M16 Motor Carriage Question

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did this halftrack variant have wide use? I don't recall reading much on the Luftwaffe strafing Allied positions enough to merit the wide implementation of this, or was it used for ground support instead. all those 50 cals would keep my head down....

wondering for diorama purposes if I should look for an aerial attack theme or have it aimed at a hedgerow instead...

thx - Craig

Reply to
who me?
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"who me?" wrote

The implementation was fixed before D-Day. Each division or corps or whatever had an attached AAA unit. Toward the end of '44 however, the heavier AAA units were stripped out and the troops fed into the infantry.

That being said, there were 3614 M16s made or converted during the war.

I think the ability to attack ground targets may have added to this vehicle's longevity.

If you want an interesting diorama, put one in the parking lot of the Perfect Circle foundry in New Castle, Indiana in October of 1955, when the IN NG was called out after large scale rioting during a labor strike.

KL

Reply to
Kurt Laughlin

It got used in WW2, tore up enemy ground formations in Korea and ended its career with the quad .50 sitting in the back of Vietnam guntrucks. Rob Gronovius Modern US armor at

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Reply to
Rob Gronovius

who me? wrote:

FWIW A friend of mine who served in a heavy ordnance unit attached to Patton's 3rd in the big one told me the following story. Late 1944! They were on the move and crossing a river on a pontoon bridge. He was driver of a 5 ton truck, another gent in the truck with him. There were MP's controlling access to the bridge so as not to overload it. George notices a halftrack with a quad 50 sitting by the approach as he was waved on to the bridge. About the middle, with another vehicle stopped ahead of him he heard the guy in the truck with him start swearing and looked where the guy was pointing. There was a German fighter coming down the river to his left, skimming the water. Talk about trapped like a rat! At that point, that halftrack pulled partly out on to the bridge and cut loose. The German fighter simply nosed down and hit the water and disintegrated. The German fighter's engine, propeller still slowly spinning, bounced off the water and sailed over the bridge, landing in the water on the other side. When George got to the other side he pulled off the road and dug out a bottle of Cognac he had "Liberated" and was saving for a special occasion. He legged it back across the bridge and presented the bottle to the gun crew, figuring they had definitely saved his butt. They were more interested in having him sign their combat report as witness so they got credit for the kill, since the German Fighter was at the bottom of the river. That would make a neat diorama! George was a "workaholic" type, but he said that in later years he could always tell when things were getting to him and it was time to take a vacation because he would start to see that engine sailing over his head in his dreams. And no, he didn't know what kind of German fighter it was, he was a truck driver and welder.

Bill Shuey

Reply to
William H. Shuey

About 30 years ago I worked for a man who had served in Korea in the AAF. He told me one story about how some T-34s were threatening the airfield at night. Some M16s kept pouring fire onto the tanks. They couldn't kill them, but thousands of rounds of .50BMG made them keep the periscopes down, filled the machines with noise, and generally made things pretty uncomfortable for the crews. I think he said they eventually withdrew when they realized they couldn't get to the airfield before daylight.

Reply to
Guy N. LaFrance

Rob,

In 1980 I saw a quad .50 mounted on a Korean army truck, providing air defence at Osan AB.

John Hairell ( snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com)

Reply to
John Hairell

The M16 earned the nickname "meat chopper," so yes, it was used frequently against ground targets in the ETO. An export version was built on the American Harvester halftrack as well, the M17, which was supplied as Lend Lease aid to the Soviets. GPO

Reply to
Lafimprov

My father served in Korea. He told me about a village that was surrounded. The Koreans (or maybe Chinese) troops refused to surrender and came out on a banzai charge. There was an M16 there and they were cut to ribbons. My Dad was impressed.

Reply to
Gary Kato

I recall seeing a movie many years ago (I think it was "The Eagle Has Landed") where there was a US halftrack with a M3 Lee tank turret mounted on the back. I have never seen a photo or reference to this version of the half-track and assume it was a phony mock-up in keeping with the fictitious theme of the movie. Can any AFV enthusiast confirm?

James.

Reply to
James Venables

snipped-for-privacy@austarmetro.com.au (James Venables) wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@posting.google.com:

I have a book round here somewhere that talks about all the T- variants of the half tracks, as well as a number of other period vehicles. I wouldn't be surprised, I don't remember for sure though, if that was something that was tried out. In the book it was an M-16 and I think they drove clean into the building and shot up through the floor. Somewhat grisly. Don't know where that beastie in the movie came from, it should have been easier to find an M-16 rather than mock up something "fake".

Just my opinion, Frank

Reply to
Gray Ghost

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