They were fun when they worked. On one of my last engagements as a Sheridan gunner, on Range 79 (later301) at Graf, my conventional system was down, so they loaded me up with the missiles. When the moving target came up on the far ridge, I shot the first shillelagh. It hit a little far forward in the bow of the target, but I could clearly see the hole in the target. We loaded up the second missile and I held a little further toward the rear of the target. The second one hit just to the rear of the first for a nice figure 8. I remember bouncing down the range road at Graf adjusting the missle reticle with the 27" screwdriver in between main gun and missle engagements. A lot different than the M1A1's we took to the desert in 91.
Cherry juice everywhere! First time I pulled the trigger I ate the gun sight, knocked my left earplug out and before I could find it I had to fire again ... been about 50% deaf in that ear ever since! LOVED IT! Flying down the roads at Hohenfels or sneaking up on someone during an FTX it was a great machine. I flew a shillelagh up and then down onto a hard target at Graf ... WOW!! Scared my TC half to death! Those were the days.
Fun to watch. The Sheridan is what I grew up on. Knew it inside and out. I participated in two Product Improvement studies on it. One was a simulated nuclear blast out at White Sands not far from Trinity Site and the other was how to get 5 more years out of it until they could come up with what became the Bradly. Both were great. It is amazing what 1950-60 technology could do. For its time the missile system was state of the art. A pain in the ass, but state of the art. It would really rattle your teeth when you pulled the trigger and busting a rupture plug was no fun experience. Made me appreciate an M-60A1 when it came along.
Comments
They were fun when they worked. On one of my last engagements as a Sheridan gunner, on Range 79 (later301) at Graf, my conventional system was down, so they loaded me up with the missiles. When the moving target came up on the far ridge, I shot the first shillelagh. It hit a little far forward in the bow of the target, but I could clearly see the hole in the target. We loaded up the second missile and I held a little further toward the rear of the target. The second one hit just to the rear of the first for a nice figure 8. I remember bouncing down the range road at Graf adjusting the missle reticle with the 27" screwdriver in between main gun and missle engagements. A lot different than the M1A1's we took to the desert in 91.
Cherry juice everywhere! First time I pulled the trigger I ate the gun sight, knocked my left earplug out and before I could find it I had to fire again ... been about 50% deaf in that ear ever since! LOVED IT! Flying down the roads at Hohenfels or sneaking up on someone during an FTX it was a great machine. I flew a shillelagh up and then down onto a hard target at Graf ... WOW!! Scared my TC half to death! Those were the days.
Fun to watch. The Sheridan is what I grew up on. Knew it inside and out. I participated in two Product Improvement studies on it. One was a simulated nuclear blast out at White Sands not far from Trinity Site and the other was how to get 5 more years out of it until they could come up with what became the Bradly. Both were great. It is amazing what 1950-60 technology could do. For its time the missile system was state of the art. A pain in the ass, but state of the art. It would really rattle your teeth when you pulled the trigger and busting a rupture plug was no fun experience. Made me appreciate an M-60A1 when it came along.