Hi Jason! Hi Folks!
- Jason_Bobrowich
I've posted your information on Missing Lynx Roy.
Super thanks, I was hoping someone would do that!
- Janson_bobrowich
What is the CAP system?
First thing, when I made my first post and called this vehicle a M220, that was an alertness test! You all failed the test!
I did that at work, off the top of my old head. I WAS wrong! The correct number for those vehicle is M233!
This is what the CAP system looks like when it is erected. This photo comes from the July 1985 issue of ICA (International Combat Arms) magazine which stopped publishing right after the Berlin Wall fell.
If I remember correctly, CAP stood for Cevlar (Kevlar) Armored Protection.
There was a set of metal tubes which were clipped into the top of the hull to form a shelter over the cargo hatch area. Each side had a set of blankets with rings which held the blankets onto the pipes. There where clips that fastened the two blankets together along the center line at the top. The front was open for the launch tube and the rear was open for the back blast. When not using the TOW, the crew would fold the blankets back down into those brackets and remove the pipes and store them in the blankets. There was a protective cover which pulled over the blankets when the system was folded up.
The good part was those blankets give the gunner some limited protection from overhead artillery fire.
The number one bad thing about those brackets is they I.D. that APC as a TOW ATGM system carrier.
One other thing that was unique about those vehicles was the base of the TC's gun mount. Unlike the standard APC base, those vehicles had a large square box looking base with a 'D' handle on the rear. The TC would pull out on that handle and the upper part of the gun mount with the M2HB machine gun would fold forward and almost touch the top of the hull. This would reduce the M2's profile and improve the range of movement for the TOW launch tube.
I only saw this system on vehicles in Germany. When I left Germany and PCS'ed to Ft. Bliss Texas, the M233s there didn't have the CAP system installed on them.
There was a M113 web site called "The Bucket Shop" which had a section under "User" titled M113 TOW. That section had four photos by a Thomas Antonsen of a Danish M233 which showed how the TOW system was mounted inside the APC. I havn't post those photo due to the requirement by The Bucket Shop to get permission from the copyright holder.
Updated spot report!
Sgt, Scouts OuT