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I had seen this before, but not in a looooong time. Thought it looked neat but not very practical. What do you think Doug, a one man ACAV?!

LOL...great pic Jeff!

Doesn't look as if it caught on though...

- SFC_Jeff_Button

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I had seen this before, but not in a looooong time. Thought it looked neat but not very practical. What do you think Doug, a one man ACAV?!

Nah...that's no good. Who's the TC gonna' smack on the head if he's his own driver?

I think there'd soon be a use for the "crutches", though.....

What with no detectable suspension, I'm thinking operator fatigue may rise to the level of casualties....at the very least, aiming the weapon is gonna' be a real challenge. That whole "vault through the air" bit sounds more than a little problematic when you come back down again. The authors concept of "obstructions" seems not to have included concertina wire...sticking those crutches out to "vault through the air" sounds kinda' iffy.....

Look on the positive side, the enemy would be too busy laughing hysterically to sight their weapons accurately against it. I'm guessing the article appeared in something like "Popular Mechanics". They have been forever publishing articles on the brainstorms of overly optimistic inventors.

David

Hi Folks!

It would NEVER qualify as an ACAV.

A good ACAV needs the follow:

1. multiple machine guns for firing in (at least) three directions, four would be best. This example only has one gun.

2. room to carry two or more spare barrels per machine gun.
Primary controlling factor with the machine guns rate of fire. All firing is conducted at the SUSTAINED rate of fire for all machine guns. The cycle rate is not used. This example has a water cooled .30 cal so no need to carry spare barrels. Room for one should be enough.

3. room for ammo, more room for ammo, and still more room for ammo.
Must be able to brushwack triply canopy jungle out 20 to 25 meters within the first mad minute of firing. Don't see a lot of room for ammo, more ammo and then some more ammo inside that hull.

Example: Boom Boom, my 2nd ACAV in Vietnam.
50 Cal ammo = 6,000 rounds inside the hull, 500 to 800 or 900 more on top the hull. That's not counting the 100 rounds in the gun.
7.62 mm = 6,000 rounds per each side gun with another 2,000 rounds on top the hull. Doesn't count the 100 rounds in the gun shield tray. Also six standard 7.62 M.G. ammo cans at one end of the stack of 50 cans. Primary function, fill a gap in the stack and keep the 50 cans from moving out of place.

The following is a side view of my Boom-Boom with Pop's (my driver and oldest guy in the platoon) and Sketter (my right gunner) who is setting on his machine gun's top side ammo can. On the near side, the front 20mm can has the right gun's ammo and the rear can is full of smoke and incendiary grenades (which are great for starting grass fires). The box next the cupola is a 81mm mortar ammo box which was a prefect fit for that area and could hold five cans of 50 cal ammo in place. The other three or four cans where set in front of the cupola.

My 2 cents.
Sgt, Scouts Out!

One of the bad guys in the Star Wars III used something like this.
Maybe it just took a long time to catch on.........

To me it looks more like a

"How do I get writ of my troops as fast as possible"

but we all have to start from somewhere


fled

Apart from Roy's patented tight-as-a-snare-drum track tension, he has entirely too much good rubber on his road wheels not to have been greasing the palms of somebody in supply and maintenence. (most of mine were missing chunks the size of golf balls).

I like the "See Through Armor"!

Maybe that's where the Germans got got the idea for the "kugelpanzer" now in Kubinka


Jeff Lewis

Is Boom Boom being worked on by an M578 or an M816 wrecker. Doug, you're right about those road wheels and track tension. Thtas the straightest "hanging" track I've ever seen, was it missing a shoe?

- David_Reasoner

Look on the positive side, the enemy would be too busy laughing hysterically to sight their weapons accurately against it. I'm guessing the article appeared in something like "Popular Mechanics". They have been forever publishing articles on the brainstorms of overly optimistic inventors.

It needs a name so I hearby name it the 'Kibbey War Wheel'

- JimWeb

- David_Reasoner

Look on the positive side, the enemy would be too busy laughing hysterically to sight their weapons accurately against it. I'm guessing the article appeared in something like "Popular Mechanics". They have been forever publishing articles on the brainstorms of overly optimistic inventors.

It needs a name so I hearby name it the 'Kibbey War Wheel'

I protest! It clearly should be called the "Gavin Monocycle".

Or MonoGavin?