Hallo everybody!

I am intending to backdate afv's M548A1 to the regular Vietnam era ammo transporter, with canvas removed as seen on many pictures.
Now I wondered about that I-beam with the hoist for loading - did they have it back then? I am still looking for fotographic evidence - on some pictures it is clearly not there, on others it is tricky to see... Could they have unloaded those sixpacks of shells without it?
By the way, do I have to mind anything else besides the earlier-style MG ringmount to make the vehicle a M548?
Many thanks in advance!

Hi Stephan

Welcome to Armorama ! There's a picture in Simon Dunstan's "Vietnam Tracks" book showing some M109s and their supporting M548s near Phu Bai in July 1969 : the I-beam fitted to the M548 when used as an ammunition resupply vehicle is clearly visible...

HTH

Frenchy

During the Vietnam period, Marine 155mm howitzer batteries (M-109 an M-114) used M-54 drop-side 5 ton trucks as ammo trucks. We had no cranes or other tools to unload the ammo.

All rounds, both projectiles and powder canisters, were unloaded by hand. The sides of the truck were dropped. The bands on the pallets were cut and the projos (projectiles), and powder cans were handed down from the truck bed onto the shoulders of marines waiting below. The rounds were then carried to the ammo bunker and stowed until needed.

Generally all rounds were expended, but if not, we carried banding material that could be used to reassemble the pallets once the rounds were reloaded onto the trucks. In the marine TAOR's in Vietnam in 1969 and 1970, movement of medium and heavy arty was very rare. Stateside, we were carefull to unload only what was required for the planned shoot.

At 96 pounds for a projo the cannoneers got "buffed" pretty quickly. For peacetime firing exercises, the gun crews did most of the ammo handling. In combat, all hands (including officers and NCO's) turned-to to unload the trucks and move the ammo into the bunkers.

Semper Fi,
Dave

Thank you Frenchy, just wanted to be sure. I would have hated to leave this beautiful hoist off.

Thank you Marcel - did they provide an alternative exhaust on an extra sprue for the Gun Truck version? - I checked my kit, it comes only with one. Judging from pictures I think they used at least two different configurations in Vietnam, one with the plain exhaust pipe visible (very much like the one I have, though difficult to tell) and one without.

Thank you Dave, that was really informative. This unloading would make a topic for a terrific dio! But then one had to be into sculpturing of figures real seriously to make it work...