Greetings fellow modelers!
I have been interested in the M60 patton for quite some time now, and the workbench has finally cleared up for another project. So I'm looking for information/references on the locations the US military deployed M60's. I know many were stationed in Germany during the cold war, but what about other "hot spots," such as South Korea and the such. I would very much appreciate any help on this subject, thanks and Happy Modeling!

-Alan

Firstly, you need to decide on which version of M60. There was the M60 (aka - slick 60), M60A1, M60A2, and M60A3. These versions spanned from the early '60s to the early '90s. They were stationed both stateside and in Europe and fielded by both the US Army and the USMC. They were not deployed to Vietnam nor S. Korea as the M48A3 and M48A5, respectively, were seen as sufficient in those theaters.

Here is a site with more info on them: Patton-Mania.

Biggest hot spot for all versions of the M60 (except the A2) is probably Israel. Lots of cool conversions as well.

Depends on what you define as 'hotspots' but you could also do M-60' deployed during Reforger Exercises especially in the early to mid-80'. Lots of decent documentation out there. Most of the equipment was POMCUS and deployed unit fell in on those tanks. Was a big deal at the time I was stationed over there.

Sorry, I should've been more specific! I am looking for any and all M60 and M60 variants used by the US, from the original all the way to the A3

I was looking at Def Model's M60A3 and the 1st marking option was for the US army in Korea/Germany. However, the included markings seem like reforger-esq markings, so I was not sure. Here is the page http://defmodel.com/catalog/htm/da35001.html

The USMC deployed M60A1s to Grenada, Beirut, and of course the Gulf War.

Alan,
I was an 11th ACR tank Plt Leader (and later a Cavalry Plt. Leader) in the 1976-80 period. The three tank companies in the 11th ACR all had the M60A1,and went to the M60A3 in May of 1980. All Cavalry Regiments, Infantry Divisions and of course Armored Divisions used the M60 and M60A1 at one time or another, and almost all the deploying units to Germany during the cold war would have used M60s from POMCUS stocks as mentioned. You mention the markings looking reforger-esque. I think you may be speaking of the orange or blue vinyl panels which would have been taped on the turret-- they were removable, and I've seen them used in Europe, CONUS and the Pacific. They are for a training method known as "SCOPES" which pre-dated the "MILES" training system (Multiple Integrated Laser Engagement System) and I believe even the Marines used these panels. Basically they allowed a crew to ID an "enemy" vehicle and report it as destroyed to an umpire. with SCOPES a specialized telescope was mounted in the 105 breech, and used to sight a sure "kill" which was then radioed to an umpire. It was labor intensive and cumbersome. The Army then went "high tech" with the MILES laser system, but the number panels stuck for almost all field exercises. You'd never see those other than in a training exercise. But to to answer your question, Just about every Division, Cavalry Regiment and separate heavy brigade used the M60 series from 1965-1990, EXCEPT for the 82nd ABN, 101st Air Assault, 10th Mountain Division and the 25th LID. The M60A2 was of course a specialized tank, firing the shillelagh missile,so it was unique in distribution, and were very rare in the divisional MTO&E. Hope this helps. VR, Russ

Hello Alan,

I think Tamiya has reissued the M60A2 "Starship" kit. Saw it listed on an online store, I'll have to look again for it. I've got one, but it needs some love, picked it up from a family friend that was getting rid of it via the round files.

Anyways, Tamiya had at one time the M60 line if I remember correctly, A1, A2, A3, etc. Start there and see what you come up with.

HTH.
See ya in the funnies............

Somewhere in the black pit I call my man cave, I have a picture of a M-60 in Vietnam. What makes it even more unusual is that it is in the U.S. Air Force. It is being used for security.

3/4 Cav used the M60A1 after they turned in their M551s, before the 25th became a Light Division. I have a pic of one taken on a Armed Forces Day (Memorial Day) at Hickam AFB. Very plain. The difference was the reddish earth color rather than the tannish brown in the MERDEC pattern. Only very small A-19 on the rear. I think that they are still stored at Schofield Barracks in a very deteriorated condition. At least I've seen them in a pic on the internet with the Hawaiian vegetation in the background.
Best wishes,
Grant

I seem to recall M60A3's in 2ID in Korea in the mid-80's...

The 50th AD and later 42 ID NJ army national guard used to go crazy with colored chalk, black or green tape and camo stick with personal markings. At Fort Drum the tanks had bumper codes usually for one of the battalions of the 102 armorand a tango number on the center glacis (right under the unbuttoned driver's face) and gun barrel.

T-02 got a huge T2 JUDGEMENT DAY scrawled across the turret and another tank had The MACH Five on the grenade box. There were also Gay and Proud and USS Enterprise NCC-1701-E.

I'm assuming you are aware that AFV Club are about to produce a brand new kit of the M60A1 (and presumably a lot of the variants). I'm sure it will be a great improvement on the existing kits.

I was in 2/68 Armor in Baumholder Germany , and we still had M60A3's when I left in March 88. Also 1/68 in Germany had them too. I don't know when they transitioned to M1A1S.

I was a mortarman with 2/68 AR in Baumholder from 85-86 and our unit fielded M60A3s. I have quite a few photos of us at the railhead I can scan and send for some ref. We were there to fire illumination for the tankers. One of our gun tracks was an XM106, an original experimental still kickin around.

Glad to see the interest in the M60 - my favorite modeling subject!

The M60 spans so much time that so many options are available - so many paint schemes -

Olive Drab - semi-gloss
MASSTER - a gaudy large pattern of sand, green and red brown
MERDC - an elegant combo of colors customized for the terrain
DUALTEX - the first of the digital camo tried in the mid '70's by the 7th Army
NATO - the modern three color, factory painted tanks as seen on today's equipment.
Desert - I stay away from this blah one color - everyone and their brother is making desert colored tanks so why jump on the band wagon!

Of course cold-war European theater and the annual Reforger Operations provide lots of options. S. Korea as well. But also - most anywhere they US was, the M60 was there.

You can even do some from training at Fr. Knox with an office chair fixed to the top where the instructor rode!

Early one in Germany you can add side maker lights (clearance lights) as well as the mandatory yellow/amber bubble gum light on the rear left fender so the little European cars wouldn't run into them on the Autobahn or along the highway on a foggy misty European morning.

The less celebrated ones were the ones in use by Guard and Reserve units that kept them long after the Abrams came along.







To me the M60 was a real man's tank and crewed by us that had the threat of global nuclear war on our mind at all times - when we trained to fight another superpower with overwhelming number of other tanks - the way General Patton would want to fight - not having to deal with pesky IEDs, roadside bombs and enemies that didn't where uniforms, and you fought against the red menace that had a hammer and sickle on their fur hats - just seemed more straight forward then.

Thank you to everyone for your valuable information!
I have been combing the web for references and managed to find one picture of an M60 used in Korea.



The caption that went with it was...
"US Navy five-ton lighter amphibious resupply cargo vehicle (LARC-V), left, and an M-60A1 tank land during Valiant Blitz, the amphibious assault landing phase of exercise Team Spirit 82, Tok Sok Ri Beach, South Korea, 1982."
Is this actually and M60, or is it just another misidentified M48?

That looks a lot like a cupola riser under the tank commander....

Appears to be a USMC M60A1 without the deep fording kit. 2ID had M48A5s at the time and I don't see the loader's M60D mounts on the front or side of the turret.

Gino,
The M48A2 and A3s were the only gun tanks used in Viet Nam. M728 CEVS and M60 AVLBs were the M60 variants used in Viet Nam. The M48A5 was a post-1974 solution (actually done 1975-78ish) to rebuilding the US Tank force after we sent beaucoup M60's to Isreal. Of course the Isreals assisted with some technical assistance IRT fitting the M68 105mm cannon into the turret and provided plans for the Urdan Cupola.

FWIW

John

If you look at the original size image there appears to be a black-ish long bag on the rear turret, laying across just behind the hatches. Looks like regular M19 cupola.

Also for the OP, for a plain M60 'A0' you'll need to do some converting; there are conversion kits available but no kit (yet?-c'mon AFV Club!).

Jim

Yup, tracking all John. I didn't go into the sub-variants since it looked like he was only looking for M60 gun tank info. The M728 CEV, M60 AVLB, and M88 ARV (also based on the M60 hull and running gear) were all used in Vietnam as well as in S. Korea.




Yes, it is a USMC M60A1. Exercise Team Spirit in S. Korea was similar to REFORGER in Europe. Units deployed to Korea to train and replicate reinforcing 2 ID in the event of an invasion by N. Korea. The tank was not stationed in Korea, but deployed there for the exercise.

So based on the replies, I'm thinking a Tamiya M60A1 or M60A3 with a MERDC would be good to replicate this vehicle. But while the A1 comes with the front light, it has chevron tracks, and I'm not comfortable with AM tracks yet. The A3 comes with the correct tracks, but I'd have to sacrifice the front light, but I can get it for a cheaper price. Any thoughts on this?

I may be wrong here but if you get the Tamiya USMC M60A1 with reactive armor you get the correct tracks and search light, but the Tamiya search lights are pretty bad anyway.

Why not use the ESCI/Italeri re pops? They are good kits and you can find them at a reasonable price. Im sure the AFV CLub offering will be grand, but who knows how long till we see it in the flesh?

Chris