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With the dismantling of the Museums Library, I did happen to find several bound volumes of the Spearhead Newspaper for the 1950's & early 1960's. I happened to find these photos in the 1960 volume.

April 1960:


May 1960:


Sept 1960:


Regards
Don

Cool! First photo looks like there is a mount for external fuel tanks.

- MarkHolloway

Cool! First photo looks like there is a mount for external fuel tanks.

Sweet Jesus its the Universal Jettison Fuel Kit. I am sure there are many m48 crewman who still have nightmares about it. There are some good 'on fire' images on JED IIRC.

I do have some TACOM detailed photos from multiple views of the M48A1 'Jettison Fuel Tank Kit'. Guess I need to dig those up sometime.....

I have seen a number of M48 'flame on' action photos...

Regards
Don

TOO TUMBLEWEED THESHOT OF THE 33HV TANK BATT COB IS RIGHT THE SIGN IS ACROSS FROM THE THEATER THAT IS THE BARRACKS I WAS IN ,1959 -60

hello don you wouno;T Know where i could get a copy of the frount page ,i did have it but it saw burned when my house did

Robert

Sorry, I only was able to take photos of some select pages. No scanners were available at that time.

It amazed me that I hadn't seen the bound copies of the Spearhead newspaper before. I've been assisting in the Library & doing a number of research projects over the past 5 or 6 years and never saw those. It was only during the recent packing of the Museums Library that I stumbled upon them.

Sadly its all packed up and loaded out, headed for storage at Ft Benning.

Regards
Don

thanks for the quick reply don if you should hear anything please let me know thanks agin commando

Hi Dontos! Hi Folks!

- Dontos

I do have some TACOM detailed photos from multiple views of the M48A1 'Jettison Fuel Tank Kit'. Guess I need to dig those up sometime.....

I have seen a number of M48 'flame on' action photos...

Regards
Don

Hey Dontos! I would love to see some of them. I have been trying to collect enough photos of that system so I could add one to a M47 model.
The M47 now here at Ft Bliss had the mounts on the rear hull for it.

Spot Report!
Sgt, Scouts Out!

Sure thing Roy

'On the Way'

Regards
Don

- Dontos

Sure thing Roy

'On the Way'

Regards
Don

Hi Don,

Do you have any pics or links for the racks on the M48s? I'd like to build an M48 that my Dad served on in Germany in the early 60s, and he clearly remembers the racks. He has one or two fuzzy pics, but nothing I could build with.

[Edit: Disregard. I hadn't seen the other thread yet. However, if you happen to have any in-service shots, those might be quite useful too. Cheers, CS]

Thanks!
Chuck

- C_Sherman

- Dontos

Sure thing Roy

'On the Way'

Regards
Don

Hi Don,

Do you have any pics or links for the racks on the M48s? I'd like to build an M48 that my Dad served on in Germany in the early 60s, and he clearly remembers the racks. He has one or two fuzzy pics, but nothing I could build with.

[Edit: Disregard. I hadn't seen the other thread yet. However, if you happen to have any in-service shots, those might be quite useful too. Cheers, CS]

Thanks!
Chuck

Chuck,
Sounds like great "firefighting" diorama potential.
D.

- Doug_Kibbey

- C_Sherman

- Dontos

Sure thing Roy

'On the Way'

Regards
Don

Hi Don,

Do you have any pics or links for the racks on the M48s? I'd like to build an M48 that my Dad served on in Germany in the early 60s, and he clearly remembers the racks. He has one or two fuzzy pics, but nothing I could build with.

[Edit: Disregard. I hadn't seen the other thread yet. However, if you happen to have any in-service shots, those might be quite useful too. Cheers, CS]

Thanks!
Chuck

Chuck,
Sounds like great "firefighting" diorama potential.
D.

Indeed! He still talks about the guy standing with a fire extinguisher on the back deck when they started them in winter, and the huge fireball that occasionally erupted from a cranky engine. They sent him off to be the Scout Platoon Leader after a while so he never had to deal with a full-on fire, but he saw a couple!

Chuck

The photos are interesting to me since the M51 in the lower left hand corner of the first photo was my responsibility in 59-60. I arrived at Ayers in late October 1958 and was assigned to D Co, 2nd Med Tank Bn, 13th Cav. Our section in the tank park was the lower left qtr. A M-74 was the recovery vehicle at the time and the M-51 arrived early in 1959. We didn't know it at the time but it was obsolete when it arrived and was full of problems, although it was also a lot of fun to horse around.

I was the company recovery chief until June of 60 when the M51 caught fire at Friedberg and burned. They had a reputation for catching fire. Ordnance made a full repair and it was returned to service around the time I was leaving for the states-September 1960.

The M-88 came along since the M-103 HT was being phased out and the M-88 was a bit smaller than the M-51 and intended for medium tanks, which our unit had (M48A1). Later, the Marines, which often had to take hand me downs, got the M51 for use in Vietnam and did a great job of making them last.

At the time I was in Germany, German vehicle traffic was fairly light so we had the autobahn and highways pretty much to ourselves. When we first got the M51, we were anxious to see how much it could handle. Two M48's were hooked in tow and the VTR slowly cranked up and we got it up to over 30MPH pulling 100 tons. It was a bear to stop with that much weight behind it but it was something to be driving that thing (60 tons) with two tanks attached.

As regards the racks on the M48's, those carried 4 50 gallon drums with extra gas in the event of a long run from garrison-either towards Fulda which was our designated forward defense area, or away from whoever might have crossed the border heading west.

A crew member had to be on the back deck with a fire extinguisher when the tank was being fueled and when being started in garrison. In the field, we were simulating combat conditions and cranked up without a crew member on the deck.

The fireballs were something to see. In fact, some of the drivers learned that while at high rpm when the tank was in motion, one could let off the gas then stomp it and get a big fireball. In the field when were were moving about at night under blackout conditions, some guy would do that to light up the night knowing the Company or Bn CO would have a fit.

I may have pictures of the M48 if you give me a place to send them.