captured weapons

[Snakedriver]

Originally Posted by Esteban

Your uniform is cleaner than mine !!

Yeah, but after a day flying around in a closed cockpit under the greenhouse glass it sure didn't smell too clean.

[Esteban]

" War is H3LL ! "

[Esteban]

Did the Cobras knock out some of those tanks ? What armament if so ? How did the U.S. tanks fare in the battle ? The U.S. had M-48 tanks over there with 90mm guns , even though there were plenty of newer , much better M-60's with 105mm's in inventory. There were some units, such as 11th ACR that traded in their M-48's for the M551's . If I remember right, our M-48 Tankers only kept about 3 heat [ anti-tank ] rounds onboard. I am sure that scenario changed in a hurry once Russian armor started crossing into the country. I would like to have seen a " tank duel , " BUT only if we won !

[Snakedriver]

Esteban, yes my unit was credited with the first Russian-built tank kills of the war. We knocked out dozens of them at An Loc. We used 11 lb. HEAT rockets in our 2.75" rocket pods to do the job. Cobras also had 20mm Vulcan canons on the wing with AP rounds that did an excellent job.

The American tankers had all been pull out of Vietnam at this point of the war and while the ARVN's had 48's I'm not aware that they ever engaged any of the NVA tanks. They all pretty much dropped their guns and ran home to mommasan during this offensive.

The AC-130's Spectre gunships were especially effective against the tanks. U.S. TAC Air was also all over them with their bombs.

At An Loc the chief adviser on the ground, Col. Bill Miller convinced the ARVN that the M-72 LAW would also do the trick by going out of his bunker and shooting some of them. Here's a picture of the rearend of one of those T-54's with Col. Miller standing next to it.

[Esteban]

I knew you had the 20mm cannons but not the other rounds. Glad you busted them ! Yep, the LAW would do it, too,,, if it fired !! ARVNS ran a lot in some of the battles. I never had much use for them, & we didn't trust any of them. Allies by day,, enemy by night,, many of us thought.
Was it at An Loc,, or Loch Ninh that a U.S. officer crawled onto a bridge, planted explosives, & blew it up his request for a bombing run, or artillery was denied ??

2 Cobras

[Snakedriver]

Originally Posted by Esteban

I knew you had the 20mm cannons but not the other rounds. Glad you busted them ! Yep, the LAW would do it, too,,, if it fired !! ARVNS ran a lot in some of the battles. I never had much use for them, & we didn't trust any of them. Allies by day,, enemy by night,, many of us thought.
Was it at An Loc,, or Loch Ninh that a U.S. officer crawled onto a bridge, planted explosives, & blew it up his request for a bombing run, or artillery was denied ??

2 Cobras

Damn nice photos. Look at that critter!!! One of those was in the shitter one day. Quite a shootout in there.

P.S. ARVN's and VNAF were worthless. The only ones any good were the ARVN Rangers and Marines.

[Esteban]

NASSY Critter !