Friday, September 18, 2009

ZACCHINI X15 (From Chic Silber)


ZACHX15B, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.


I thought that the Memphis Fair cannon photo

looked like it had the barrel from this cannon

which had been semi mounted

Chic

Posted by Buckles at 9/18/2009 05:33:00 AM

7 comments:

Jimmy Cole said...

Chic, In the early 1960's, as America embarked on it's early space program,the Zacchini family decided that it might be a good time to update their cannons. All 5 cannon barrels were re-designed to give the appearence of being rockets. The Munoz cannon also took on a rocketship appearence (Beatty-Cole, 1965).

Perhaps the most notable was the X-15 cannon, which was designed and operated by Emmanual Zacchini. He leased and utilized the double reapeating barrel from his brother Bruno's cannon (had been on Cole Bros. 1949). and mounted it on a semi trailer, as seen in this photo. The metalic blue semi, complete with dry ice fog, red & blue police lights and siren, was built with a low profile so it could easily be driven in and out of buildings. The X-15 put in 2 seasons on Ringling, but went to a single projectile use after a bad accident in Jacksonville, FL which seriously injured one of the Zacchini's.

After this X-15 cannon was retired in the mid '70s, it went back to Bruno, who cleverly restored it back to it's somewhat original "silver cannon" appearence by cutting the trailer portion and welding it to a B model Mack truck. It was then donated to the Ringling Museum in Sarasota,FL where it remains on display. You can still see "X-15" through the silver paint on the barrel.

The Edmundo Zacchini double repeating cannon (seen in a previous photo) had a barrel design very similar to the X-15, but was a completly different cannon. This cannon is now in storage in Tampa, FL.

I have heard storys from members of the Zacchini family about these "rocketship" cannons getting police and military escorts as the passed through citys and towns enroute to the next date.

18 September, 2009 06:55
Chic Silber said...

Thanks again Jimmy

Louis (Capt Astronaught) Munoz's

cannon was the 1st one I had the

opportunity to do some work on

It was repairing some of the

vermin chewed wiring that had

occured in the off season and

gave me a chance to understand

the propulsion system (same as

Zacchini utilized) and I thought

his cannon was bought from them

Many years later when I did much

work on Elvin's "World's Largest"

Louis Jr became Elvin's missile

18 September, 2009 11:35
Ole Whitey said...

Wasn't the Munoz cannon originally Wilnos?

18 September, 2009 14:48
Chic Silber said...

Could well be Whitey

Maybe someone else would know

It still could have been built

by one of the Zacchinis

I was told that Teo built some

of them in his tremendous shop

on Orange Ave (that lies empty)

before he and his son turned it

into a dark ride factory

Hugo Jr had a smaller shop off

of 12th St near the ASPCA

18 September, 2009 20:56
JImmy Cole said...

The Munoz cannon that was on Beatty-Cole 1961 - 1964 (aka "Capt. Astronaut") was in fact the former "Wilno" cannon as Dave Price has just pointed out. It was mounted on an "Indiana" truck body and the barrel had a multi-colored camoflage design painted on it.

Luis Munoz Sr., also a very good wirewalker, had previously worked for Emmanual Zacchini when he had his cannon on the Cristiani show.

That former Wilno cannon was destroyed in an accident in Mexico in the winter of 1964 / 1965. It was quickly replaced with a semi trailer mounted cannon designed with a rocketship barrel, likely inspired by the Zacchini's X-15 design. That cannon was on Beatty-Cole for the 1965 season only. After that, it did indepentent spot dates, including one for Ringling when they were in the Astrodome in Houston.

19 September, 2009 06:45
Ole Whitey said...

Being a pro, Chic did not go into detail here about the workings.

There was a question on the CHS site awhile back asking how the cannon worked.

Jimmy Cole wrote back and said people were making their living with the cannon and it wasn't anybody else's business how it worked. Or words to that effect.

Good for you, Jimmy.

19 September, 2009 14:25
Chic Silber said...

Jimmy

Did both Edmundo & Hugo Sr have

sons named Hugo as well

According the the University of

Missouri in their records of the

Supreme Court case by Hugo Sr it

shows him to have both a son & a

grandson by that name

I sent the page from that record

to Buckles in hopes it would post

I also sent a photo of the Munoz

cannon showing the camoflage

19 September, 2009 15:39

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