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Armor/AFV: Modern - USA
Modern Armor, AFVs, and Support vehicles.
Hosted by Darren Baker
AFV Club M60A23 Early vs. M60A2 Late
TankCarl
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Rhode Island, United States
Joined: May 10, 2002
KitMaker: 3,581 posts
Armorama: 2,782 posts
Posted: Saturday, January 13, 2018 - 03:50 AM UTC
ATTN: AFV Club,
um,
TOW CABLES?
oopsie......
mdog172
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United States
Joined: January 16, 2018
KitMaker: 1 posts
Armorama: 1 posts
Posted: Tuesday, January 16, 2018 - 12:43 AM UTC
I was assigned to the deuce in 1980 at Fort Knox, they were at the end of their service life and we had pretty much every kind of configuration possible. We did possess A2s that had the chevron track and no bore evacuator for the main gun. Also I never heard anyone call them the starship, we usually referred to them as the "deuce" or other colorful names!
waynec
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Colorado, United States
Joined: September 18, 2006
KitMaker: 28 posts
Armorama: 17 posts
Posted: Tuesday, May 01, 2018 - 04:46 AM UTC

Quoted Text


Quoted Text

Gunner, M60A2, C 1/37 armor. (C-23)
We turned in our mixed battalion of M60's and M60A1's.Starting in Dec 1975,C company drew A2's in January 1976.
Some tanks, had bore evacuator tubes (NON FUNCTIONAL)
Some had the bosses on the tube, where the bore evacuator would mount.
Some had smooth gun tubes.
All developmental test vehicles may have been on early M60 /A1 hulls, with the side loading air cleaners.None of the tanks we drew, had those. My M60 (first ride) had side loading aircleaners.
Our vehicles were issued with the T-97 chevron based track. Around Sept 1977, we swapped to the T-142 track.
NO M60A2 in our battalion had a dozer attachment.The CBSS took up the space for any connections.There would be no way to attach a pump to the end of the transmission, as the 2 high pressure compressors were hooked up there.
(Anyone remember Turboshaft oil?)
Now, I have to buy this kit, as it has 1/37 markings, and is 1 number off from C-23.The markings on the box art commemorate when 1/37 was the top gun battalion in that years' seasonal gunnery.



Very good first hand info. I had read in previous posts on other forums that there were issues with mounting the dozer blade on the M60A2 due to the CBSS bulge and only a few were trialed and long derelict or museum examples.....none of them had actually been assigned to tank Companies.



M60A2 tank platoon leader 3-33AR-3AD
we got our A2s at Vilseck in the summer of '75. Prior to that i had 2 M60s and 4 A1s with older desert camo. we were the second BN in Germany to get them (1-32AR was the first). spent a month per company training at Vilseck and Graf. My CO had run the A2 yest unit at Knox. Once back at home station they were painted in camo and it was forest green and medium brown with black highlights. may have had some sand too but cannot remember. road wheels were aluminum with steel wear plates. lower hull behind the road wheels was camo as well and road wheels would be all green or all brown depending on the pattern. CBSS, bore evacuator, older chevron track, and no dozer tank. loved the power stabilized cupola with target designate, passive sight, main gun and laser rangefinder controls. M85 was installed upside down with right hand feed and not fun to reload but fun to shoot at night on the move. IIRC we would lase bottom center mass and, if we got multiple range returns, would punch LAST and assume that was the target range. always carried a dime in case the firing mechanism failed. we had to tie down the turret with 2 tow cables when doing RR transport.
panzergator
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United States
Joined: October 26, 2015
KitMaker: 8 posts
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Posted: Sunday, August 19, 2018 - 02:02 PM UTC
I arrived in 1-32AR in July of '75. Two weeks later we flew down to Vilseck to draw M60A2s. Ft Hood drew them in 1974. We drew tanks both with and without bore evacuators. The tank was standardized for issue with either gun. That had to do with when the gun was made. ALL tanks had the CBSS, thus ALL were M60A2s. On those with bore evacuators, the bore vents were welded shut and the evacuator sleeve was welded on. T-142 track was issued to the two tank battalions in our brigade in 1977. There were no "early" or "late" A2s. Several modifications were applied in the motor pool when we drew the tanks, inc!uding too-loading air cleaner boxes and the elevated infantry phone box. The initial coax machinegun was the M73, replaced soon after issue by the M219. Although claimed by one "expert" on Youtube, The .50 M85 was not replaced by the M2, if for no other reason than the M2 would not fit in the cupola. Track was replaced by T142 based on wear out of the T97 and availability of the T142. The T142 track was significantly heavier than T97. The blade equipment was not mounted on the tanks when drawn. Our battalion had just taken off the just from previous M60A1s, and there was talk about mounting them - on the second tank in company hq, but as far as I know, it was never done. I never heard the tank called a starship, although I heard it referred to by many colorful terms.

Our tanks were forest green with white bumper markings, later changed to black, small black stars. At some point, we were able to add black to the camo. After I left the battalion for 3-32, the brown paint came in. No sand ever arrived. The rotating Amber warning lights were also added in '75.
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