The Booster Mortar is a small rescue equipment vehicle. It is used to distribute steel-cylinder rescue packs to those trapped in tall areas, such as burning buildings or crippled towers. If required, the Booster Mortar can fire explosive projectiles as well.
Design
There is only one entrance to the Booster Mortar which is at the back of the vehicle and leads directly into the driver's cabin. To the left of the driver's seat are three monitors, one monitors the wind, another monitors the pressure, and finally, the third one monitors temperature. Above the windshield is a searchlight which incorporates an external environment sensor. At the very front of the vehicle is a turbine grille used for air intake purposes. On each side of this grille there is a round forward headlight.
When the Booster Mortar fires a metal rescue pack, it splits in half when it lands. Each half houses a low altitude escape harness. The low altitude escape harness consists of a gravity field generator, a harness and a jetpack. A pin is pulled to activate the escape harness, which launches its wearer into the air, and then back to the ground in a slow, safe descent.
Technical Data
Height: 7 feet 3 inches
Length: 14 feet
Mortar firing range: 1000 feet
Seating capacity: 1 driver
Speed: 40 mph
Width: 5 feet 6 inches
The Mortar in Action
Cross-sections (Cutaway Drawings)
As far as is known, only two cutaway drawings of the Booster Mortar exist. Illustrated by Graham Bleathman, the first appeared in a Thunderbirds Redan comic, and the second featured in the Haynes Thunderbirds manual.
