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What's your favorite military vehicle?

The M-88 Tank Recovery vehicle. Part of my job as a USMC 2145 was operating one of these beasts. Not as sexy as an air plane, but one hell of a versitile vehicle:

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This workhorse vehicle has been around a while:

M88 loads damaged M113 APC in Vietnam, January 1971.

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The only vehicle I was ever in that bothered me were those damn APC's. I almost had a phobia, espically around water. Never really sure why, but the first time I was in one I took off my helmet about the time it hit a bump and about knocked my self out. Also they did not look like they should float to me. They were my least favorite, in fact I had a pleasant mental block till someone posted that pic. Thanks.
 
mak2 said:
The only vehicle I was ever in that bothered me were those damn APC's. I almost had a phobia, espically around water. Never really sure why, but the first time I was in one I took off my helmet about the time it hit a bump and about knocked my self out. Also they did not look like they should float to me. They were my least favorite, in fact I had a pleasant mental block till someone posted that pic. Thanks.
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You must mean the AAV Mak, not the APC. APC's don't float:

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No, it did not look like that. A hatch opened and we had this procedure for disemarking the vehice and forming a defensive formation unitl the track got off the beach. Dam I thoght it was an APC. it has been 20 some years.
 
They were the vehicles the amhib guys had just north of Oceanside at 21 area. I might be mixing them up with APC becasue we did lots of weird stuff when we did our field stuff. I know we did landings and advanced inland in the same vehicles. Felt like riding in a big tin can. Hated it adn was sure they would drown me.
 
The M76 amphibious cargo carrier, called the "Otter", it was built by Pontiac in the early 1950's. Had one that I went though in the early 1980's and it was a blast to drive, had a prop to lower before you went into the water, would do about 9 MPH in water about 25 on land and a was very good ride and quiet. Had a 140 HP Cont. aircraft engine mounted vertically and cooling air came in/out from the top.

Guy bought it from me and had it sitting in front of his store "G.I. Joes" in Anchorage for a number of years in Anchorage to advertize the store. Last saw it down by Anchor Point about fifteen years ago, would like to have another one...

A lot of them were bought by the "Weasel" owners (Weasels for Weasels...sounds like a support recovery group) and they took the tracks and split them for their Weasels and switched to larger wheels instead of the smaller boggie wheels that they had, which always threw the tracks, the otter conversions solved that.....

otter-1.jpeg

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Do you guys know how many Marines that would hold? I think it was the M76 that flipped me out. They slammed 2 big steel plates on top shut and that just make me nerveous. Nothing else I was in bothered me.
 
mak2 said:
Do you guys know how many Marines that would hold? I think it was the M76 that flipped me out. They slammed 2 big steel plates on top shut and that just make me nerveous. Nothing else I was in bothered me.
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It held two crew and carried 8 troops in back, there was a back door and a double door on the top that covered almost all the cargo area. Could have been what you were riding in. All that there was to see out of in the back is about a foot wide round porthole looking window on each side. No armor in them at all, the fuel tanks were self sealing and that was about it....

But a really nice ride with eight wheels (four duel sets) on each side on spring loaded arms...

Went up a steep hill really fast when I first got it back together and running, found out "After" I crested the hill that you are suppose to let off the throtal "Before" cresting the hill... Needless to say, it went about twenty feet with a nose high configuration like it was popping a wheelie until it dropped down, and then the back end assumed the rear end high, then repeated back to the front nose high and so forth. Pretty sure I couldn't get my foot off the throtal on one end of the two strokes...... I was pretty beat up by the time I got it stopped rocking.... didn't do that twice....

Mine still had the .50 cal ring on it, they just didn't leave the gun...
 
I am sure that is it. I remember being able to see out but afraid if it sank we could not all get out fast enough not to drown. I was in all kinda stuff those things just bothred me. I have faced my fear. er well looked at it on a laptop, kinda the same thing.
 
Here is some more photos of the M76 Otter, it was built by Pontiac. Some of these guys are in pretty sad shape. Anyone know where I might find another one to put back in shape....



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Snowcat Operations said:
How did it hold up in the Alaska environment?
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I didn't use it in the extreme cold like here in the interior, it was used down in the Kenai area. The temps get to about zero on a cold day there verses the -60 here . It had a gas fired heater and would cook you out of the place on a cold day, so I figured it would work ok here. Problem is that now they are going on about 55-58 years old and parts are really hard to get. If I found one that I could rebuild, it would be more for showing off in the yard since it would be pretty hard to support in the field for active running like I use the Imp for.

I had problems getting the engine parts, and most were old and dusty when I did find them and that was some twenty seven years ago... The orginal tracks came in four foot sections and had cables molded inside the rubber, would be hard to replace, I used belt tracking when I built new ones and they kept stretching and the tracks would come off really easy if they weren't tight.... The cable version didn't stretch much, so the cam that adjusts the track tension doesnt' move much...

As for deep snow, I would figure it would need paddles on the tracks, they are more of a flat bar for Tundra and such than snow, but they do have a really low footprint. Not to mention, they float and if you have a prop, you can do about 9 knots accross the water...

Would like to have one as a job to keep me busy when I don't have anything else to fix....:thumb: Because of the age, they shouldn't be too expensive, unless it belongs in a museam and has been totally restored, then you can't play with it...

Did google searches and the like, but not many showed up, they weren't too popular and that is the downside of the parts supply...
 
elsmitro, bczoom, Semper Fi, yet another winger is in the house :D
My favorite that I got to operate had to be the venerable ole Jeep. I spent many a duty section time as duty driver behind that wheel.
My favorite "baddest azz" vehicle in which I rode on had to be the Rosie :D
 

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RedRocker said:
If only I had time and money, I like that thing.:punk:
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The one I bought had the tracks off and in bad shape, went though the whole thing and rebuilt just about anything that moved. Didn't have the propeller on it, didn't know where to find one. About a year after I got it, was as a yard sale and they were selling one for ten dollars... about ripped my pants pocket out trying to get to my wallet for the ten bucks.

After getting it put on, ran it into a pond to test it and it really was neat, did almost ten knots or so. Was a blast to play with, wish I still had it.

Here in interior Alaska, there is a lot of creeks and rivers to cross in the summer that would make that rig a really good deal. Tried to contact a guy that had/has one, but never could get a response.
 
Mine has to be the Challenger II MBT
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But the British Army haven't released many of these so it has to be the Centurion AVRE



It's a fantastic vehicle and wonderful for moving a little bit of soil

 
Cityboy said:
You must mean the AAV Mak, not the APC. APC's don't float:
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Oh contraire.

From Wikipedia:

The 10.5-ton M113 is built of aircraft-quality aluminum which gives it some of the same strength as steel at a slightly reduced weight, as the greater thickness allows structural stiffness. Its weight allows the use of a relatively small engine to power the vehicle, a 6V53 Detroit 2-stroke six cylinder diesel, with a Allison tx100-1 3 speed automatic transmission, and allows the vehicle to carry a large payload cross-country and to be transported by fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft. It can also swim without deploying flotation curtains, and is powered by tracks, which was of tactical importance in battlefields like Vietnam which required crossing a multitude of terrain features: jungles, swamps, muddy dirt roads, forests, and rice fields.
 
First post here. Been lurking for a while but had to jump in on this thread. I've had a thing for Kaiser/early AMC era Jeeps for many years and this is one of my favorites. Never had one but have had a few civilian Kaiser and AMC J trucks.

M-715.jpg

This is an M715. Not my pic.
 
mine would be a toss up between a m37 or a m35 the 37 is a classic MV but i spent many years behind the wheel of a duce listening to a streight piped ldt multi fuel engine i still get turned on by the sound of one whisteling
 
to fog tender i'm filing on aclaim shortly that has an otter on it i will have to the mining laws as to what i can do about owner ship there ias another one compleate here in nome i have only seen it move once but it does run rumer has it they work good in the snow to the point they sink to their belly than they are stuck
 
dds said:
mine would be a toss up between a m37 or a m35 the 37 is a classic MV but i spent many years behind the wheel of a duce listening to a streight piped ldt multi fuel engine i still get turned on by the sound of one whisteling
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I'm completely there with you on both of those. My other favorite would be a current issue aircraft carrier.
 
Apparently I'm older than anyone else here and I'll stick to those I have operated myself. Out of the M113 APC, the jeep, the deuce and a half and the 3/4 tom truck. I'll take the 3/4 ton truck. I've driven it through mud so deep that the vehicle was floating on the mud.

bczoom said:
Aircraft were discussed awhile back in this thread.

What's your favorite military vehicle (land, sea, air... it doesn't matter)?
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