Davy Crockett, "King Of The Wild Frontier"

I loved the Davy Crockett series and had the coon skin hat as well. Great interview with Fess Parker Meanderer, I never saw him in later years. Does anyone remember another Disney production called The Swamp Fox? It wasn't as popular, but I enjoyed it as well. Francis Marion,the main character was portrayed by Leslie Nielsen. My Dad use to say it's time to watch Uncle Frankie when the show was about to come on because our last name,my maiden name, was Marion. I'm 99% sure he wasn't a distant relative but my Dad liked to think so.
 

Ruth n Jersey said:
I loved the Davy Crockett series and had the coon skin hat as well. Great interview with Fess Parker Meanderer, I never saw him in later years. Does anyone remember another Disney production called The Swamp Fox? It wasn't as popular, but I enjoyed it as well. Francis Marion,the main character was portrayed by Leslie Nielsen. My Dad use to say it's time to watch Uncle Frankie when the show was about to come on because our last name,my maiden name, was Marion. I'm 99% sure he wasn't a distant relative but my Dad liked to think so.
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Francis Marion is a redcoat who turns into a turncoat! This one is new to me, Ruth. Thanks.
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Meanderer said:
"Incredibly rare footage! Robert Kennedy watches a test of the Davy Crockett (the smallest nuclear weapon ever made), from a 35mm original color negative released as a result of a FOIA (Freedom of Information Act)".



"On July 17,(1962) a Davy Crockett was fired from a stationary 155 millimeter launcher (in tandem with simulated battlefield manuevers under Operation IVY FLATS) and detonated about 20 feet above the ground at a distance of 9,357 feet (1.7 miles) from the launch point (yield was 18 tons). This test, the last atmospheric detonation at the Nevada Test Site, was observed by Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and presidential adviser General Maxwell D. Taylor".
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I was in the Army in Kitzingen Germany in 1965-67 and in a Davy Crockett unit. I got out in 1967 and a few months later they did away with it. We fired it a few times, but only with high explosive rounds.
 
"Born on a hilltop in Tennessee, greenest state in the land of the free. Lived in the woods so he knew every tree, kilt him Bear when he was only three. Davy, Davy Crockett, king of the wild frontier."
 
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About 40 years ago I had a summer 'camp' for my little son. I called it "Camp Davy Crockett" and began each morning and end each afternoon by singing that wonderful song that I never forgot! Not that very long version though, the short TV intro. Thx for the memories @JustBonee!
 
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Bocco said:
I was in the Army in Kitzingen Germany in 1965-67 and in a Davy Crockett unit. I got out in 1967 and a few months later they did away with it. We fired it a few times, but only with high explosive rounds.
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Davy Crockett nuclear recoilless rifle mounted to a Jeep.
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Ours wasn't mounted. It had a tripod we put it on. On the bottom of the barrel, it had a smaller gun (can't remember the size) that we would fire to get it honed in on where we wanted it to hit. We always fired it on a hill over a valley at the hill on the other side to we could see it explode (high explosive only) . Never figured out the mathematics of how they got that big projectile to hit the same place as that smaller gun.
 
Also, I do have some pictures I took while I was there, but don't think I ever took a picture of the weapon itself. We had to have a secret clearance to be in the unit, so I figured pictures might be off limits.
 
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This would have been in 1966. Found 2 pictures in a dresser drawer.
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This is it by itself with the dummy bomb attached to it. You can see the small cannon below the barrel used to home in on the target before you shoot the main one. It shoots like a cannon, but is open at the back so there is no recoil.
 
I ought to explain my "dummy bomb" I said with the picture. If you go back several posts you will see a really good picture Meanderer out up of the projectile mounted on a jeep. You can see it looks just like a bomb. The real ones are the size that fit in a 50 gallon drum. We had a dummy one we had to carry around with us. We had the whole weapon in pieces we could carry in a 3/4 ton truck. On training we would be timed on getting it out and put it up together and the projectile attached on the end. We only shot the thing several times with a high explosive projectile on it. The actual nuclear one was kept in a bunker with guards all around it.

I just found a video on YouTube that has a 12 minute video of it.

Also, History Channel has a series called Modern Marvels. In season 16 episode 17 they had one called Tiny Weapons. It starts out with Derringer's, but has a couple of minutes on the Davy Crockett. I just found that 2 minute part on YouTube:
 
IKE said:
I stand to be corrected but I think the television series only ran a year back in the 50's but I recall watching Fess Parker (as Davy Crockett) and Ed Ames as his Indian buddy (Mingo).......and yes when I was a pup I had a coon skin cap. :)
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I've watched this series, I love it. Had received a racoon skin hat from my Father. However, it was left in storage at the only fur coat store in my city. It was lost as well as my rabbit fur coat and hat.

Mother died and sibling, even though she was told, did not retrieve all that was in cold storage under our name. I tried a few months later, but the owner had passed away and the store's closed down... Mother's full length sheep fur coat that had been handmade was forever lost as well. Sorry rambling...
 
Found a couple more video's.
The World's Smallest Nuke

Nuclear Bazooka: America DID THAT
It was put up by a guy who calls himself The Fat Electrician. At one point he says "we all know what happens when you give 3 grunts a jeep and a nuclear bazooka. Again the nuclear rounds were tightly guarded and kept in bunkers and we never saw one. We did shoot a couple of high explosive ones and I think even then our leaders had a lot of hoops to go through to even let us do that.
 
I had a Davy Crockett tee shirt as a 6 year old. Many years later, I read someplace that claimed that Crockett was a braggart and a liar. And that the only thing he did for his country was to die. Now that I think of it, whoever wrote that must have been a Crockett hater with an agenda.
 
You wouldn't believe this but I'm gonna put it down anyway because it is true. Here, in Canada, one of the world's most politically countries, names are being changed left and right.

This morning I read that the government Department of Natural Resources is trying to change the name of a little creek on Vancouver Island on the west coast in the province of BC. The name they hate is "Coonskin Creek." Think this is fake news? Don't believe me? Please read the following:

Name of Vancouver Island creek deemed offensive, could be changed
 
"The designers chose the name Davy Crockett after the American folk hero, woodsman and congressman who told the story that, being out of ammunition one day and coming upon a bear, he had to "grin the bear to death". The Soviet national animal was a bear so it seemed fitting for the men in "Atomic Battle Group" (ABG) waiting for the Soviet "bear" to attack."
 
Meanderer said:
In the early 19th century, David “Davy” Crockett emerged from the wilds of Tennessee to become one of the United States’ first living folk heroes.

Though best known for his 1836 death at the Alamo, he was also a writer, hunter and U.S. Congressman whose reputation as an adventurer made him a legend in his own time.

Explore 10 surprising facts about the man often called the “King of the Wild Frontier.”

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The Kentucky Headhunters did KILLER version of The Ballad of Davey Crockett.

Ballad of Davey Crockett
 

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