Com-Central.net

Although grainy and some are out of focus (reasons I bought 35mm camera) I'm posting some older photos from Ft. Indiantown Gap, PA and Aberdeen circa 1981. Last night I experimented with 2400 dpi verses 4800 dpi editing and of course the 4800 dpi is much better. Images are more easily edited, but take a little longer to scan. I'm using a canon CanoScan 9000F scanner, and get two 110 photos per scan using 35mm holder and manipulating the photos using Black blank pieces of 35mm film cut off from my negatives. Sometimes it takes 5-6 tries to get the photos clear enough to scan. Rick

www.flickr.com/photos/brick6757

I'm always interested in old photo's but I can't see how to get from that link to the Indiantown or old APG photo's.

Trevor,
Try this link it may work better. Rick

www.flickr.com/photos/brick6757

Thanks.

You're welcome. I should be adding some more photos next weekend.

Great photos. I've just gone through half so far. When where you at the AAF Museum?

Thanks Garry,
I was at AAF Museum in Danville, VA, Dec. 28, 2013. Also on way home stopped at Crewe, VA to photograph the M3A1 light Tank at VFW there. I shot the photographs with 2 lenses (the exif tells which one) so that I could compare them to see which was better. My old 35mm camera would have "worn out" shooting so many photos in a day! Any questions let me know. I still have several thousand photos of mine and others to eventually edit and load. Also, I enjoy armor for the ages, great articles on Ft. Knox and APG tanks. Rick

Great stuff!

I'd love to know what's really going on in the shot with the M151A1C and the M113. The recoilless rifle is still in travel lock and all those guys in white coveralls are pretty intent about something going on in the distance. 1981 was well beyond the time I thought these rigs were still on "active duty", though we had some in 2/17th in VN (two of which were moved to M37 "Beeps" for better mobility/capacity).

Doug,
They actually fired the 106mm recoilless rifle off to the side (due to back blast) at Armed Forces Day that year. I would say that it may have been obsolete at the time, but might have still been used in National Guard or foreign countries. The M113A1 "raced" a M2 Bradley, losing of course. It was to demonstrate advanced technology of newer items. Each year an M60A3 MBT would also race a M1 Abrams MBT. The technicians always dressed in white outfits, soldiers would have on combat camo of the day. The technicians in photo of M151A1C with recoilless rifle were watching the M2 Bradley firing 25mm chain gun on the side firing range.
Rick

- Rick_Eshleman

Doug,
They actually fired the 106mm recoilless rifle off to the side (due to back blast) at Armed Forces Day that year. I would say that it may have been obsolete at the time, but might have still been used in National Guard or foreign countries. The M113A1 "raced" a M2 Bradley, losing of course. It was to demonstrate advanced technology of newer items. Each year an M60A3 MBT would also race a M1 Abrams MBT. The technicians always dressed in white outfits, soldiers would have on combat camo of the day. The technicians in photo of M151A1C with recoilless rifle were watching the M2 Bradley firing 25mm chain gun on the side firing range.
Rick

Thx, Rick! BTW, there is a video I have (acquired commercially) of an "interim field comparison", DA 307-84 ("automotive phase") of the M60A1E2 vs. the MBT-70 on a multi-segment "racetrack" course consisting of various surfaces at APG. The relative performances are timed/graded over the segments I have a suspicion it's the same as the one you mention. I think I got it on a website that specialized in the sale of DVD's of APG projects.

Doug, Is that site still active? I'd like to see what they have. Munson automotive course was located "behind the fence" As was the "mile loop". Churchville Automotive course (part of Aberdeen) was located 4 miles west of APG, and 3 miles north of the town of Churchville, MD. All of these areas can be found by a Google earth search. Rick

- Rick_Eshleman

Doug, Is that site still active? I'd like to see what they have. Munson automotive course was located "behind the fence" As was the "mile loop". Churchville Automotive course (part of Aberdeen) was located 4 miles west of APG, and 3 miles north of the town of Churchville, MD. All of these areas can be found by a Google earth search. Rick

I looked around some last night, but didn't find it. I'll try to dig around here and find the original DVD (I played back from a rip of that DVD to view off my HD). I ordered this and another disc or two from a website that specialized in such things in the mid 2000's, but can't for the life of me recall the name. My Google-fu failed me last night.

This site? www.emilitarymanuals.com/

- JWB2

This site? www.emilitarymanuals.com/

Nope, the site I'm referring to was not manuals on CD, but principally videos converted from 8 and 16mm films from APG and perhaps elsewhere. They also had the WWII "The Tanks Are Coming" humor/recruiting film (not the full length war drama). This was ten years ago or more, so they may well not exist now (I've been looking and it doesn't look good). I'm sure I have the DVD's I purchased, and maybe even the package it came in, but I relocated since then and you know how that goes. Probably buried in a box I haven't opened since moving.

Rick, see if any of these screenshots of the course look familiar.

In the film, apart from filmed timing trials over distances there are crosshair reticle views so they could time the exposure periods of each vehicle from one point to the next.