The T34 Rocket Launcher was a US-designed launch frame mounted above the turret of a Sherman tank, capable of delivering a payload of sixty 4.5in (115mm) unguided rockets in a short period of time.
The system traversed with the turret, and elevated with the main gun barrel. It was initially developed in 1943 as a way to give “bunker busting” firepower to tanks for the D-day invasion, but wasn't used as its weight made the tank too top heavy for easy transport in a landing craft. A small number were, however, used later in the war.
They were limited by their reload time and inaccuracy. The noise created by the rockets firing was often enough to drive targets off in terror on its own though. This sound as well as the clustered pipes of the launcher looking like an organ - leading to the weapon being nicknamed after the ‘Calliope’ steam organ.
The Tank Museum
The T34 Rocket Launcher was a US-designed launch frame mounted above the turret of a Sherman tank, capable of delivering a payload of sixty 4.5in (115mm) unguided rockets in a short period of time.
The system traversed with the turret, and elevated with the main gun barrel. It was initially developed in 1943 as a way to give “bunker busting” firepower to tanks for the D-day invasion, but wasn't used as its weight made the tank too top heavy for easy transport in a landing craft. A small number were, however, used later in the war.
They were limited by their reload time and inaccuracy. The noise created by the rockets firing was often enough to drive targets off in terror on its own though. This sound as well as the clustered pipes of the launcher looking like an organ - leading to the weapon being nicknamed after the ‘Calliope’ steam organ.
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