By T. Rees Shapiro
Sunday, May 23, 2010;
C06
In early 1942, then-Lt. Edward Uhl was a young engineer just out of college when he was recruited to the Army's ordnance corps for a special mission.
The United States had only recently entered World War II, and the Army was scrambling to create a functional antitank weapon capable of penetrating German armor.
Within months, Mr. Uhl and a senior colleague created just such a device -- a shoulder-mounted rocket launcher that became known as the "bazooka" and is still used in various forms today. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower called the bazooka one of the crucial "tools of victory" for the Allies in World War II, along with the C-47 transport plane, the Jeep and the atomic bomb.
Decades after the war, Mr. Uhl became president, chief executive and chairman of the defense contractor Fairchild Industries, where he was responsible for overseeing the production of the A-10 Thunderbolt II, an aircraft that ravaged Iraqi tanks during the Persian Gulf War.
Mr. Uhl, 92, died May 9 at an assisted living facility in Easton, Md., of complications from a stroke.
He joined the Army in 1941 shortly after graduating with honors from Lehigh University, where he majored in engineering physics. He was assigned to the ordnance corps and began serving in a special weapons unit with Leslie Skinner, who would retire from the Army as a colonel.
In 1942, the pair received orders to design an antitank weapon that could penetrate four-inch steel plating used on German tanks. At a small shop in Indian Head, Md., they went to work on developing the bazooka, officially known as the M1 rocket launcher.
Physicist Robert Goddard is often credited with designing the prototype for the tube rocket launcher, but his innovation was poorly timed. He presented his device to military officials in Washington in November 1918, the month World War I ended.
Inspired by Goddard's earlier work, Skinner and Mr. Uhl planned to design an inexpensive and mobile launching system. They created projectiles by attaching grenades to miniature rockets that flew at 300 feet per second.
But when it came to a viable launching method, they were stumped.
The weapon needed to be lightweight, accurate and, above all, safe. Mr. Uhl and Skinner were struggling to find a way for a soldier to fire the launcher without being burned by the thrust of hot gas created when the rocket's propellant was ignited.
One day, Mr. Uhl was stumbling through an old junkyard when he saw a metal tube about five feet long and had a brainstorm.
In an interview with Maryland Cracker Barrel magazine in 2007, Mr. Uhl remembered saying: "That's the answer! Put the tube on a soldier's shoulder with the rocket inside and away it goes."
He and Skinner added a shoulder stock and a hand grip. Mr. Uhl tested the weapon first by firing a round into the Potomac River while wearing a welder's helmet and mitts.
An Army official requested a live demonstration at the Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland, where Mr. Uhl and Skinner would fire at a tank 125 yards away, moving at 20 mph.
After six other antitank systems had a try -- all missing the tank or failing to fire -- it was Mr. Uhl's turn. It was a perfect shot.
"I hit the damned tank dead center," Mr. Uhl said.
The Army called for the weapon to be mass-produced and deployed quickly. The new launcher was cheap to make, and the Army reportedly distributed more than 450,000 during World War II.
Soldiers who used the American rocket launcher gave it a number of monikers, including "the stovepipe" (because of its appearance) and "the Buck Rogers gun" (because of its advanced technology).
The officer who oversaw the Aberdeen demonstration in 1942 was credited with bestowing on the launcher its enduring nickname. He remarked at the time that Mr. Uhl's launcher resembled comedian Bob Burns's tubular musical instrument, called the "Bazooka."
Edward George Uhl, whose father was a mechanic and milkman, was born March 24, 1918, in Elizabeth, N.J.
He left the Army in 1947 at the rank of lieutenant colonel and began his ascent in the defense industry. After he worked in guided missiles with the Glenn L. Martin Co. in Middle River, Md., he joined Fairchild in 1961.
At Fairchild, Mr. Uhl expanded the company's offerings to include missiles, satellites and aircraft, including the A-10 Thunderbolt II, also known as the Warthog. He retired as the company's chairman in 1985.
Mr. Uhl's first wife, Maurine Keleher, died in 1966. Their daughter, Carol Uhl Nordlinger, died in 2008.
Survivors include his second wife, Mary Stuart Brugh Uhl of Oxford, Md.; three children from his first marriage, Kim Uhl of Washington, Scott Uhl of Woodbine, Md., and Cynthia Uhl of Williamsburg; two stepsons, George Hatcher of Easton and William Hatcher of Hagerstown, Md.; a sister; and nine grandchildren.
In retirement, Mr. Uhl and rocket scientist Wernher von Braun went on big-game hunting trips to Africa. On his deathbed, von Braun gave his prized elephant gun to Mr. Uhl.
