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For those 'newer' members to AFV, I have compiled a number of videos on You Tube on various topics related to Armor & Armor history.

Today I posted an updated video on the 'Trail of Cobra King'.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldUOEGwYgVI

More such videos are in the works.

Hopefully not too 'cheesy' .

As always, I invite 'feedback', just be kind. I have a fragile ego....HA HA HA

Enjoy
Don

Dontos - The video is great!!!!!

Great use of music (Did you get permission to use the Music from PATTON?) I could feel the melancoly of the old girl sitting forgotten as a gate guard all those years. Could almost hear her sighing 'Someone will remember, someone will remember'

He Dontos,

great video, it give an good impresion of Cobra King over the years

Michel

Thanks guys

My biggest hurdle to posting videos is music permissions.

Not trying to be too 'Artsy Fartsy', but the music helps set the mood. At least thats my hope.

Regards
Don

Great video, great research, and great story. As unfortunate as it was to have Cobra King float between US Army posts for so many years, it is VERY fortunate that SOMEONE had the foresight to save it in the first place.

- blackdog

Great video, great research, and great story. As unfortunate as it was to have Cobra King float between US Army posts for so many years, it is VERY fortunate that SOMEONE had the foresight to save it in the first place.

Well I think you are assuming a little much if you think someone was 'saving' Cobra king all those years. I think it was more a case of 'We want a tank in front of our building' and pulling one out of a stoarge yard to fill the need.

We just got very very lucky and then a few folks (including people here and on the G104 list) started looking at scars and other details and were able to make themselves heard to the powers that be. It helped that CK was one of a very small pool of a specific model built and was different enough that she never got included in various postwar 'upgrades' or Foreign sales. Aberdeen has an M4A1 76mm HVSS that came back from Europe. She may have had almost as interesting a history as CK but we'll never know because she was a more common model and there are no real historical records on her

Well done, Don. The additional information on CK's travels helps flesh out the story.

In reference to Bob's statement about the M4A1/76 HVSS returning from Europe, I didn't think they were used in combat. I've seen post-war photos of them in foreign service and, of course, seen the VVSS versions in U.S. and other service, but no combat photos. I would like to know if they were used by U.S. forces in combat.

Thanks,
Garry

- Garry_Redmon

I would like to know if they were used by U.S. forces in combat.

No, they were not. The main user of them were the French post-war. Israel got quite a few of them from France and these were used in the `56 and `67 wars. There were many M4A1 76MM used in combat in Europe, but none of the HVSS models were used by U.S. forces in combat.

I do know there was an M4A1(76) that sort of floated around with Cobra King. It was at both Ferris Barracks (Erlangen) & Vilseck. It can be seen in the video.

I had found a shot of Gen Abrams beside that tank in 1973 during a visit to Ferris Barracks. The tank was painted with 'Thunderbolt VII'. I don't think it was the actual tank, having seen WWII film of a M4A3E8 named Thunderbolt VII, distinguished by the add-on armored plates with HVSS.

Regards
Don

- Garry_Redmon

In reference to Bob's statement about the M4A1/76 HVSS returning from Europe, I didn't think they were used in combat.

The M4A1E8 HVSS that was returned from Europe is indeed a tank that France used in the 1950s. It could have seen combat, but not in 1944-45, rather in Algeria.

We are sure it is a former French tank, because it had the ABS plate and carried the name "Niederbronn II", Niederbronn being a city near Strasbourg in France.

Pierre-Olivier