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Hi Folks!

AFAIK, all of the 1st AD has closed into Ft. Bliss.

5th BCT has stood down and it's mission of testing future things has been picked up by the 2nd BCT.

The Air Defense Branch Headquarters and schools have left for Ft. Still.

Most of the Air Defense historical items have been ripped off and shipped to Fort Still. Fort Still doesn't have a museum and doesn't have any funds to build one. Word is all the items removed from inside the museum here have been placed inside warehouses until a building can be found or built.

A number of the 1st AD vehicles from Germany have been moved inside the museum with plans to move one or two more in. Number one is the M1-105mm Abrams after a local vet group cleans it up some and puts a new coat of paint on.

One more 1st AD vehicle has arrived, a M973A1 SUSV. The outside looks OK, but the inside of both units has been trashed.

The M3 Stuart with the square gun mantel has been taken by the Post CSM to be used as a gate guard. He has been able to save a M26 Pershing from a bombing range in Florida. It has been cleaned up some and repainted and now sets guarding the Pershing Street gate.

The M41 that came from back East is gone. I have not be able to get a clear response about what it;s status is. Maybe it will turn up as a Gate Guard.

A M551, 2xM109A?s, a M60A3, a M47, and a M113A3 along with a Medic M-113, have been saved from the target ranges at White Sands Missile range. The Post CSM got one of the M-109s, the M-47, and the M-113 medic track.

Spot Report,
Sgt, Scouts out!

We are awaiting photos of new vehicles

Saved M26 sounds really interesting.

Massimo

Hi Folks!

- Massimo_Foti

Saved M26 sounds really interesting.

Massimo

The word is it was setting in a field of tall grass next to two other AFVs which may have also been M26s. It was waiting to be used AGAIN as a range target. There is a hole in the right idler wheel and a second hole through the lower hull above and just behind the second road wheel. Both are big enough to stick three fingers into. The hole in the road wheel is odd (at least to me). It went through both wheels, took off some of a bolt and nut but didn't do any damage to the hull behind the wheel.

The Director of the Museum told me it cost $60,000 to transport, clean up and paint and build a pad to set it on near the Pershing gate. He was very happy that none of that cost came out of his funds.

Will work on posting pictures in the next few days or so (I hope).
Sgt, Scouts Out!

Looks like something is moving in Ft Sill. Here an italian guy reports he just joined a volunteers team over there:
forum.worldwar.it/Foru...36#p566436

He says there is a dual 12.8 cm AA gun in Ft Sill. Does it comes from Ft Bliss or it's the one that used to be at Aberdeen?

Massimo

Just got a confirmation, the dual 12.8 Flak is indeed the one that used to be at APG. The guy also mentioned an "italian semovente" that should arrive in the near future. To me that means either the 90/53 or 149/40 semovente that were rusting away at APG. Neither of them has anything to do with anti-aircraft artillery, but both of them are unique survivors world-wide (149/40 was a prototype, recovered in Germany) and I hope somebody will take good care of them.

Massimo

Roy,
Are the M1A1 Abrams (SN D1123) & M2A1 Bradley (SN 832) that were at the 5th BCT HQ - Building 2040, south of Cassidy Rd, west of Chaffee Rd - still in place?

If so is there a new owner for that building?

On a similar note, I see in your pics an M730A1 at the museum - is this the same one that was at Jeb Stuart Rd with an M163A1? Is the M163A1 gone to Sill, or still at Bliss?

Has the Autocannone da 90/53 been shipped off?

And the M42 Duster at Dona Ana Range Base Camp?

Many thanks again!

Neil

- Neil_Baumgardner

Has the Autocannone da 90/53 been shipped off?

It's in Ft Sill

Massimo

Hi Neil! Hi Folks!

- Neil_Baumgardner

Are the M1A1 Abrams (SN D1123) & M2A1 Bradley (SN 832) that were at the 5th BCT HQ - Building 2040, south of Cassidy Rd, west of Chaffee Rd - still in place?

If so is there a new owner for that building?

The Abrams and the Bradley are still there as of last Sunday (Jan 22). There have been a number of stories in the base paper about the 5th BCTs stand down and a number of the sub-units. As of last Sunday, the Headquarters Building and their motor pool still have 5th BCT signs on them. Not to sure if that may mean much. The motor pool that the 1st Squardon 3rd ACR had still has the signs for a AAA battalion that left some time ago. That motor pool is full of 4x4 and 6x6 Marps! I think those vehicles are being used for driver's training but there are no signs ID'ing the unit.

- Neil_Baumgardner

On a similar note, I see in your pics an M730A1 at the museum - is this the same one that was at Jeb Stuart Rd with an M163A1? Is the M163A1 gone to Sill, or still at Bliss?

Has the Autocannone da 90/53 been shipped off?

And the M42 Duster at Dona Ana Range Base Camp? Many thanks again!

Neil

The only ADA vehicles and major items that remain are the M42, M163A1 and the M2 90 AAA gun in the Museum parking lot.

All the vehicles that were inside the musuem (one M730 displayed inside)and at the ADA unit headquarters (one at Jeb Stuart st) are all gone. Everything that was at the Museum went to Ft. Still. The vehicles by the ADA unit HQ's, I don't know.

The Autocannone da 90/53, as of last Sunday (Jan 22), I was able to get close enough to the area where it was and confirm it was gone. See Massimo's post below your.

The M42 at the Dona Ana Base Camp is gone. The New Mexico National Guard unit that was an AAA outfit out there is now a long haul trucking unit.

Spot Report
Sgt, Scouts out!

Hi Massimo! Hi Folks!

- Massimo_Foti

- Neil_Baumgardner

Has the Autocannone da 90/53 been shipped off?

It's in Ft Sill

Massimo

Question Massimo for your Scout at Ft. Still. Did it arrive in one piece or did the shipper end up cutting it apart for transport?

I hope not!
Sgt, Scouts out!

The gun is dismounted from the truck. But it got a new coat of paint, at least since the last pictures I saw of it. Not sure where and when it was repainted.
Recent pictures can be seen on this italian forum, but I am afraid you need to be registered to see them:
forum.worldwar.it/Foru...36#p566436

Massimo

Hi Massimo! Hi Folks!

- Massimo_Foti

.....got a new coat of paint, at least since the last pictures I saw of it. Not sure where and when it was repainted.

Somewhere around 12 years ago was the last time it was repainted and worked on here. That was just after the Museum moved from an old WWII wooden building into the old PX building where it is now. At the old location that system was one of a number of systems in a outdoor display and the paint was in very bad shape.

Well, I hope it get some TLC,
Sgt, Scouts out!

I'm looking for photo of:

M15A1 Half-Track GMC - Fort Bliss Museum (Is it now in Fort Sill?)

Roy, if you think of it get the bumper number off the Sheridan. IIRC they had three Sheridans at White Sands and one was from my old unit. I think it was 3-12CAV C-27. Just curious.

Hi Bialy! Hi Folks!

- bialy-r

I'm looking for photo of:
M15A1 Half-Track GMC - Fort Bliss Museum (Is it now in Fort Sill?)

This vehicle has been shipped to Ft. Still.

Spot Report!
Sgt, Scouts Out!