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Hi All,

After a long winter and tank hunting layoff, Team VB is back in action. We took advantage of the alleged Spring to head out and document M60A0 SN 2133 RN JJ6A9O34 (I think that is the RN - please look at the image below and wade in with what you read it as - I’ll correct the gallery to reflect the consensus.) The M60A0 is displayed in Memory Gardens Cemetery in Arlington Heights, IL.
JoeD - apologies as I didn’t get the hull weld - the bushes to the rear of the tank are pretty dense and preclude access to that area.

Gallery Link:

www.vgbimages.com/AFV-...0/n-cGLWm3

According to my records M60 2133 should be 9B5459 or 09B05459, something like that. That number seems to mix two different RN systems. The one in use during M60 construction would have a 09 or 9 prefix to indicate a tank. (I've seen 6 on M116 amphibious carriers and a trailer.) In the more recent system a tank RN with a JJ prefix should only have six characters.

Might be a hull drawing or heat treatment number.

KL

Hi Kurt,

I think you are correct about a mix of RN systems. The placement of the stamping on the glacis was consistent with what I've seen in RNs. Weird...

Thanks for sharing this VB,

This is the second M60 I've seen with this kind of obscured registration numbers. From what I can tell the RN was over stamped by Zeros, much like the M60, SN 1392/ RN 9B4710, located in Decatur Alabama. Makes it look like "J"'s from what I see.



As Kurt said, having a SN of 2133, she should have an RN in the vicinity of 9B5459, depending on when she was accepted by the Army. They usually don't follow the SN sequence exactly because of this.

This is my long winded guess on why the RN was over stamped and why there is an "A" there. In 1966 the Army had 95 M60's dis-assembled at Anniston Army Depot. These tanks were to be the first of 243 M60's destined to become the M60A1E1. An M60 hull equipped with the 152mm Shillelagh Gun/Launcher (What we now call the M60A2 turret). This very optimistic plan counted on the system being a simple turret swap with accompanying Ammunition racks and other changes. Unfortunately, things did not work out that way, with major problems encountered with the combustible ammunition for the cannon when test firing with the M551, mostly with burning residue. Other issues specific to the unique turret were stabilization and Fire Control problems. All of this led to the cancellation of the M60A1E1 program and the placement into storage the 243 turrets (Still being manufactured) in OCT of 1967. This cancellation order also directed the Army to restore the 95 M60's back to their original configuration and to be re-issued. Starting in 1966, the Army changed it's Registration Number system. Instead of the 6 digit system starting with 9A or 9B, they went to a newer system which utilized the FY as the last two digits. The M60A1E1 was a Fiscal Year 1966 funded program, so RN's assigned to these new tanks would have ended in "66". The M60A1E2 program, which was new production M60A1 hulls with the new turret assembled by Chrysler in Detroit were funded with FY 1967 money. These tanks had RN's ending with "67". M60A1E2 RN 09A05667 is an example. As I said earlier, Registration Numbers are assigned when a tank is accepted by the Army. Tanks produced by Contractors are inspected and then assigned an RN. In the case of tanks made by Army Depots, they do not go through this process, since they are already Army property. They will have a registration number assigned along with their new serial number simultaneously. The M60A3's made in Anniston are a good example. SN's 1700A through 3100A have RN's in perfect sequence with their SN's, and only stopped when it was decided to retain the original M60A1 RN's with later production tanks. Eventually the last A3's produced by Anniston retained both the M60A1 SN and RN. I believe this tank along with the one in Decatur Alabama were part of this group of 95 destined to be M60A1E1's and already had their new RN's assigned, only to be stamped out with Zeros when they were returned to their original configuration. I do not have a listing of RN's assigned to the M60A1E1 program (Still Searching), but I am quite confident they would be a 09A---66 sequence, which would explain the "A" stamped on this tank. I would love to scrub this RN down to the bare metal to see whats actually there.

Again, Thanks for sharing VB. I always look forward to your detailed posts.

My pleasure, JoeD!
Thank you and Kurt for the information, as always!!

I'll make sure and keep an eye out for any other zeroed-out RNs on M60s.