Hi, I want to detail and wiring the rockets for a BM-13-16 “Katyusha” truck (ICM GMC 1707) but can’t found any data or references of where the rockets are connected to the wires, or its a diferent mean of fire them?. Any clue?
TIA
Álvaro
After I get my hard drive back from repairs I can send you my walk around of one that was in Korea. I don’t know if it had any wiring visible, but if it did, I most certainly captured it.
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Thanks, any data it’s welcome
From what I have seen, there was no external wiring. The wires and the connectors are all contained in the rails where the rockets are slid onto. This is what made them so simple and easy to use; you simply slid the rockets on, and they were ready to fire.
No wires evident when reloading either.
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As a sidenote, NVA Luftstreitkräfte/Luftverteidigung used BM-13 as target rockets for AD missiles. So I have to get the BM-13 on Zil truck.
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The outdoor exhibits suffer from a complete lack of wires. This is true for any equipment.
I am attaching several of my photos of their St. Petersburg Artillery Museum. You can see something.
Additional photos are available at the links: https://walkarounds.ru/picture.php?/10703/categories, https://mungfali.com/post/F6B3A121FE849D9CB15DA0F3F1E6F058D47DFF53/55AD504E622593FDCB6958E416B0555F37A52249,
I found a text description of the process in a response on one of the forums: “Opposite the seat of the combat vehicle commander, on the front panel, a small rectangular box was mounted with a spinner, reminiscent of a telephone dial, and a handle for turning the dial. This device was called a “fire control panel” (FCP). A harness of wires went from it to a special battery and to each guide.
With one turn of the FCP handle, the electrical circuit was closed, and a pyropatron placed in the front part was triggered the rocket chamber of the projectile, the rocket charge ignited and a shot occurred. The rate of fire was determined by the rate of rotation of the POO handle. All 16 shells could be fired in 7-10 seconds.
But this is not M13 and not MU-1, but MU-2, i.e. a later version. But the meaning is about the same.”
And here is a link to a scanned copy of the book “Service Manual” published by the USSR Ministry of Defense: https://djvu.online/file/3gX1eGmNVBfaI?ysclid=m19k4ha86x474649434.
A more detailed manual simply cannot be. If there are problems with the translation, contact me, I will try to help
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That’s an excellent reference. I can tell you from personally firing Soviet/Chinese 107mm rockets, the tube is one side of the circuit, which directly contacts the rocket body, which is itself insulated from the base cap by a rubber gasket. the base cap has a wire that runs into the rocket body.
When firing from a launcher, the spring loaded retainers carry the opposite polarity as the rest of the truck/launcher. When that circuit is completed inside the cab the current goes through the body of the rocket and base cap into the igniter.
We of course launched them off of rocks, so we bypassed the whole system using a ten cap blaster - one lead taped to the body of the rocket, one to the base cap. Worked like a charm, as my video will show when I get around to posting more Afghanistan videos.
I had posted some here but apparently in looking at Youtube they did not get many views:
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I was a bit hasty and slandered the street exhibits. Here is a photo from the museum on Poklonnaya Hill (Moscow) that is just right for you.
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Yes, there is one wire that comes up each side of the frame from the base at the rear. I may have misunderstood, but thought he was talking about individual wires going to the rockets, like the US Calliope had.
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You can compare the drawing in Yuri’s post
to this view of a postwar BM-13. Most of the wiring would be hidden in the “box” on the left on an operational launcher…
H.P.
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As I said, no need for wiring in the rails - they are the ground. Besides, hiding wiring in anything is a complex procedure in design and implementation, and it also makes it much harder to diagnose and fix any shorts.
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I guess it’s better than walking but who wants to ride on those benches, oof.
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Thanks a lot!.
Regards from the south
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Haha, just like the locals.
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