Author Topic: Armored Fighting Vehicles version M4 - are we going with that? Sure, man.  (Read 196882 times)

Daryk

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Details?  PLEASE!  ;D

Kidd

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Another angle, and the story

Source: https://belsat.eu/en/news/drunken-man-takes-tank-drive-in-polish-town/

A drunken man and his friend were driving a T-55 tank along the streets of a small Polish town of Pajęczno. Earlier, the tank belonged to Poland’s Armed Forces.

The local police was informed of the situation at 21.40 on Thursday evening. A few minutes later, the officers stopped the military vehicle on Mickiewicz street, Twoje Pajęczno reports. The 49-year-old ‘tankman’ was intoxicated.

As it turned out, after being repaired, the tank was to be transported on the special platform. But its owner invited his acquaintance to have an unusual ride.

The driver was detained; he spent a night in the police station. Now he may face up to 8 years of imprisonment for creating a situation of danger.


Daryk

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Too funny... at least it looks like he didn't do much damage during the joy ride...

Ruger

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Too funny... at least it looks like he didn't do much damage during the joy ride...

And the cop(s) responding to the call now have an almost once in a lifetime story to tell the kids/grandkids.

Ruger
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Daryk

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I'm sure they HOPE it's a once in a lifetime story!  ;D

kato

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The last time someone did that over here police stopped him on a bridge.

He was stopped on that bridge, moved over into the turret and was moving it around a bit, taking aim. With 66 rounds of live 105mm onboard. Then he thought he should get into a better position to aim, moved back to the driver's position, put the tank in reverse and kinda miscalculated his momentum.



And yes, the water got him.

Daryk

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I'm sure the water had some help from the alcohol in that case too...

worktroll

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I did an image search, and it came up "Toyota Prius". If only they offered the 105mm upgrade here in Australia  :(

"But worst of all, the tank was not insured!"
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ANS Kamas P81

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God, I'm just thinking back to the guy who stole the M-60 back in San Diego; I was still in El Cajon at that time.  We were terrified he was gonna stop on the freeway, turn around, and charge south in the northbound lane and go into all the stopped cars that the police had blocked off, but instead...well, thank God it turned out the way it did.
Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen,
Tod und Verzweiflung flammet um mich her!
Fühlt nicht durch dich Jadefalke Todesschmerzen,
So bist du meine Tochter nimmermehr!

kato

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The above one in Mannheim in '82 careened through a pedestrian shopping street on saturday high-time for two hours, drove over ten cars in a side street and sliced open a tram for a 15 ft long gash.

Still only four injured overall though.

beachhead1985

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God, I'm just thinking back to the guy who stole the M-60 back in San Diego; I was still in El Cajon at that time.  We were terrified he was gonna stop on the freeway, turn around, and charge south in the northbound lane and go into all the stopped cars that the police had blocked off, but instead...well, thank God it turned out the way it did.

Years ago, I heard a story that when the US was retiring the M60s, the ended up going all sorts of places. Here in Canada, we had one delivered to a reserve armoury in Windsor. "Here; take it. Check it out, play with it. It's a gift. If you want them; you can have them. Have your people call our people."

The tank ended up on display in Borden as part of the (Quite impressive) tank park.


http://preservedtanks.com/Locations.aspx?LocationCategoryId=8000

Naturally; we turned them down. While we've always had our issues up north; we've never been the type to look for a vast inventory of obsolescent hardware in order to increase coverage or try for quantity over quality. We prefer a small inventory of obsolescent hardware, thankyouverymuch.

However...

Another source told me that M60s, parts and even ammuntion had been disposed of through various US Government services and ended up in some rather weird places. Someone's department of highways, for instance (State of Washington?). I have always wondered if there was any truth to this?
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ANS Kamas P81

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I would imagine a Patton, with the turret pulled and covered over into an ersatz recovery vehicle, would make one unstoppable plow or wrecker.

And yeah, there's been a few rounds of surplus military hardware - even big stuff, like armored vehicles - being shipped around to various police and special services units in the US.  After the big drawdown in Iraq, probably every police chief with dreams of a SWAT team got themselves a free MRAP.
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Fühlt nicht durch dich Jadefalke Todesschmerzen,
So bist du meine Tochter nimmermehr!

MoneyLovinOgre4Hire

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I would imagine a Patton, with the turret pulled and covered over into an ersatz recovery vehicle, would make one unstoppable plow or wrecker.

Unstoppable, but also rather expensive to keep running, I'd guess.  Between the fuel costs, the issues of maintenance (because you're not just going to be able to take it to the standard garage), and problems caused by its weight on bridges and other structures, it might not be the best choice.

I've heard of multiple cases of police departments snapping up surplus military gear, then going broke trying to actually pay to keep it running.
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kato

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I would imagine a Patton, with the turret pulled and covered over into an ersatz recovery vehicle, would make one unstoppable plow or wrecker.
Related:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHlujDSOfCE

ANS Kamas P81

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Nnnnnnneat.
Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen,
Tod und Verzweiflung flammet um mich her!
Fühlt nicht durch dich Jadefalke Todesschmerzen,
So bist du meine Tochter nimmermehr!

Feenix74

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Long history of converting surplus tanks to farm equipment here in Aus:





Incoming fire has the right of way.

The only thing more accurate than incoming enemy fire is incoming friendly fire.

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hoosierhick

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Someone's department of highways, for instance (State of Washington?). I have always wondered if there was any truth to this?

They're using them for avalanche control.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZLfboCceGA

I am Belch II

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Here are some military vehicles used in the Chernobyl clean up.
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Matti

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Long history of converting surplus tanks to farm equipment here in Aus:
"Swords to ploughs" anyone? BattleTech book Legacy has that going too.
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beachhead1985

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They're using them for avalanche control.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZLfboCceGA

That's pretty clever.

Would I rather be in a tank than on-foot if I got hit by an avalanche?  Surely yes?
Epitaph on an Army of Mercenaries

These, in the day when heaven was falling,      Their shoulders held the sky suspended;
The hour when earth's foundations fled,         They stood, and earth's foundations stay;
Followed their mercenary calling,               What God abandoned, these defended,
And took their wages, and are dead.             And saved the sum of things for pay.
     
A.E. Housman

Dave Talley

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well the tank wont be moved as much due to its mass
and if inside you will have air for a couple hours assuming you shut the engine
down quickly, and if close to the surface, simply moving the turret and main gun you might be able tunnel out
if not you are in a big metal box with little heat and all that metal is going conduct what heat you have away very soon
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chanman

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I would imagine a Patton, with the turret pulled and covered over into an ersatz recovery vehicle, would make one unstoppable plow or wrecker.

And yeah, there's been a few rounds of surplus military hardware - even big stuff, like armored vehicles - being shipped around to various police and special services units in the US.  After the big drawdown in Iraq, probably every police chief with dreams of a SWAT team got themselves a free MRAP.

Much like everything else, it's the upkeep and maintenance that gets you. Almost sounds like some kind of company store play  :D

Daryk

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There was a link from the video about a railroad company up in Alaska that uses a howitzer for the same job...

kato

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There was a link from the video about a railroad company up in Alaska that uses a howitzer for the same job...
There's also a group in the Sierra Nevada that uses a WW2 howitzer and intermittently had borrowed a M119 from the US Army for the job until they needed it back for Iraq.


In the Alps they just use bazookas (old RL-83 Blindicide) or 120mm mortars (more rare).

Elmoth

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An M119 corresponds to an AC2?

MoneyLovinOgre4Hire

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There was a link from the video about a railroad company up in Alaska that uses a howitzer for the same job...

If it's the group from Juneau, they once missed so badly they accidentally hit Canada.
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hoosierhick

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There was a link from the video about a railroad company up in Alaska that uses a howitzer for the same job...

I thought I had seen that too but I couldn't remember where I saw it.  There was also a group in the US that was using one of the large recoilless rifles at one point.

Garrand

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And very technically interesting tanks, IRL; the post-war 76mm retrofit into the original (T43?) Turrets was pretty clever, but I wonder what it was like on the crews?

US Army ordinance did versions of this Sherman in WWII (in '42 or maybe '43) to test the feasibility of using an M1 76mm cannon in the older 75mm turret. The conclusion was that the installation was too cramped & compromised the "fightability" of the tank. They opted to wait instead for a larger turret (i.e. the T23 turret). Post war, many surplus SHermans were upgraded with the M1A1 cannon (called M4AxE9 IIRC) & supplied to US allies. I'm pretty sure Pakistan had them, & maybe India as well.

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Kidd

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Murica - our state troopers have 105mm artillery

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_BPcqIL0KY

Matti

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An M119 corresponds to an AC2?
Neg. Try Thumper.
You know what they say, don't you? About how us MechWarriors are the modern knights errant, how warfare has become civilized now that we have to abide by conventions and rules of war. Don't believe it.