CUMBERLAND, Maryland USA — In January a visitor to a veterans' museum in Cumberland, Maryland, was startled to see what appeared to be a live and dangerous rocket on display. The visitor complained. The police were notified.

Soon the rocket was surrounded by an ATF bomb squad, local cops, a state fire marshal, and a U.S. Army explosive ordnance disposal unit. A state police helicopter landed. Roads were blocked. The rocket was clearly outnumbered and overmatched.

The ordnance was determined to be a 48" x 2¾" Mark 1 helicopter rocket, the type used on Huey gunships in Vietnam. It had been donated to the museum two years earlier. Why it hadn't gone off was anybody's guess.

The Army gingerly took custody of the large rocket and whisked it away to an undisclosed secure location. Then they whisked it right back. The rocket proved to be a dummy training round filled with wood.

"This round has always been inert," Roger Krueger told local station WHAG-TV. He is a member of the Vietnam Veterans of America #172, in whose museum the replica was displayed. "We were always informed that it was inert. It's been proven to be inert. We have no live rounds in our museum."

Copyright © 2008, Maine Antique Digest.

06-12-2008 04:55 PM  #1
tmacklin Certifiable   Joined: Apr 2008 Posts: 58	Re: Menacing rocket in museum draws a crowd Meanwhile, bin Laden remains at large.

06-12-2008 07:58 PM  #2
Steve_Shannon When in doubt, ask Keenan   Joined: Aug 2006 Posts: 1978	Re: Menacing rocket in museum draws a crowd Quote: Meanwhile, bin Laden remains at large. and loving every minute of the Keystone Cops routines our country has embraced in response to "Homeland Security".

06-13-2008 02:42 PM  #3
mg11 Certified Level One   Joined: Jan 2008 Posts: 19	Re: Menacing rocket in museum draws a crowd At least this time it was something that in some odd stretch of the imagination of a parallel universe resident could be a danger if all was as it appeared. Unlike the invasion of the light brites in Boston a few years back.

06-13-2008 07:03 PM  #4
UncleVanya If pigs had fins...   Joined: Sep 2007 Posts: 2779	Re: Menacing rocket in museum draws a crowd Quote: Unlike the invasion of the light brites in Boston a few years back. Do tell...

06-13-2008 07:31 PM  #5
pkmpd Certified Level One   Joined: Aug 2007 Posts: 14	Re: Menacing rocket in museum draws a crowd What a bunch of idiots. Just another example of why I was a pharmacist at Wal-Mart for one year and one year ONLY.

06-13-2008 08:47 PM  #6
rstaff3 Oddroc-eteer   Joined: Oct 2006 Posts: 195	Re: Menacing rocket in museum draws a crowd Quote: Do tell... http://blog.makezine.com/a...1/aqua_teen_hunge_1.html

06-13-2008 09:06 PM  #7
ddmobley Administrator   Joined: Jul 2006 Posts: 3189	Re: Menacing rocket in museum draws a crowd Check this headline out: Man charged with possession of fake rocket launcher http://www.sun-sentinel.co...launcher,0,2547190.story Note the entire focus of the story is on the fake rocket launcher, and that they totally gloss over the fact that the man had a REAL RIFLE and SILENCER in the trunk. Why the shock over a faux military device, a "weapon of mass distruction", and not just focus on the fact that a man on probation had a real gun? EDIT: Read the comments. Funny stuff, fake prosecutor, fake prison...

06-23-2008 11:10 AM  #8
R2K Certified Level Three   Joined: Jul 2007 Posts: 209	Re: Menacing rocket in museum draws a crowd Because guns, obesity, poverty, legal drugs, and cars dont kill people, terrorists, tomatoes, gay marriage, and liberals kill people. Oh and model rockets as well.

06-23-2008 11:28 AM  #9
ddmobley Administrator   Joined: Jul 2006 Posts: 3189	Re: Menacing rocket in museum draws a crowd Especially Florida tomatoes.

06-23-2008 11:58 AM  #10
rstaff3 Oddroc-eteer   Joined: Oct 2006 Posts: 195	Re: Menacing rocket in museum draws a crowd Step away from the salad bar... The COSTCO near us is still selling tomatoes from Mexico.

06-30-2008 02:17 PM  #11
R2K Certified Level Three   Joined: Jul 2007 Posts: 209	Re: Menacing rocket in museum draws a crowd I had two burgers last night with 'matoes on em. Quite a rush, felt like I was breaking some kind of law.

06-30-2008 06:52 PM  #12
denverdoc Rana sapiens   Joined: Aug 2007 Posts: 2815	Re: Menacing rocket in museum draws a crowd Gave one of mine to the yapper dog next door. Still kicking and yapping, so maybe its safe.

06-30-2008 07:32 PM  #13
UncleVanya If pigs had fins...   Joined: Sep 2007 Posts: 2779	Re: Menacing rocket in museum draws a crowd So am I the only one who read this and thought... that's no rocket - that's a missile! The distinction is lost on the general public but surely not lost on us. Did anyone bother to correct the reporter? I'm to the party late just realizing this and curious.

07-01-2008 10:25 AM  #14
V-2 New Member   Joined: Oct 2007 Posts: 2	Re: Menacing rocket in museum draws a crowd I wonder what the BATFE folks would say about the deflagration rate of the wood? !!!CAREFUL!!! that spruce is about to go!!!!!! Geeeezzzzzz.......

07-01-2008 10:44 AM  #15
denverdoc Rana sapiens   Joined: Aug 2007 Posts: 2815	Re: Menacing rocket in museum draws a crowd Question for UV: Is the V2 a rocket or a missile? IMO answer is both. So what does one call it by. More often than not, it is referred to as a rocket, tho I imagine the number of missile flights way exceeded the handful that flew from the Sands, or in Russia.

07-01-2008 11:43 AM  #16
UncleVanya If pigs had fins...   Joined: Sep 2007 Posts: 2779	Re: Menacing rocket in museum draws a crowd Quote: Question for UV: Is the V2 a rocket or a missile? IMO answer is both. So what does one call it by. More often than not, it is referred to as a rocket, tho I imagine the number of missile flights way exceeded the handful that flew from the Sands, or in Russia. My head was somewhere else. I wasn't thinking warhead (missile) vs. non-warhead (rocket). I was thinking guided (missile) vs. non-guided (rocket) which is mostly a legal fiction that is part of the regulation of rocketry sport not commercial rocketry. Hummmmmmmmmm...

07-01-2008 11:58 AM  #17
denverdoc Rana sapiens   Joined: Aug 2007 Posts: 2815	Re: Menacing rocket in museum draws a crowd interesting--I always thought of a rocket as something that went up, while a missile as something that had a specific target in mind with destruction as its goal--warhead captures that. It does remind me of an incident in college. One of the dorms at Irvine decided t launch a water balloon attack at their neighbors using surgical tubing. Broke window, soaked girls and frightened half to death--the cop that did the investigation made a big deal out of repeatedly calling the balloons missiles, only pronounced miss-isles. Got in a lot of hot water and were nearly expelled for the stunt.

07-01-2008 01:38 PM  #18
Steve_Shannon When in doubt, ask Keenan   Joined: Aug 2006 Posts: 1978	Re: Menacing rocket in museum draws a crowd In my mind rockets and missiles are two different things. A missile is something that is launched, thrown, hurled, or otherwise sent through the air at another object. A rocket is type of propulsion. The V2 was a rocket powered missile. Now I'll look them up in Webster's and be embarrassed.

07-01-2008 01:47 PM  #19
denverdoc Rana sapiens   Joined: Aug 2007 Posts: 2815	Re: Menacing rocket in museum draws a crowd missile: capable of being thrown or projected to strike a distant object. That's Webster's first which was the point I was trying to make with the water balloons. Most common definitions I could find were as UV supposed, a rocket with a warhead.

07-01-2008 02:54 PM  #20
heada Certifiable   Joined: Apr 2007 Posts: 811	Re: Menacing rocket in museum draws a crowd Arrows, bolts, even rocks when used with a sling are missiles. A rocket is a specific type of missile.

07-01-2008 03:18 PM  #21
denverdoc Rana sapiens   Joined: Aug 2007 Posts: 2815	Re: Menacing rocket in museum draws a crowd Don't forget balloons (when used with slings and filled so that ballistic coefficient is sufficiently high).

07-08-2008 06:32 PM  #22
fishnutt90804 Certified Level One   Joined: Feb 2008 Posts: 18	Re: Menacing rocket in museum draws a crowd You obviously did not follow the instructions at the end of another post on this site, I quote Do not keep your farts in thats where crappy thoughts come from. and your thoughts are sure crappy.

07-09-2008 12:26 AM  #23
UncleVanya If pigs had fins...   Joined: Sep 2007 Posts: 2779	Re: Menacing rocket in museum draws a crowd Quote: You obviously did not follow the instructions at the end of another post on this site, I quote Do not keep your farts in thats where crappy thoughts come from. and your thoughts are sure crappy. There's something fishy about that comment...