Showing posts with label The Cold War. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Cold War. Show all posts

Monday, January 6, 2025

Equipment of the Vietnam War, National Museum of Military Vehicles, Dubois Wyoming.

A reader might feel that today must be Vietnam War Day here on this blog, and not without good reason.

For one thing, we've started what will undoubtedly be a series of posts of the closing months of the Vietnam War, with this daily entry:

Monday, January 6, 1975. The Vietnam War resumes in earnest.


For another, I bumped up this old item, or reran it:


And now, of course, the following from my visit to the National Museum of Military Vehilces.

UH-1 "Huey", a helicopter synonymous with the Vietnam War.

Hueys came into use in a major way during the war, and remained in use for many years thereafter. They were still the predominant helicopter when I was a National Guardsmen in the 1980s, and even now I'll occasionally see an Air Force example in Cheyenne in operation.

They remain one of the greatest helicopters of all time.



I wasn't even aware of the M-422's existence as a actual service item.  I've seen them on a television series from the 60s and assumed they were just a studio item substituting for a real Jeep.  Offhand, I think that was from The Lieutenant which only had one run, that being in 1963.






Gun trucks, depicted here, were a Vietnam War thing adn were produced in theater.  








The "Gamma Goat", an incredibly unstable vehicle.  One of the guys I was in basic training with was latter killed in a Gamma Goat roll over.

The M151 Jeep.  Also very unstable, but long serving.  It was the last 1/4 general purpose truck of the US Army used on a widescale basis.








M109 howitzer.  I trained on one of these at Ft. Sill, where I had the "No 1" position on the gun.  A much updated version is still in service.
























Last edition: 

Saturday, November 9, 2024

SPW 152 "Iron Pig" (BTR 152). National Museum of Military Vehicles.

This peculiar looking vehicle is an East German SPW 152 "Iron Pig", which was their variant of the Soviet BTR 152.  The armored vehicle was designed as an armored personnel carrier, but utilized for other things as well.  The gun in this one is likely an anti-aircraft gun.


This particular example bears the markings of the current Bundesherr and likely saw service in the reunited German Army after the country was reunited.

The Jeeps in these photographs are M151s, which will be dealt with elsewhere.


 Last edition: