3.5 Inch Rocket Launcher

Often called the super bazooka, it replaced the 2.36 inch rocket launcher whose rounds bounced off the frontal armour of a T34 tank.  The 3.5 inch rocket launcher could penetrate the frontal armour of a T34 tank giving the American infantry a weapons that could stop the North Korean tanks.  It was a two piece weapon which fitted together it weighed only 12 pounds.  It fired a sharped charge rocket and had an accuracy of up to 800 metres.

The term Bazooka comes from a musical instrument but it was also a slang term for a woman’s breasts.

F51 Mustang Fighter

The F51 was the mainstay of the American Air Force in Korea in 1950.  It could be used in ground support roles attacking enemy troops and vehicles at the front or in the rear areas.  It was armed with 6 half inch machine guns and 6 five inch rockets.  In a bombing role it could carry 2,000 pounds of bombs or napalm tanks.

When fitted with external fuel tanks it had a range of 1,200 kilometres.  The plane was designed during the Second World War to escort bombing attacking Germany, fighting off enemy fighters.  By 1950 its role was a fighter planes had been superseded by jet planes but in Korea where there was little left of the North Korean air force by July 1950.

T34 Tank

The T34 tank helped the North Korean army invasion of South Korea.  The tank first saw action during the Second World war where it was the main battle tanks of the Soviet Red Army.  At the beginning of the war, American and South Korean rocket launchers and anti tanks gun were not able to penetrate the frontal armour of the T34.  Only later when 3.5 Inch rocket launchers arrived in Korea did the infantry have the weapons to deal with the T34 tank but by that time most of South Korea had been lost.

In the first tank to tank battles the T34 outclassed the American M24 light tank.  Later it proved to be the equal of the American M4 Sherman tanks but inferior to the American M26 Pershing tank.  The tanks was targeted by American warplanes and by August, the tanks usually travelled by night.

It carried an 85 millimetre gun and two 7.62 millimetre machine guns.  It had a crew of five and speed of up to 53 kilometres an hour.  It had sloped armour at the front of up to 45 millimetres.  It weighted over 26 tonnes.