Why Zuni?

"Ed Rasimus" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 18 Jan 2004 10:05:27 -0500, "Jim Carriere"
wrote:

2.75FFAR-

I've heard them called "Mickey Mouse" rockets. Not sure if that ever
caught
on in naval aviation though...

I carried them fairly often in the USAF, but never heard a nickname
other than "2.75's" or simply rockets.

Hmm, I'm racking my brain for where I heard it... A lot of work on google
keyword searches (FFAR, 2.75, 70mm) turned up a few results (including a
four year old post of mine on rec.aviation.military!). Anyway, that
nickname seems to have originated as early as the 1940s with the first
versions of the weapon.

I bet "Mickey Mouse" was an obvious corruption of "Mighty Mouse." Maybe the
nickname just caught on in some squadrons, and not at all in others... I
don't know for sure, I wasn't there

"Mighty Mouse" seems to be the official nickname of the 2.75" FFAR:

http://www.chinalakealumni.org/Site-Search.htm

(type in "mighty mouse" with quotes)

I found a few other "Mickey Mouse" references on old newsgroup posts, and on
Polish and German language websites. So I'm probably not losing my mind,
but now I'm confused where I first read it.

Wow!
Fun topic that I started... I forgot that the 2.75 wasn't refered to as a Zuni.
I guess we just called it 2.75 rockets. Ed mentions another name, I have never
heard them refered to as Micky Mouse. Back to the original question. Why were
the 5" rockets called Zuni?
I don't recall a ripple or salvo shot on the 2.75" but I do remember stuck fins
they really went all over
Sparky

"Elmshoot" wrote in message
...
Wow!
Fun topic that I started... I forgot that the 2.75 wasn't refered to as a
Zuni.
I guess we just called it 2.75 rockets. Ed mentions another name, I have
never
heard them refered to as Micky Mouse. Back to the original question. Why
were
the 5" rockets called Zuni?
I don't recall a ripple or salvo shot on the 2.75" but I do remember stuck
fins
they really went all over
Sparky

When I first went into the USAF in 1955 I spent several years in Air Defense
Command and NORAD where some of the aircraft were armed with the 2.75"
Folding Fin Aerial Rocket (FFAR) and I remember the nickname as being
'Mighty Mouse' but even more common was 'f far' or '2.75s'. I was surprised
when I got to SEA in 1968 and found it was a common load on the F-105 (Q-pod
on one outboard, LAU-3A on the other).

If you want to see what has become of the 2.75 see
http://www.globalsecurity.org/milita...s/hydra-70.htm for
the current model and
http://www.globalsecurity.org/milita...ions/apkws.htm for the
possible future.

Regards,

Tex Houston