Looking for Photos of M551 "American Woman" and Basket Info

[Scott_Taylor]

Hi all:

As the subject says, I'm looking for photos of the Sheridan "American Woman" from the 11th ACR in Vietnam, as well as details of the larger extended turret basket that many M551s in Vietnam were fitted with. This vehicle does not seem to be nearly so well documented as some others in its troop, such as "Aretha."

I understand that the larger turret basket was a standard fitting and not something that was cooked up individually in the field, since I have a digital copy of a Technical Bulletin (TB 9-2350-230-14/1, dated 14 May 1969) that discusses how to install or remove the turret basket, among other things. In that document, it is called a "turret exterior stowage rack" and its reference number is 11653059.

I intend to scratchbuild this basket for a 1/35 model, so any help here would be particularly appreciated.

Cheers and thanks,

Scott

[Doug_Kibbey]

Scott, which Sqn & Trp was she in? Year if known?
I ask about the Sqn's in particular because I was in 2/11 ACR during the period when only they remained after 1st & 3rd withdrew in April 71.
Our Sheridans had Sqn or Rgt installed bustle racks, accessory racks on the far back deck and extended exhausts to raise the plume above stuff on the back rack. A couple of my pics of this arrangement can be seen at this link: museum.vhpa.org/11thca...hcav.shtml

[Scott_Taylor]

Hello Doug:

Many thanks for the response (David Doyle had mentioned that you would likely be able to help if anybody could!). American Woman is from A Troop (her number is A-27), but I don't know what Squadron. I believe she is from sometime in 1970 (I'm presuming that the vehicle is named after the Guess Who song, which was released as a single in March 1970). The bustle rack on the turret is definitely the same type as is shown in the photos on the page you linked.

Cheers and thank you again,

Scott

[Pzkpfw-e]

www.scalemates.com/kit...s--1186147

[Scott_Taylor]

Thanks! Those are the only photos I have come across, and I'd love to find . I'm using these decals:

www.scalemates.com/kit...1--1206056

Cheers,

Scott