The Tow launcher on this Bradley appears to be damaged. Does anyone recognize it or know the story behind it. Please let me know if you do.

I am hoping someone recognizes the base in the background or something like that to help.

http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/land/m2-003.jpg

Thanks all.

I have no idea....It could be just from regular useage or maby a hand gernade exploded by it??? but those are jsut guesses

Rust, the weather. Looks like it was originally displayed with the TOW launcher erected. That would have had the rusty portion facing you parallel to the ground. Sun and rain on the display vehicle caused it to rust, just like the rust stains caused by the tracks on the concrete pads.

Yeap, Sabot hit it on the head. The paint has weathered and cracked and the metal underneath is rusting. The rust in turn is breaking down and flowing out of the cracked/peeling paint. You can see on top of the firing port fairing where the run off is staining the upper surface. This is the way that military equipment typically rusts. My motorpool has trucks that are low priority repair or "parts" trucks that are rusting in a similar manner.

That Bradley is quite old judging by the paint scheme. The paint scheme is the four color MERDC (?) pattern used in the 80's prior to the NATO standardized three color scheme you see on vehicles today. This piece is a "display" piece somewhere as you can tell by the concrete pad it is sitting on. The tracks have rusted and run off from them has substantially stained the concrete.

If I'm not wrong the base is Aberdeen. When I was there just before Sept 11 last year they had brought out a cleaned up Bradley and put it just outside of the museum next to the xm1.I also believe they painted it tan.

Josh Weingarten
aKa shiryon

Hello Andrew
I was in Aberdeen Proving Grounds about 3yrs ago and the Bradley was on display as you see it in the picture that you have. The building in the back ground is the museum.
Regards
Ralph

Is Aberdeen Proving Grounds still closed? if so does anyone know when it will open again?

Here's the ABERDEEN MUSEUM website.


Matt

I was at Aberdeen earlier this year (see some photos I took in the gallery) that Bradley has been stripped and repainted a gloss desert sand color, replicating a Desert Storm pattern. I did not take photos of it since I have that type of vehicle at my work.

As far as base access, it may be a while before visitors get regular access to military bases. Most likely for specific events like an open house, air show, 4th of July fire works, etc. when security can be beefed up for a specific short-term duration.

APG for sure.

Thanks,
Kevin Keefe
Mortars in Miniature

Do they keep the enigne operational or just push and pull it around? (:-)

Looks like a direct hit from........."HIGH VELOCITY RUST". I don't know about this particular vehicle but some vehicles at military museums are still operational while some are static displays only.

True pity. It is almost criminal the way we just leave these precious reminders of our past to sit and rust. They were scheduled to enclose the entire collection, but I guess that money went to some other worthy cause.
DJ