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Armor/AFV: AA/AT/Artillery
For discussions about artillery and anti-aircraft or anti-tank guns.
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Nam 105mm ?
trickymissfit
Joined: October 03, 2007
KitMaker: 1,388 posts
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Posted: Wednesday, October 24, 2007 - 06:11 PM UTC

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A really good mate of mine was in "I"Battery, 3rd Batt 11th marnies,1st Div (rein)( 155mm howitzer's) from 64-68, I remember him telling me of a time there base was over run, the whole infantry was wiped out, they were told to lower the barrels fill it with rocks, nails, any thing and blast that out. I cann't remember were it was, he was all ways in is it I CORPS, just below the DMZ, They were attacted to "Bobley's Barstards" for a while.


I was with the 101st near Quang Ngai, and we shot a combo of HE and WP with less than two seconds on the fuses with a charge one green bag. That's too close for a 155! Have to actually lower the barrel to about a minus three to five degrees looking thru the breech. Never got to shoot a beehive out of a 155 because they deemed that we just had no use for a beehive. Another very interesting combo is an M107 shooting very close ( less than a hundred yards). You just load a zone three and forget the round. Biggest blow torch you'll ever see.
gary
trickymissfit
Joined: October 03, 2007
KitMaker: 1,388 posts
Armorama: 1,357 posts
Posted: Wednesday, October 24, 2007 - 06:24 PM UTC

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Tom, that "BEE HIVE" round, did they make a "Beehive" round for shot guns? I remeber my good friend telling me about a beehive round it had 21 steel darts in it, his exact words were, ( in a mid-western accent) " you good leave a mother [auto-censored]er tacked to a tree",
He was in an Artillary unit, In all the photos i have, of his time in the Marnies,(64-68) they only had the old 105mm Howitzers, his unit "I" Battery 3rd Battalion,11th Marnies 1st Marnie Division( rein) FMF, used 155mm Howitzers, I know his unit was around Da-Nang, but can any one tell me how to find out the names of the fire bases he was at and where they were moved to and operations they were on?
There is some photos dated 65, the base is near a beach as there is sand every were the Howiters have Camoflarge neeting over the howiters to hid there postion from the air?
I know they were in operetion Texas, De-Soto, Hotsprings, can any one tell me how to find out more?
I wont to build a Diorama, of a photo out of an old "SEA-TIGER" paper from 1966, Can any one tell me who, makes a 155mm howitzer?


south of DaNang there was LZ Ross and "hardrock five niner " (later renamed LZ Gator) . I don't think the Marines had any guns on Gator, but they also may well have been on Hill 54.
Did see some howitzers on Ross, and this was about as far west as they got till the Army moved on into the Que Son Valley right after Tet in 1968. It's also possible that there may have been a Marine battery in Baldy, but I never saw one. Suspect they were all within six miles of DaNang. DaNang was big enough that you would have had a battery north and south of it. Chu Lai was the say way with 54 and and Gator covering it.
If it was artillary west of highway one it was probably Army or Nungs. Also there were no beehive rounds for 155's in RVN. If there were we would have had them. There was the "Cofram round" (often called a firecracker) which was a cluster round that had 104 bomblets inside it. My unit shot the first zone sweep with them as well as the second one on back to back nights.
gary
trickymissfit
Joined: October 03, 2007
KitMaker: 1,388 posts
Armorama: 1,357 posts
Posted: Thursday, October 25, 2007 - 07:45 AM UTC

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While in transit from one place to another would the sites be left on or removed and would there be something over the end of the barrel to protect it from dust etc.


the sight (called a periscope) is never carried in the same copter as the gun is slung under. Once the sights are reinstalled the gun must be registered all over, and are never removed unless you are about tobe over run. Also the firing lock is carried by the AG along with a dozen or so primers in his pocket. It's never left on the gun during transit as you can't shoot without it.
Slinging a 105 would be an easy task, and the copter would also carry the crew. Everybody would also carry one round fused up and ready to go. Never did a 105 in transit, but it's all the same. The gunner will have the periscope in his hands, and the AG will have the firing lock ready with a primer in it. Normally a crew would carry HE and one WP round.
The section chief will have the rammer staff (155) and a shovel. Somebody else will have a 3lb. hammer too.
A 155 is a much different animal to transport. The howitzer is stripped of it's shields and anything else that can be removed (12,000lb.!!) The crew will normally be on the ground about two minutes ahead of the gun, and have the spades, sight, and firing lock in thier hands. The powder is sometimes slung in a net with about fifty rounds, but you will always be carrying at least a half dozen rounds when comming off the chopper. The samething for the powder. Get's tobe a regular mad four to five minutes getting everything ready to shoot a round, but that's when your gonna have the untimely meeting with the current residents. Not fifteen minutes later.
The barrel and breech are always kept closed. Normally we would tie a plastic bag over the end of the barrel, and stuff a rag in the firing lock's hole. Otherwise you maynot get the breech to open back up. The only time we ever used a cover on the gun was when we towed it behind a five ton truck.
gary
thathaway3
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Michigan, United States
Joined: September 10, 2004
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Posted: Thursday, October 25, 2007 - 02:15 PM UTC

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the sight (called a periscope) gary


Actually I believe the correct name is a panoramic telescope or "pan-tel" for short. Some units may have called it a periscope, but it was never referred to that way at Ft. Sill that I ever heard.

Tom
trickymissfit
Joined: October 03, 2007
KitMaker: 1,388 posts
Armorama: 1,357 posts
Posted: Thursday, October 25, 2007 - 05:56 PM UTC

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Quoted Text


the sight (called a periscope) gary


Actually I believe the correct name is a panoramic telescope or "pan-tel" for short. Some units may have called it a periscope, but it was never referred to that way at Ft. Sill that I ever heard.

Tom


every unit I was with (including Ft Sill) just called it a parascope. Once in awhile somebody would also just call it the "sight." Guess it was whatever todays flavor was. Myself, I prefered to call it "the sight."
gary
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