Chris Werb Posted October 28, 2012 Share Posted October 28, 2012 (edited) I've just been watching a 1960s US Army educational film about the National Guard presented by Bob Hope. In it he states that the entire Duster weapon system (by which I take it to mean its predecessor the M19 as well) was given the National Guard after WW2. Did regular US divisions not have an SP automatic weapons battalion in their ORBAT? By the way, if you want many hours of enjoyable viewing on arcane US military subjects, entering "US Army educational film" as a youtube search will keep you happy for weeks. Edited October 28, 2012 by Chris Werb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Lindquist Posted October 28, 2012 Share Posted October 28, 2012 Chris: Post World War II, all divisions were given an AAAW battalion of 32 each M19 or M42 "Dusters" and 32 each M16 half tracks with the quad .50 MG. The battalions provided mostly ground support during the Korean War. When the Pentomic era arrived, the AAAW battalions were stripped out of the divisions and became non-divisional units. The active army ones were deactivated (needed the ADA troops for the Nike and Hawk battalions) and the ARNG battalions were the only AAAW battalions in the force. Around 1960-61, the ARNG battalions gave up their halftracks and were all rearmed with 64 each M42 "Dusters". The active army activated two Duster battalions for service in Vietnam (1st Bn, 41st Arty and 4th Bn, 60th Arty). There were also four batteries of towed quad .50 MG activated for Vietnam. Two Hawk battalions served in Vietnam. In the latter part of the 1960s, the divisions in Europe began to receive Chaparral/Vulcan ADA battalions and these were later extended to units in the US. Some Vulcans went to Vietnam for field trials, but no specific units were activated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olof Larsson Posted October 28, 2012 Share Posted October 28, 2012 What about training and elevation.Was it manual or hydraulic? And what about fire control.AFAIK, they were originally supposed to be directed by radar in a separate vehicle.Did they have a gyro-sight? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdmiralB Posted October 28, 2012 Share Posted October 28, 2012 They worked against truckers united! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
binder001 Posted October 29, 2012 Share Posted October 29, 2012 The M42s were removed from active Army inventory and passed to the Army National Guard. Oddly, after the Viet Nam war there was increased interest in anti-helicopter AAA systems and somebody in the Pentagon remembered that the Guard still had some M42 units. Until the Army could produce a magic new AAA system the Guard had the only ready-to-use AAA bigger than an M163 VADS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stimpy75 Posted October 29, 2012 Share Posted October 29, 2012 (edited) well at least they are still in use by turkish army and they are quite effective in guarding the outposts on the border Edited October 29, 2012 by stimpy75 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Werb Posted October 30, 2012 Author Share Posted October 30, 2012 When were the last Guard M42s retired? Also, when were the last M19s retired and did any of those end up with other countries? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Werb Posted October 30, 2012 Author Share Posted October 30, 2012 This site has a pic of at least seven surviving M19s in a tank park in Pakistan of all places (together with M47s). I hope someone will organise their return and restoration. http://the.shadock.free.fr/Surviving_M19_GMC.pdf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baboon6 Posted October 30, 2012 Share Posted October 30, 2012 When were the last Guard M42s retired? Also, when were the last M19s retired and did any of those end up with other countries? According to Wiki the last Guard M42s were retired in 1988. Didn't know about the Venezuelan variant which uses the M42 turret on an AMX-13 hull. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bojan Posted October 31, 2012 Share Posted October 31, 2012 French had same lash-up at least as prototype.Didn't Taiwan have M18 turrets on M42 hulls? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doug Kibbey Posted October 31, 2012 Share Posted October 31, 2012 What about training and elevation.Was it manual or hydraulic? And what about fire control.AFAIK, they were originally supposed to be directed by radar in a separate vehicle.Did they have a gyro-sight? Power travers and elevation. Details of the FCS (M38 computing and M24C reflex sights) can be found here: http://www.inetres.com/gp/military/cv/ada/M42.html Never radar controlled. There was a contingency program that envisioned development of one, but it was abandoned in favor of future advanced technologies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panzermann Posted October 31, 2012 Share Posted October 31, 2012 French had same lash-up at least as prototype.Didn't Taiwan have M18 turrets on M42 hulls?M18 as in Gun Motor Carriage M18 "Hellcat"? Why should anyone do this? I do not see much gain by putting the turret on a M42 hull. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Van Owen Posted October 31, 2012 Share Posted October 31, 2012 I've always thought the Duster would make an excellent support weapon along the lines of the ZSU=57/2, with the same drawbacks as well. Still, I could picture some of these things in a worst case scenario being grabbed out of storage in a remote warehouse, and finding deadly use in that role. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EchoFiveMike Posted October 31, 2012 Share Posted October 31, 2012 When were the last Guard M42s retired? Also, when were the last M19s retired and did any of those end up with other countries? According to Wiki the last Guard M42s were retired in 1988. There were M42's at Camp Perry OH in NG markings, at least, until the late 1990's. Not sure of their status, but they were physically there. S/F....Ken M Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bojan Posted October 31, 2012 Share Posted October 31, 2012 M18 as in Gun Motor Carriage M18 "Hellcat"? Why should anyone do this? I do not see much gain by putting the turret on a M42 hull. Worn out M18 hulls vs spare M42 hulls? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hittite Under The Bridge Posted October 31, 2012 Share Posted October 31, 2012 There were M42's at Camp Perry OH in NG markings, at least, until the late 1990's. Not sure of their status, but they were physically there. S/F....Ken M And at Camp Atterbury Indiana until 1994. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panzermann Posted October 31, 2012 Share Posted October 31, 2012 M18 as in Gun Motor Carriage M18 "Hellcat"? Why should anyone do this? I do not see much gain by putting the turret on a M42 hull. Worn out M18 hulls vs spare M42 hulls? hmm, makes sense I guess if the open turret and the 76 mm is enough for their purposes. And they probably had not much choice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calvinb1nav Posted November 1, 2012 Share Posted November 1, 2012 (edited) French had same lash-up at least as prototype.Didn't Taiwan have M18 turrets on M42 hulls? yea As a side note, the AF recently stripped some L/60s off of some M-42s laying out on the Nells range complex to use on their AC-130 gunships... Edited November 1, 2012 by Calvinb1nav Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Werb Posted November 1, 2012 Author Share Posted November 1, 2012 Hi Calvin. Where was that pic taken? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chino Posted November 1, 2012 Share Posted November 1, 2012 Saw a convoy of them (Taiwan Defence Force) in Taiwan in the mid-80's when we were there for a month-long exercise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Tanker Posted November 3, 2012 Share Posted November 3, 2012 A bn's worth of M-42s ended up at Ft. Stewart Ga. around 1964 for NG use. I climbed all over them in the tank park. Never saw any other AA weapons during my enlistment. Would of loved plinking a quad 50 just for the shytts of it.Korean War vets bragged about its affects on the battlefield. One vet claimed a gunner wrote his name on an opposing ChiCom hillside. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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