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binder001 · ***Power User*** Offline Joined: Jan 25, 2006 Posts: 363

- Doug_Kibbey

Well, drop tanks on aircraft are not flimsy 55 gal. drums positioned immediately over the hot exhausts of a vehicle vibrating/bouncing over roads/uneven ground out of view to the crew and subject to anybody with an antique firearm taking potshot at them. That's rather my point. Gas is more safely transported in sturdy, purpose-built trucks that can follow in the trains behind the tanks in advance. It worked well enough in every war from WWII to Desert Storm...assuming your side had the fuel and the means to move it.

Well, the drums are at least as sturdy as the average aircraft drop tank that I have seen. The drums were offset to the rear. IN THEORY - if they had been penetrated the leaking fuel should drain to the ground behind the vehicle. There was a low sheet metal protector that was folded up in front of the drums. When I first saw the photos I assumed it was for bullet/shrapnel protection, but then I learned about the "flamethrower" qualities of the M48/48A1 exhausts and it became clear that it was more of a flame damper. In the late 1950s the Army wasn't getting the GOER or HEMTT type all-terrain fuel trucks. This was obviously an experdient to serve until the "proper" fix - a better tank engine.

When I was first researching M48s for the project that Jim Mesko finished as "M48 In Action" I received many photos from National Guard units that had used the M48s fairly late. They didn't often show the fuel rack fitted. This seems to have been used primarily in Europe and foreign slaes. There were M48A1s in the 1958(?) Lebanon intervention that had the fuel racks fitted. I think either Jordan or Pakistan had them on their M48s.

The Centurion used a large trailer for extra fuel. I can't say that I'd be much happier with a trailer dragging along versus the drums. Either system should have come with a sign "Shoot Here First".

C_Sherman · ***Power User*** Offline Joined: Jan 24, 2006 Posts: 590

- Roy_A_Lingle

Hi Mark! Hi Folks!

- MarkHolloway

Roy, Did armor units ever have the M-49C?

Hey Chuck! Any chance you have some idea when the M49s where replaced by the M54 with a pod system?

Sgt, Scouts Out!

Hi,

I can't give anything firm, but I know we had both 49Cs and the 5-ton trucks with the pods, at the same time in the early 80s. As I recall, the 49Cs were used for MoGas (for our Jeeps and generators) and the 5-tons were had diesel (still called DF2 back then) in them. I want to say the 49Cs went away after 1987, around the time our M151s went away. Keep in mind that this was a Reserve tank outfit, so we were behind the rest of the Army...we were still shooting gunnery in M60 'turtles' until the M1IPs were issued in about 1990.

I recall that the MTOE actually called the 5-tons as cargo trucks, and the pod system was another bit of equipment with a separate LIN. I theory the pods were de-mountable, allowing the the truck to be used for something else. In practice, that rarely happened.

Long time ago...and now I'm going back into the game again. Brett Favre got nothin' on me!

Chuck

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