Those Wild Wonderful Tracks of Vietnam Part 4-United States Army

After some technical difficulties lets try this again....

Recoilless Rifles


Fairly well known photo taken in Saigon during the Tet Offensive. Connie, The Pink Pussy Cat. The M2 has been repositioned to the rear hatch and what appears to be a M20, 75mm Recoilless Rifle has been mounted in the TC's Weapon Station. A tight fit to be sure...



Grenade Launcher(s)




Mine Roller



The X designation on the front fender might indicate this is an "experimental" design undergoing field trials, or it might mean the track belonged to the 10th ACR. The movie camera in the second picture may be a clue. Neat bit of kit anyway...

Oddities


A M132 Zippo serving as an ersatz LCM Monitor (Flame).


An added search light to TC's gun tub. Would that make this a M113 CDL??


Ever wonder what happened to those weapon systems from scraped Huey's?



In the first photo you have a standard M132 Zippo, notice how the hatch folds backwards? The next photo shows a M132 Zippo with a M2 in the tail gunner position, not possible normally in a standard M132 Zippo. This track has either had the rear hatch removed (seems very unwise) or is built on a M106/M125 hull. Some additional research is needed..


A M113 BSDV (Back Seat Driver Version).

Machine Guns


These guys seem to have set up housekeeping and aren't planning on moving any time soon.


A M60 where the TC's M2 is normally located. There are two cans of belt linked 40mm grenade ammo on the top deck. Perhaps the GL has been removed for maintenance? The seemingly oversized TC's guntub might be another clue...


Twin M60's in the rear gunners hatch/position.


A M1919 and a M2 in the TC's gun tub. May have to model this one....


A M2 in the rear gunners hatch/position. A deuce trumps a 60 anyday...


A pair of M2's in the rear hatch/gunners positions. Hard to tell much else...

Now on to the GOOD STUFF!

MINIGUNS!!!!
Sorry about that, too much sugar in my coffee this a.m., I guess...


This is my Minigun, there are many like it but this one is MINE!


M2 in the rear gunners hatch/position, Minigun in the TC's weapon station, and a M60 mounted in front of the driver. These guys are ready for some really serious shit.


A Minigun in the TC's position, and the side M60's on some lengthened mounts.


A Minigun in the TC's weapon position, the M2 has been repositioned to the drivers hatch.




The TC's don't get all the fun. A Minigun in the rear hatch/gunners position.


A lot going on in this one...Minigun in the TC's weapon position, M2 on an elevated mount in the rear hatch/gunners position, extended drive handles so the driver can sit on the top deck, and Beefcake!

That's it for today kiddies, tune in tomorrow for Pt. 5  our  final episode "Artwork on the M113, a non comprehensive montage"

-BadMoon

Lovely work Badmoon! What a great collection of photos!

Love the name Surrealist Pillow on the side of that M113. Is that Zippo on the LCM being used a weapons platform?

BravoSix wrote:Lovely work Badmoon! What a great collection of photos!

Love the name Surrealist Pillow on the side of that M113. Is that Zippo on the LCM being used a weapons platform?

Sure is..

That's very ingenious!

More great photos. Thanks heaps!!

Tom

Some real interesting setups there. I am not surprised that most of the mini-gun equipped tracks are late models with the flotation gear on them. I know that the one pick of the burned out track with the 2 .50s on the back is an ARVN vehicle, I recall the photo cap saying part of the elite Presidential Guard, though I do not know of that being the actual title of any unit.

Darby wrote:I know that the one pick of the burned out track with the 2 .50s on the back is an ARVN vehicle, I recall the photo cap saying part of the elite Presidential Guard, though I do not know of that being the actual title of any unit.

I've seen it also captioned saying it was a vehicle captured by the VC and was taken out by a M-48.

-BadMoon

Thanks for the pictures

The notification of this thread only just arrived! Super collection, thanks for sharing.

As an aside I have recently had a discussion concerning the "current fashion" of showing weathering particularly chipping/scratches on vehicles. There was a suggestion this is overdone or simply wrong. Their view was vehicles are better maintained than that, regularly cleaned, paint too thick or resistant to chip. I disagreed.

John.

JohnFoA wrote:The notification of this thread only just arrived! Super collection, thanks for sharing

What you received was a newsletter containing featured topics for the forum. It's sent out automatically by Forumotion and helps bring people back to see some of the outstanding work some of the members have been doing on the forum. BadMoon worked pretty hard putting this together and he gets major kudos from me. As does Tom for all his great contributions.