HARP GUN (A little off topic)
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#1: HARP GUN (A little off topic) Author: MarkHollowayLocation: Beatty, Nevada PostPosted: Sat Sep 27, 2008 9:33 pm
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I was just looking around on the net about the "High Altitude Research Project" (HARP) and found a video. I learned that this 16" gun fired a SABOT round! No wonder it went so far! If you watch the video you'll see about six minutes into it they put a man in the breech to make sure the projectile is seated properly.

HARP VIDEO HERE

#2: Re: HARP GUN (A little off topic) Author: Maple_Leaf_Eh PostPosted: Sun Sep 28, 2008 4:06 am
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When I was a young boy, my father took the family over to Highwater, Vermont to meet Dr. Gerald Bull and his HARP. I only remember the ground was muddy, and I got to eat sugar cubes in a restaurant. Any books on Gerald Bull will give you more details. He was a genius, but he was too much a scientist to recognize the signs that the Israelis didn't want him selling stuff to Saddam Hussein. He was killed in Belgium by attackers who were never found.

#3: Re: HARP GUN (A little off topic) Author: MarkHollowayLocation: Beatty, Nevada PostPosted: Sun Sep 28, 2008 1:37 pm
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I don't buy the part about the US Army being interested in atmospheric research. I think they were figuring out how to shoot down Soviet bombers.

#4: Re: HARP GUN (A little off topic) Author: Maple_Leaf_Eh PostPosted: Sun Sep 28, 2008 1:51 pm
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Gerald Bull was a scientist. He was also an outsider. He was too energetic and a visionary who didn't play well on committees. He thought blasting a great big rocket into space to leave a small payload up there seemed wasteful. He may have consulted on Canada's Alouette satellite project of the very early 1960's and seen it firsthand. He had a better idea to fire a very large diameter ballistic projectile into space and leave the satellite up there.

As for atmospheric research, there are any number of projects or experiments that have questions about the world that don't necessarily have direct military applications. It is called pure science for a reason.

#5: Re: HARP GUN (A little off topic) Author: MarkHollowayLocation: Beatty, Nevada PostPosted: Sun Sep 28, 2008 2:55 pm
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I think Bull may have been interested in atmospheric research but I think the Army saw other applications.



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