Bazooka rocket, 2.36-inch

Photo 4.1 An unfired 3.5-inch rocket, now called a rocket-propelled grenade or RPG. Bottom A 2.5-inch Bazooka rocket recovered from a range. 

A familiar military use of this principle is the 3.5 inch antitank rocket, or bazooka round. The explosive charge in the head of the rocket has a conical cavity in the forward end. When the charge is detonated against the side of a tank, the shock waves emerging from the conical cavity are focused on one spot where they will penetrate several inches of tough steel. 

Rocket Launcher, 2.36 inch, known as Bazooka, developed in 1942. It was 54 long and weighed 12 lbs could penetrate up to 4 armor at close range. Used successfully during WWII (Ref 1, p 629) (See also Bazooka in Vol 2, p B26)... 

Bottom photos of ordnance typically found in old munitions ranges Left top to bottom 3.5-inch rocket 2.5-inch bazooka. Right top to bottom 81-mm illumination mortar 3-inch Stokes chemical mortar 60-mm high explosive mortar. 

In 1943 the CWS began to develop a 2.36-inch incendiary rocket for the bazooka. Chemists filled shells with various thermite and PT mixtures and tested them. The missiles were not stable ballistically, and the fuel would not always ignite upon impact. While these problems might eventually have been solved, there was another obstacle that proved insurmountable. The rocket cavity held so little filling that it was practically... 

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