Fort Lewis Army Museum Tank Park Pictures
 

Having driven by it for years, I decided to pay a visit to the Fort Lewis Army Museum. It's not the Bovington Tank Museum or the IWM, but it's the closest I'm gonna get in this moss-covered corner of the world. :) It's a bit of work to visit since as a civilian you have to "hurry up and wait" for a visitors pass to get on the base.

http://pyxis.homestead.com/Fort_Lewis_Army_Musuem.jpg

It's not a US Army base without a venerable Sherman. Luckily, the nearest Tigers are locked up in a zoo up in Seattle.

http://pyxis.homestead.com/M4_Sherman.jpg

M-24 Chaffee Light Tank. All the tanks are in the open, so they take a beating from the incessant North Pacific damp.

http://pyxis.homestead.com/M-24_Chaffee.jpg

Something of a rare bird, the super-heavy M 103 tank from the 1950s. Only 300 were made and I think they were considered something of an under-powered failure.

http://pyxis.homestead.com/M_103_Tank.jpg

The M42 "Duster" self-propelled AA mount. Useful against ground targets too.

http://pyxis.homestead.com/M_4A21_Duster.jpg

M-55 Howitzer of Vietnam War vintage.

http://pyxis.homestead.com/M_55_Howitzer.jpg

Nike Missile System. There are some bases for this missile in the area that are in a state of decay. So is this missile for that matter. :O:

http://pyxis.homestead.com/Nike_Missle.jpg

M8 "Greyhound" Armored Car.

http://pyxis.homestead.com/Greyhound_Armored_Car.jpg

Don't know what this is, but I want one. :)

http://pyxis.homestead.com/I_want_one.jpg

The only non domestic tanks on display look like ex-Iraqi ones.
I believe this is a Type 59 of Chinese manufacture.

http://pyxis.homestead.com/T-54_Tank.jpg

A BMP armored personnel carrier I think, probably ex-Iraqi too.

http://pyxis.homestead.com/BMP-1.jpg

S21 Gvozdika 122mm self-propelled artillery piece.

http://pyxis.homestead.com/S21_Gvozdika_122mm_SPA.jpg

M-60 Patton tank from the Vietnam War era.

http://pyxis.homestead.com/M-60_Patton.jpg

Sheridan Light tank.

http://pyxis.homestead.com/M551_Sheridan.jpg

And, the diminutive M5 Stuart. I took the picture from ground level to make it look bigger. :)

http://pyxis.homestead.com/M5_Stuart.jpg

By the way, if anyone could identify this vehicle for me, I'd appreciate it. I think it's a MTLB, but I'm not sure.

http://pyxis.homestead.com/MTLB.jpg

Thanks for the pictures :up:

The car you want is probably a Volkswagen Beetle chassis with another body, front axle looks like it :hmmm:

http://pyxis.homestead.com/I_want_one.jpg That looks a lot like a FAV fast attack vehicle used by SEALs and could carry a tow missile... I want one too! https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...ng_mission.jpg As one who grew up on the RAT Patrol show:yeah::

Quote:

The original tests used commercial dune buggies modified to carry weapons such as TOW missiles and recoilless rifles. The recoilless rifles still had enough recoil to flip the lightweight dune buggies and were abandoned. The TOW missiles had much greater success, but they violated existing Army TOW doctrine. The Army had determined that a TOW needed a 3-man team to operate it. The DPVs could only carry a two-man crew and they seemed perfectly capable of operating the TOW, but this would have meant revising Army doctrine and possibly changing TOW deployment throughout the Army. :wah: Fort Benning decided to offer a "superior" DPV design that allowed a third crewman. This design was rejected by the HTLD team and was never produced. The basic weapons on a DPV consist of a heavy .50 caliberM2 Browning machine gun, two lighter 7.62×51mmM60 machine guns, and two M136 AT4 anti-armor weapons. In some cases, the driver's M60 or the gunner's M2 is replaced with a 40 mmMk 19 grenade launcher. Other light machine guns such as the M240 machine gun or 5.56×45mmM249 SAW can also be mounted.

I think this one was the XR 311 Experimental High Mobility Vehicle or something like that. I know it had an "X" in it.

Probably did better service as a recruiting tool than as a recon vehicle. :O:

The Stuart always struck me as a funky, almost toy-like looking tank. :O: All those square angles and shot traps. It was good to see an actual living example, though.

http://pyxis.homestead.com/M5.jpg

I'll go with that then.

Speaking of Iraq, they have Saddam's Head on display inside the museum if anyone wants to speak to him. :)

http://pyxis.homestead.com/Saddams_Head.jpg

Do you mind if I use that 'Sherman' photo as a reference for a painting sometime?

But did you have one of these!

http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/73...63fb8569b8.jpg

No problem. :cool: I don't think the US Army would mind either.

Here's a few additional pictures if you need more visual reference. Just try to leave out the rust and the bent bits. :D


http://pyxis.homestead.com/Sherman_Front.jpg

http://pyxis.homestead.com/Sherman_side.jpg

http://pyxis.homestead.com/Sherman_back.jpg

NOPE! Still got mine::D
http://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/4OIAAO...XF/s-l1600.jpg

I went to high school in the Panama Canal Zone and back then the U.S. Army would once a year come to school and give us rides in M113 APCs. Things could haul butt, fly over hills and land ever so soft.

http://military-vehicle-photos.com.s...s.com/5066.jpg


Then these would land in the football field and take on passengers for a trip across the bay and up the Chagres River high speed low level.

http://www.minihelicopter.net/UH1Huey/UH-1%20Huey.jpg


They probabaly dont do stuff like that anymore.

Haha. I did actually have one of those as a kid until I broke the thermos throwing it as a demo charge. :)

Hey, they did have the GI Joe-Bob Hope Action Figure on museum display. I don't know if Kung-Fu grip was included.

http://pyxis.homestead.com/Bob_Hope_Action_Figure.jpg