sort out:

crane - Sikorsky CH-54

hook - Boeing CH-47

LZ - landing zone

Instant LZ - LZ created by dropping a bomb into the jungle.

Guess the bomb would have a fuse extender, so as not to createa crater. Maybe if the extender was a little shorter, the stumps wouldn't be so high?

Any nice 'nam era photos, gumshoe59? I would love to see them. Thanks for posting and have a nice day

Paweł

 Ding Ding Ding, we have a winner.  Here's "Big Mu tha" (I had to add the space to get FSM to show the name) CH-54A 67-18418 of the 478th Avn. Co.  that dropped several 10,000 lb "Instant landing zones."  Photos from USAAM archives.

   Ray

I was a CE in the 174th AHC and we landed on the edge of at least a 50 ft. dia. and 20 ft deep crater made by one of those!  Might have been becasue of the soft soil or the fuse extended didn't work properly!  That was the summer of 1971 northwest of Chu Lai somewhere.  

Ray, thanks a lot for the photos - that daisy cutter sure is a siht to see! I have a model of the crane in my stash, and if I ever build it, this setup would be just perfect. So thanks again for sharing and have a nice day

Paweł

Pawel,

  You're welcome.  I actually found these two pics in the US Army Aviation Museum's digital archives.  First is Big Mother and the second is the instant landing zone.  Enjoy.

    Ray

Without giving away any military secrets, can you tell me what height the Skycranes would drop the bomb?

From Wikipedia...

"Due to its extremely powerful blast effects, the minimum safe altitude for releasing this weapon is 6,000 feet (1,800 m) above ground level (AGL). The warhead contains 12,600 pounds (5,700 kg) of low-cost GSX slurry (ammonium nitrate, aluminum powder and polystyrene) and is detonated just above ground level by a 38-inch (965 mm) fuze extender, optimized for destruction at ground level without digging a crater."

BLU-82:  en.wikipedia.org/.../BLU-82