The Dark Room - A Collection of Photos of the War

T-54 at the Presidential Palace, Saigon, 30 April 1975.

Photo by Jean-Claude Labbé/Gamma-Rapho.

Source: https://www.gettyimages.co.nz/detail/news-photo/the-fall-of-ho-chi-minh-vietnam-in-april-1975-assault-on-news-photo/113994945

Nice photo of a sad day.

I need to find some 1/72 decals for turret numbers.

Tom

Backpacks, helmets, spare track link - I need to detail my T-54s.

Wickham trolleys - Great Britain's little-known contribution to the South Vietnamese war effort. These were originally used in Malaya in the 1950s.

Photographer: Gilles Caron
Source: Fondation Gilles Caron

More photos here: https://ridersvietnam.com/blogs/the-armored-train-in-south-vietnam.html

A GI being accosted by a Fagin with his shoeshine boys, outside the Tax Center building, Nguyen Hue Street, Saigon, 1966.

These crews still operate in Saigon.

Photographer: unknown

Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/13476480@N07/19555015081/in/photostream/

South Vietnamese 5th Marine Battalion in the Mekhong Delta.

Photographer: W.E.Garrett

Source: National Geographic, December 1968.

I was always glad I was not in the Delta. Yuck!!

Tom

I was watching an interview with a guy stationed there and he said you were wet all the time, and if you ever found a patch of dry land to sit on, it was always occupied by red ants who would immediately attack you.

NVA, Quang Tri 1970.

Photographer: Đoàn Công Tính.

Source: https://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/09/02/questions-raised-about-vietnam-war-photos/?mtrref=www.google.com&gwh=45C0FEA9E843BDE978734ABC712AF9B6&gwt=regi&assetType=REGIWALL

This photo looks posed to me: it reminds me of similar propaganda shots done by Soviet photographers in WWII.

ARVN Cadillac Gage armoured car firing at VC during the Tet Offensive, corner of Nguyễn Bỉnh Khiêm and Tự Đức (now Nguyễn Văn Thủ), District 1 Saigon.

I know this corner; it's in my 'hood.



Photographer: unknown.

Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/13476480@N07/17453378482/in/photostream/

A Shau Valley panorama, 1968.

Photographer: Co Rentmeester

Source: http://images.google.com/hosted/life/7000b8123ebddbf7.html

I love the M-16 poking out of the gunport on the armored car.

OTB, you have a real eye for unique photos!

I'm trying to show stuff you don't normally see and that hopefully other people haven't seen either.

Flying banana helicopter assault.

Photographer: Unknown.

Source: LIFE Magazine June 12, 1964.

What I find interesting here is that the door gun is an M-60. Most of wheat I have read about H-21s comes from a bit earlier where they are using .30cal and .50cals, but not yet using M-60s. Also, the lack of markings, other than on the forward doghouse.
I wonder about those wires hanging off the bottom too... (are they antennas? Static discharge lines? Cargo slings?_

I'm guessing cargo slings...

"Equipped with a hoist and a dorsal quick-release cargo sling..."

Yup, it's a cargo sling:

https://www.helis.com/database/model/Flying-Banana/

"Tank too heavy for the bridge".

Photo by Bob Haddock

Source: http://www.a70thvets.com/file/..%5Chaddock/pictures/004%20Tank%20too%20heavy%20for%20the%20bridge.jpg

You sure do find unusual photos OTB. Keep up the good work.

Tom

That had to be a scary moment for the tank crew!

And that looks like the crew in the background too, probably speculating on all the paperwork this is going to generate...

OTB wrote:"Tank too heavy for the bridge".

Isn't that a "double" baily bridge?

Yes - they should have used a triple bailey...

All mod cons: Shower at Camp Radcliff (An Khe), 1966.

Photographer: Unknown

Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/13476480@N07/15435457588/

American F-4C Phantom jet streaming contrails from wingtips while regaining altitude after bombing small village known to be a Vietcong stronghold during Vietnam War.

Photographer: Larry Burrows

Source: LIFE magazine, September 9, 1966.