JFK+50: Volume 7, No. 2424
AMERICAN TROOPS IMPRESSED BY FRENCH "FLYING PIGS"American Training Camp in France (JFK+50) One hundred years ago, September 6, 1917, American soldiers training here in France were treated to a second demonstration of French .75 artillery guns along with "the vagaries and intricacies of rolling barrages, annihilating bombardments...and flying pigs*."
The flying pigs, fired from nearby mortars at very low velocity, made a "deep impression" on the Americans. The Chicago Daily Tribune reported the reason for this was because "they could see them coming and wait for the big blow up" while the .75 shells flew invisibly and quietly overhead.
*Flying Pigs were 9.45 inch French long-range trench mortars ordered in July 1915. They had a range of 1025 miles & "caused terror and devastation in the German trenches." The rate of fire for these weapons was 1 shot per 6 minutes.
SOURCES
"M.L. 9.45-in. trench mortar 'Flying Pigs' MkI, MkII & MkIII, Surviving Gun File", www.passioncompassion1418.com/
"Sammy Meets 'Flying Pigs'; He Likes Them", Chicago Daily Tribune, September 7, 1917.
Australians Loading 9.45 in Mortar
Pozieres, France
August 1916
Photo by John Warwick Brooke
Imperial War Museum Collection
