XPost: rec.arts.sf.written   
   From: djheydt@kithrup.com   
      
   In article , BCFD 36   wrote:   
   >On 4/2/24 13:40, Dorothy J Heydt wrote:   
   >> In article ,   
   >> The Horny Goat   wrote:   
   >>> I distinctly remember the line "You know the   
   >>> 'rockets' red glare? the bombs bursting in air? Well those were OUR   
   >>> rockets and OUR bombs - but we don't advertise that much to our   
   >>> American friends these days!"   
   >>   
   >> [Hal Heydt]   
   >> Congreve rockets and mortar rounds with the fuse cut too short,   
   >> repsectively.   
   >   
   >Would the fuses have been too short if they were trying for air bursts   
   >to kill the guys on the walls?   
      
   [Hal Heydt]   
   Probably.  They were--generally speaking--trying for as close to   
   ground contact detonation as possible.  I think the air bursts   
   they got were way short of trying for shrapnel kills on the   
   walls.   
      
   The mortars in question were "double firing" type.  First the   
   gunner lit the fuse of the shell, then he light the propellant   
   charge.  It was later that it was determined that the gases from   
   burning propellant would go around the shell sufficiently to   
   light the shell fuse when the mortar was fired.  With a double   
   firing design, you *really* didn't want to get distracted after   
   light the shell fuse.   
      
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