OK, so I'm totally clueless here. Doesn't that platform being in the middle of a body of water leave the crew extremely, well, um... exposed?

These were air mobile temporary artillery platforms to supply fire support in the delta area. Not meant for long term.

Wayne's right. Before an element of the Mobile Riverine Force of the 9th Infantry Division would insert into an area, these platforms would be airlifted into position so artillery support would be in range and could support the maneuver elements participating in an operation. Since the Delta region was pretty wet and it would be quite difficult o set up artillery positions in such terrain, it was necessary to develop these platforms, and use barges, to provide artillery support. If I end up with some spare money, I might get one of these as I have been wanting to do a diorama of Delta Artillery Support and my current modeling skills are not up to snuff to scratch build one of these.

Been waiting for this one. You can see the making of the master here: LINK and on their FB page. The site also has a book on the subject, "Guns Afloat" as well as other books/videos on Army/Navy brown water operations. The 1/35th Scale Hurricane Aircat Airboat they also mastered for Hobby Fan is selling for $115 from Jaguar Models so I expect it will be expensive. Hobby Easy finally got the Aircat for $80 so I'm hoping the platform will be cheaper from them too. Rob

Looking good. Good to see that these are being done by Jack Carrico of Brown Water Enterprises. This and the Aircat should make some really interesting Riverine dios. Hopefully they will come out with more Riverine Force subjects. Between these and the different boats from Tamiya (PBR), Dragon (LSSC), and Brown Water Enterprises/Masterpiece Models (ATCs, Swift Boat, etc.), the 9ID Riverine Forces are being covered pretty well.

food for thought: I saw a couple of these platforms during a fly over while rolling up a rive near the coast line. They had no guns or anything on them, and were used as helipads. The M102's mounted on tem are interesting, but they had to be locked down solid. I see no way to do it. There's no way to take up the recoil otherwise. Any piece using trail spades wouldn't work. Otherwise your gun will go for a swim with you right along. I kind of wonder if they had a different one for arty use. As for being unprotected while shooting off one. Might as well paint a bulls eye on your noggin. Probably better in the rear for show & tell. gary

Hmmm...a helicopter could carry one as it's own landing pad??

The platforms and artillery pieces were slingloaded separately. The platform would be emplaced and then the arty would be placed upon them. The artillery positions were only in place for a short period and were used quite successfully by the 9th Infantry Division in the Delta.

I can see the platform with a four duce or 81mm mortar on them, but not a 105 howitzer with some very major alterations. The M102 in the photo would have been best, but still has to be locked down solid before firing. The older gun tends to bounce a lot due to the way it's designed, and also renders itself useless with an azimuth shift. You shifted azimuths almost as often as you did fire mission. I'd almost bet the farm that the platform used with a howitzer was dedicated to that purpose alone. gary