Military Tuesday : Dr Gerald Bull (1928-1990) – Canadian Artillery Expert
While researching on superguns and mankind’s other attempts to hurt and kill each over increasingly longer distances with guns firing progressively larger shells, I came across the name of Canadian scientist Dr Gerald Bull.
Dr Gerald Bull was well-known for his non-military scientific work on Project HARP (High Altitude Research Program) which collected upper atmospheric data from projectiles fired from modified naval guns to altitudes of 180 km (see Luc Devroye’s photos of a Project HARP gun at Barbados) and the infamous Project Babylon where he planned to build a massive 1000 mm gun with a 156m long barrel for Iraq, supposedly to fire satellites into the Earth’s orbit. The project was started in 1988 with approval from then Iraqi president Saddam Hussein but ended abruptly when Dr Gerald was shot dead by unknown assassins outside his Brussels home in March 1990.
© fas.org
His most significant contribution to the field of artillery was not the series of superguns he constructed for Project HARP or Project Babylon but the ERFB (Extended Range, Full Bore) ammunition which he designed in the 1970s to offer higher muzzle velocity with almost double the existing range of existing shells when coupled with a base bleed system, along with the artillery piece to fire this new ammunition.
A GHN-45 – haven’t been able to find a pic of the GC-45 online
He thus developed the first L/45 155mm gun (Length/45 calibres) designated as the GC-45 (Gun, Canada, 45 Calibre) which was later adapted and modified by Armscor (now Denel) of South Africa and Noricum of Austria as the G5 and GHN-45 respectively, the Noricum version being further adapted into indigenous designs in Israel, China and here in Singapore as the FH-88.
Only 12 GC-45s were manufactured for use by the Royal Thai Marines but the original GC-45 design formed the basis for many derivatives which are still in widespread use around the world. Two of these designs, Denel’s 52 calibre G5/2000 and the G6/52, are the world’s longest ranged gun artillery in the world with ranges of over 50 km with V-LAP (Velocity enhanced Long Range Projectile) shells (more info about these weapons and the current trends in artillery design in this Armada International’s Complete Guide to Howitzers from 2003)
Taken from army-technology.com’s article on the G6
Read more about the achievements of Dr Gerald Bull and the GC-45. More detailed info on the GC-45 can be found in this May 2002 report from Forecast International.
MORE @ THE DOWNLOAD MUNKEY:
Armour Photos at Israel’s Yad La’Shiryon Museum
Tompei’s Museum of Machines
IA Military Art Collections
OPFOR Worldwide Equipment Guide
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