Honest John — a rocket with a wallop Early in the heady and
scary days of the Cold War atomic weapons were considered by
NATO as a force equalizer against the numerical superiority of
Russian and Eastern Bloc opponents — especially with regard to
closing off the Fulda Gap — a likely invasion from East Germany
(at the time) to West Germany (also at the time). Hence the U.S.
Armed Forces first nuclear rocket weapon system launched from
the surface against surface targets was developed. The MGR-1
Honest John rocket was one of the delivery systems for nuclear
warheads, beginning service in 1953 with about 7000
manufactured. The Honest John was a free flight, solid fueled,
spin stabilized surface-to-surface rocket with an unenviable
accuracy. Lack of accuracy was made up for with a large nuclear
warhead, the W31, with yields varying from 2–30 kilotons/8.4–30
KJ. Launching could occur from a truck mounted system or from a
trailer mounted system. There were two versions of the Honest
John built with the second of wh