Shockwave Cannon: Weird Weapons of WWII

This is a segment from the History Channel's "Weird Weapons of WWII" featuring Mark Pauline from SRL demonstrating the "shockwave cannon" which was a failed bit of Nazi technology that was supposed to decimate aircraft with a powerful column of air. It never quite worked, as evidenced by the fact that at the end of the clip MYSELF and two of my good friends appear getting blasted by the cannon on top of Mark's Trailer. This was filmed two summers ago when I was out in San Francisco working for RE/Search.



From SRL:

Used in SRL performances since 1987, this giant stationary device forms vortex rings of air and projects the rings at high speeds. This model is nearly 20 feet long; the broad barrel is mounted atop a reinforced tripod. An stoichemetric oxygen acetylene mixture creates a non-propulsive, controlled explosion at the back of the chamber, causing a torroidal air current to accelerate out of the barrel. Check valves control the fuel delivery systems, controlling the flow of gases. An electronic timer control system keeps the gas mixture precise; on the tethered manual control box one timer is for fill, and another fires the device. The timer automatically stops when the gas is mixed, and the device can only fire after the timer has shut off.