Bazooka

The bazooka was an American man-portable rocket launcher that fired a solid-propellant rocket carrying a shaped-charge warhead capable of penetrating armored vehicles, and it entered United States military service in 1942. It earned its enduring nickname from its resemblance to a novelty musical instrument popularized by the 1930s comedian Bob Burns, with General Gladeon M. Barnes reportedly remarking at an Aberdeen Proving Ground demonstration that the weapon looked just like Bob Burns' bazooka. Cheap, simple to operate and effective against armor that had previously required an anti-tank gun or grenade to defeat, the weapon gave individual infantrymen a practical anti-tank capability for the first time. General Dwight Eisenhower later named the bazooka as one of four tools of victory that won the Second World War for the Allies, alongside the atomic bomb, the Jeep and the C-47 Skytrain transport aircraft.