Category Archives: Kit Bashing

Kit Bashing

Everything old is new again…and still F-16 Gold

Video

Iowa Air National Guard photo, published in May 1996.

In 1996, Iowa Air National Guard’s 185th Fighter Wing celebrated 50 years by painting an F-16 gold.

Iowa Air National Guard photo, published in May 1996.

Notice that the fake-news wingtip mounted Sidewinders are gloss black with gold fins.  According to 185th FW historians, the proposal to paint an F-16 gold was rejected at first, using the ridiculous excuse that painting a fighter gold would somehow render it non-combat ready!

Iowa Air National Guard photo Senior Master Sergeant Vincent De Groot, 30JUN2022.

Fast forward 26 years and there is a new/old gold F-16 in ‘Siouxland’.

Iowa Air National Guard photo Senior Master Sergeant Vincent De Groot, 30JUN2022.

From mid-May through June 2022, the Iowa Air National Guard painted another F-16 gold, in honor of the first gold F-16.

Iowa Air National Guard photo Senior Master Sergeant Vincent De Groot, 18MAY2022.

This time the F-16 is not a working fighter, it has just been pulling gate guard duty for the past 20 years, on Sioux City Air National Guard Base, and needed a refreshing.

Iowa Air National Guard photo Senior Master Sergeant Vincent De Groot, 30JUN2022.

Iowa Air National Guard video, by Senior Master Sergeant Vincent De Groot, reveal of new gold F-16 on 30JUN2022:

Iowa Air National Guard photo Senior Master Sergeant Vincent De Groot, 30JUN2022.

Iowa Air National Guard photo Senior Master Sergeant Vincent De Groot, 30JUN2022.

Iowa Air National Guard photo Senior Master Sergeant Vincent De Groot, 30JUN2022.

Between 2001 and 2003, Iowa’s 185th Fighter Wing transitioned an Air Refueling Wing, flying the KC-135:   BATS & BEARS, OH MY!

 

F-16 & F-15: 

SPECIAL LAS VEGAS SHOOTING EDITION

Kit Bashing

North Carolina’s Baby C-130 gobbles-up your children, Kawaii!

Image

Notice the frost on the nose, and the rest of the transporter baby. North Carolina Air National Guard photo by Master Sergeant Patricia F. Moran, 26OCT2013.

Will eat big children as well. North Carolina Air National Guard photo by Master Sergeant Patricia F. Moran, 26OCT2013.

In 2013, the North Carolina Air National Guard 145th Airlift Wing’s Aircraft Maintenance Squadron was the proud parent of a baby C-130, showing it off at a dozen shows, parades and other events during that year.

Yet more children gobbled-up by the hungry baby C-130. North Carolina Air National Guard photo by Master Sergeant Patricia F. Moran, 26OCT2013.

It took air-militia personnel more than five years, on their off-duty time, to birth the baby C-130.  It has taken part in Memorial Day, Veteran’s Day and Fourth of July parades, and even attended air shows as far away as Robins Air Force Base, Georgia.

North Carolina Air National Guard photo by Staff Sergeant Julianne M. Showalter, 04OCT2014.

Is anything more kawaii than a baby’s butt? North Carolina Air National Guard photo by Staff Sergeant Julianne M. Showalter, 04OCT2014.

North Carolina Air National Guard photo by Master Sergeant Patricia F. Moran, 26OCT2013.

North Carolina Air National Guard photo by Master Sergeant Patricia F. Moran, 26OCT2013.

North Carolina Air National Guard photo by Master Sergeant Patricia F. Moran, 26OCT2013.

Kawaii!: Baby C-17

Idaho, Kit Bashing, Technology

NATO Vehicle I-D: Idaho shows you how to engine swap a 1:1 scale M113

Video

Idaho Army National Guard photo by Thomas Alvarez, 31MAR2021.

Idaho Army National Guard’s Maneuver Area Training and Equipment Site (MATES) might have a Boise address, but it is actually located on the Orchard Combat Training Center (OCTC, formerly known as Orchard Training Area or OTA), about 18 miles south of Boise, on federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) property.

Dust storm on the OTCT. Idaho Army National Guard photo by Thomas Alvarez, 13AUG2021.

OCTC is in the middle of nowhere, and MATES is where depot level work is done on ground vehicles.

An M113 Command Post, official nomenclature is M577, now being used as an ambulance. Idaho Army National Guard photo by Thomas Alvarez, 10MAR2021.

Idaho Army National Guard photo by Thomas Alvarez, 11MAR2021.

Idaho Army National Guard photo by Thomas Alvarez, 10MAR2021.

Idaho Army National Guard photo by Thomas Alvarez, 10MAR2021.

A gutted M113 engine/transmission compartment.

Idaho Army National Guard photo by Thomas Alvarez, 10MAR2021.

Idaho Army National Guard photo by Thomas Alvarez, 31MAR2021.

Idaho Army National Guard photo by Thomas Alvarez, 31MAR2021.

Idaho Army National Guard photo by Thomas Alvarez, 31MAR2021.

Idaho based 116th Cavalry (Cav-all-ree) Brigade Combat Team’s MATES operation is considered a ‘premier’ maintenance shop, servicing vehicles for Army National Guard units in Idaho, Nevada and Oregon.

Idaho Army National Guard photo by Thomas Alvarez, 31MAR2021.

Idaho Army National Guard photo by Thomas Alvarez, 31MAR2021.

Idaho Army National Guard photo by Thomas Alvarez, 31MAR2021.

Idaho Army National Guard photo by Thomas Alvarez, 31MAR2021.

Idaho Army National Guard photo by Thomas Alvarez, 31MAR2021.

Idaho Army National Guard photo by Thomas Alvarez, 31MAR2021.

Idaho Army National Guard photo by Thomas Alvarez, 07APR2021.

Idaho Army National Guard photo by Thomas Alvarez, 09APR2021.

M113 Mortar Track, official nomenclature is M106, waits for fire orders on OCTC. Idaho Army National Guard photo by Thomas Alvarez, 18MAY2021.

‘My” M981 FiSTV (artillery forward observer M113), on Idaho’s Orchard Training Area (now called Orchard Combat Training Center), Summer 1997.

U.S. President  Joseph R. Biden Junior ordered 2-hundred M113s for Ukraine. It has been revealed that those M113s are coming from the Army National Guard inventories of at least five states!  Is the President planning on replacing them for those states?

On 27APR2022, the Indiana Army National Guard issued video (by Sergeant Hector Tinoco) explaining their part in sending Ukraine Viet Nam era M113 APCs:

Biden’s War: IDAHO ABOUT TO DEPLOY HUNDREDS OF TROOPS, YET AGAIN! FIRST TIME USE OF JAVELIN MISSILES!

NATO Vehicle I-D: POLAND’S KRAB (HALF BRITISH, HALF KOREAN?)

Vehicle I-D, 2020: HOW TO BUILD A 1:1 SCALE U.S. ARMY ‘FAKE NEWS’ BMP-2 USING THE M113

Kit Bashing

Vehicle I-D: Arizona F-16 with an 80 years old P-47 paint job?

Video

U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman David Busby, 09JAN2022.

Actually, a Cold War era F-16 on Luke Air Force Base, in Arizona, got dolled-up for the 310th Fighter Squadron’s 80th Anniversary.

USAF photo by Senior Airman David Busby, 13JAN2022.

The pain scheme is based on a World War Two P-47 Thunderbolt named Passionate Patsy.

USAF photo by Senior Airman David Busby, 19JAN2022.

U.S. Air Force music video, by Senior Airman David Busby, of the colorful efforts by 56th Equipment Maintenance Squadron:

Bare Metal:

USAF photo by Alex R. Lloyd.

NEW ‘PATINA’ STYLE F-16 CAMO?

Terminator: NEW F-16/X-62 SKYBORG

Kit Bashing, Technology

Vehicle I-D: “The Dud Scud” Fake News Ballistic Missile

Image

During the 1990s, following the end of the non-declared/non-official Cold War, the United States held a yearly massive NATO wargame called Roving Sands, in New Mexico.

U.S. Air Force photo by Technical Sergeant Marv Lynchard, 23APR1995.

One of the many oddities that made an appearance at these war games was the U.S. military’s “The Dud Scud”; a 5-ton dump-truck (some of the info says duce-n-a-half, other info says 5-ton) with ballistic missile looking things mounted on top of the dump-bed.  Scud is the NATO reporting name for a Soviet tactical ballistic missile launcher system.

USAF photo by Technical Sergeant Marv Lynchard, 23APR1995.

Of course the Dud Scud doesn’t look anything like a real Scud, they were just meant to simulate a generic ballistic missile launcher.

The Dud Scuds were positioned at various locations across Fort Sumner, New Mexico. USAF photo by Sergeant Nicole Snell, 29APR1995.

Because of the experience of having to hunt down Iraqi Scuds during Desert Storm, NATO exercise Roving Sands incorporated such a scenario into the yearly wargame.

USAF photo by Technical Sergeant Marv Lynchard, 23APR1995.

Cold War Vehicle I-D:

Photo attributed to Bernd Hartmann, Germany 1978.

FAKE NEWS ZSU-23-4 INTO THE J-A-W-S OF DEATH!

Kit Bashing, Technology

Dahlberg’s(?) P-47D found, 65 years and 10 days after it was shot down!

Image

“When I heard that a plane had been discovered in the area, I knew exactly whose plane it was.”-Horst Weber, Bitburg Area Historical Club

On 24FEB2010, the wreckage of a U.S. Army 9th Air Force, 353rd Fighter Squadron (FS)-354th Fighter Group (FG) Republic P-47D Thunderbolt, shot down on 14FEB1945, was found in Bitburg, Germany.

Photo dated January 1945. The official 9th Army Air Force info that came with the photo is insulting to armorers as is states “Capt. Kenneth Dahlberg….supervises the loading of the machine guns on his Republic P-47 Thunderbolt…”.

The P-47D was flown by a Captain Kenneth Harry Dahlberg.  He was leading his squadron of eight P-47Ds back to their home base in France, from a bombing run on Pruem, Germany.  Anti-aircraft gunners in the town of Metterich shot down Dahlberg, he survived the crash, which was his third and final crash because he became a Prisoner of War (PoW) 45 minutes later (Gathering of Eagles website says it was after “several days”).

In 2010, the town of Bitburg wanted to build some new residential units, but local law says before any construction can start an inspection of the ground must be done: “All spots in Bitburg are inspected for bombs and chemicals from World War Two prior to construction because Bitburg was heavily bombed….”-Rudolf Rinnen, Volksbank Bitburg

Investigators looked at books used by model kit builders, to identify the aircraft by the markings that were still visible. USAF photo by Senior Airman Nathanael Callon, 24MAR2010.

“We knew that in this area an American fighter ace was shot down by German anti-aircraft fire and we know through German documentation and reports that the aircraft had landed in this area.”-Horst Weber, Bitburg Area Historical Club

Horst Weber, of the Bitburg Area Historical Club, points out the markings on the engine cowling of Dahlberg’s P-47D. USAF photo by Senior Airman Nathanael Callon, 24MAR2010

The discovery of Dahlberg’s P-47D was not revealed until 24MAR2010.

Public revelation of P-47D discovery, USAF photo by Senior Airman Nathanael Callon, 24MAR2010.

This piece has red paint on it, I doubt if Dahlberg’s P-47D had red paint. USAF photo by Senior Airman Nathanael Callon, 24MAR2010.

A pallet of scrap, USAF photo by Senior Airman Nathanael Callon, 24MAR2010.

Wreckage of U.S. vehicles found in Germany are still property of the United States, however, U.S. officials gave the P-47D parts to the land owner; Volksbank Bitburg.  It was hoped some of the parts could somehow be used in a local museum display.

Photo dated December 1944. Captain Dahlberg in the middle, during a 9th Air Force donation of 61,820 francs to the War Orphans Fund.

Ken Dahlberg also flew North American P-51 Mustangs.

(See the latest on the restoration of P-51 Shillelaugh, which was flown by many pilots)

Ken Dahlberg survived the war and continued to serve in the Air National Guard while creating a new hearing aid company (which decades later was accused of false advertising, by the U.S. government), then in the early 1970s unwittingly became the ‘key’ (a cashier’s check with his name on it) in revealing the Watergate Burglaries tied to then President Richard Nixon. In 1995, Dahlberg started a venture capital firm (which helped create the Buffalo Wild Wings chain restaurant). At the age of 94 he died, in October 2011.

8th Air Force Historical Society of Minnesota: Ken Dahlberg

Veterans Tributes: Kenneth H. Dahlberg

Midwest Flyer: More about Kenneth H. Dahlberg

Idaho Air National Guard’s direct connection to the 9th Army Air Force’s P-47D Thunderbolts: IDAHO’S HERITAGE A-10C ‘8N’

Kit Bashing, Technology

A-7D Corsair-2, Cold War maintenance walk around

Image

Photos recorded during the last decade of the unofficial/undeclared Cold War:

An Airman with the 355th Aircraft Generation Squadron inspects avionics equipment on a A-7D Corsair II, Hurlburt Field, Florida. U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sergeant Frank J. Garzelnick Junior, 11FEB1979.

Inspecting an A-7D Corsair II during Gunsmoke ’81, Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada. USAF photo by Master Sergeant Paul Hayashi.

Puerto Rico Air National Guard A-7D, during exercise Bold Eagle. Puerto Rico National Guard photo by Ernest H. Sealing, 19OCT1981.

A ground crewman inspects the fuselage of an A-7D Corsair II during Exercise Gallant Eagle, on the U.S. Navy’s China Lake, California. U.S. Air Force photo by Technical Sergeant Bob Marshall, 01APR1982.

An A-7D Corsair II aircraft pilot reads maintenance forms during Exercise Gallant Eagle. U.S. Air Force photo by Technical Sergeant Bob Marshall, 01APR1982.

180th Tactical Fighter Group A-7D during Exercise Kindle Liberty, Howard AFB, Panama. USAF photo by Staff Sergeant R. Bandy, 01DEC1982.

Two A-7D Corsair II aircraft inside the maintenance hangar during Exercise Checkered Flag/Coronet Castle, RAF Sculthorpe, United Kingdom. U.S. Air force photo by Technical Sergeant Jose Lopez, 31MAR1983.

U.S. Air force photo by Technical Sergeant Jose Lopez, 31MAR1983.

156th Consolidated Aircraft Maintenance Squadron performs maintenance on an A-7D Corsair II during Operation Ocean Venture. Puerto Rico Air National Guard photo by Technical Sergeant Ken Hammond, 20APR1984.

Puerto Rico Air National Guard photo by Technical Sergeant Ken Hammond, 20APR1984.

Loading an AIM-9 Sidewinder missile on an A-7D Corsair II during Operation Ocean Venture. Puerto Rico Air National Guard photo by Technical Sergeant Ken Hammond, 20APR1984.

An A-7D Corsair II of the 124th Tactical Fighter Squadron, Iowa Air National Guard, being prepped for deployment to Japan, for Exercise Cope North. Iowa Air National Guard photo by Airman First Class Jeffrey J. Aubin, 24MAY1988.

Inspecting the cooling system of an Iowa National Guard A-7D. Iowa Air National Guard photo by Airman First Class Jeffrey J. Aubin, 24MAY1988.

Iowa Air National Guard photo by Airman First Class Jeffrey J. Aubin, 24MAY1988.

Changing the tail light bulb. Iowa Air National Guard photo by Airman First Class Jeffrey J. Aubin, 24MAY1988.

Adjusting weapons pylon screws on a New Mexico Air National Guard A-7D, taking part in Amalgam Warrior, Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska. USAF photo by Sergeant Rose Gruben, 31MAY1988.

Chitose Air Base, Japan, an Iowa A-7D driver signals his satisfaction. Iowa Air National Guard photo by Technical Sergeant J. Ferguson, 17JUN1988.

Post Cold War: USAF A-7 CORSAIRS, WHATEVER HAPPENED TO?

1/72 REVISED COMPARISON A-7 CORSAIR-2: FUJIMI, ESCI, AIRFIX, HASEGAWA, MATCHBOX, REVELL & HOBBY BOSS. MORE REASON NOT TO TRUST SCALE DRAWINGS?

Idaho, Kit Bashing

Tanks for the Memories

Image

1-148 FA HQ in Pocatello, Idaho, got hit with a wind/snow storm, 14DEC2021, giving a new look to their armor displays.

Wind & snow storm hit Southeastern Idaho on 14DEC2021. Sustained winds hit 42mph, wind gusts hit 68mph, at the Pocatello Airport (which is actually in Power County, not Bannock County). HMMWV at the Idaho National Guard armory in Pocatello (Bannock County), 1-148 Field Artillery, 116th Cavalry Brigade.

It should be noted that many of the militia members of the Army National Guard’s 116th Cavalry Brigade are currently spending the holidays somewhere in the Middle East.

A Paladin self propelled artillery system freezing to death in Pocatello, Idaho.

These M577s are facing West, you can tell by the snow accumulation that the storm blew in from out of the West-South-West.

Cold War era M548 ammo carrier, knows what it’s like to be cold.

See more during warmer temps: 1-148 FIELD ARTILLERY GATE GUARDS

The World War Two era M1 57mm anti-tank gun.

World War Two era M4 Sherman.

Cold War era M109 SP-gun.

Watching over the cities of Pocatello and Chubbuck, Bannock County, Idaho.

Cold War era M60A3.

Conducting ‘bounding overwatch’ of the cities of Chubbuck and Pocatello.

U.S. Marines Corps LAV lit-up for the Camp Fuji, Japan, xmas tree lighting ceremony, 12DEC2021. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Katie Gray.

Arriving a little early, Santa rode onto Camp Fuji, Japan, on a Light Armored Vehicle, 12DEC2021. USMC photo by Katie Gray.

M1/M116 Pack Howitzer, 2nd Cavalry Regiment at Tower Barracks, Grafenwoehr, Germany, 08DEC2021. U.S. Army photo by Specialist Christian Carrillo.

Tower Barracks, Grafenwoehr, Germany, 08DEC2021. U.S. Army photo by Sergeant Cory Reese.

2nd Cavalry Regiment decorate dozens of tactical vehicles on Tower Barracks, Grafenwoehr, Germany, 08DEC2021. USA photo by Specialist Nathaniel Gayle.

M3 Scout, 2nd Cavalry Regiment, Rose Barracks, Vilseck, Germany, 07DEC2021. U.S. Army photo by Specialist Nathaniel Gayle.

M3 Scout, 2nd Cavalry Regiment, Rose Barracks, Vilseck, Germany, 07DEC2021. U.S. Army photo by Specialist Nathaniel Gayle.

M3 Scout, 2nd Cavalry Regiment, Rose Barracks, Vilseck, Germany, 07DEC2021. USA photo by Gertrud Zach.

Stryker, 2nd Cavalry Regiment, Dragoon Ride Holiday Parade at Rose Barracks, Vilseck, Germany, 07DEC2021. USA photo by Gertrud Zach.

Stryker Snowman, 2nd Cavalry Regiment, Dragoon Ride Holiday Parade at Rose Barracks, Vilseck, Germany, 07DEC2021. USA photo by Gertrud Zach.

Stryker Grinch, 2nd Cavalry Regiment, Dragoon Ride Holiday Parade at Rose Barracks, Vilseck, Germany, 07DEC2021. USA photo by Gertrud Zach.

Vilseck, Germany, 07DEC2021. USA photo by Gertrud Zach.

Vilseck, Germany, 07DEC2021. USA photo by Specialist Nathaniel Gayle.

Vilseck, Germany, 07DEC2021. USA photo by Markus Rauchenberger.

The M4 Sherman display, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment (Black Horse), Fort Irwin National Training Center, California, 08DEC2021. U.S. Army photo by Sergeant Bradley Parrish.

M26 display, 11th ACR (Black Horse), Fort Irwin NTC, California, 08DEC2021. USA photo by Sergeant Bradley Parrish.

M48 display, 11th ACR, Fort Irwin NTC, California, 08DEC2021. USA photo by Sergeant Bradley Parrish.

Bradley Fighting Vehicle nicknamed Bob Ross, 1st Squadron, 4th Cavalry Regiment (Quarterhorse), 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, Hohenfels, Germany, 05DEC2021. USA photo by Staff Sergeant George B. Davis.

New Hampshire Army National Guard High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) during the Queen City’s holiday parade in Manchester, New Hampshire, 04DEC2021. New Hampshire Air National Guard photo by Technical Sergeant Charles Johnston.

Ādaži, Latvia, 30NOV2021. Actually, this 3rd Battalion, 66th Armored Regiment (Burt’s Knights), 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division’s M1A2 SEP Abrams isn’t trying to look like an Xmas Tree, but ’tis the season. It’s all part of the war game Winter Shield 2021. USA photo by Corporal Max Elliott.

From xmas 2019, German Tiger Tank holiday lights on Fort Jackson, South Carolina.

USMC photo by Gunnery Sergeant Durie.

21DEC1965, ten Marines spent 36 hours dressing-up this amtrack for xmas.  Many of the people in the Southern part of Việt Nam where Catholics.  The information that came with the photo says that after the parade the LVTP-5 went sailing on the Han River, the crew handing out gifts to children living on sampans.

Kit Bashing, Technology

Cold War Vehicle I-D: Fake News ZSU-23-4 into the J-A-W-S of death!

Image

Before the U.S. Army settled on using the M551 Sheridan as the basis for its ‘fake news’ Soviet tanks, they tried out the self propelled artillery unit called M109.

U.S. Army photo. Fake News ZSU-23-4, Fort Hunter Liggett (photo info says Fort Ord, I believe that is incorrect as the terrain looks like Fort Hunter Liggett [I’ve been there done that], also, the JAWS-2 war game took place on Ft. Hunter Liggett), California, November 1977.

Actually, the special M109 was created just for the JAWS/JAAT programs of the U.S. Air Force/U.S. Army. Notice that the radar antenna looks like an actual radar off a ZSU-23-4.  It could be that the M109 ZSU-23-4 could generate ‘fake news’ radar signals so that attacking aircraft could practice their ECM (electronic counter measures).

This M109 was converted for the November 1977 Joint Attack Weapons System II (JAWS-2) war game on Fort Hunter Liggett, California. Photo via U.S. Army.

The JAWS (Joint Attack Weapons System) exercises of the late 1970s helped develop anti-tank tactics for today’s NATO air forces  This was important as the U.S. Air Force (USAF) was just breaking in its new A-10 Thunderbolt-2 tank killing aircraft.  JAWS exercises also included U.S. Army (USA) AH-1 Cobras and OH-58 Kiowas.

An OH-58 Kiowa during a USA/USAF Combined Arms Live Fire Exercise (CALFEx) on Fort Hunter Liggett, December 1986. Photo by Staff Sergeant Gustavo A. Garcia.

JAWS also coincided with JAAT (Joint Air Attack Team), which tried combining fixed wing and rotary wing aircraft into a single anti-tank operation. JAWS-1 took place at Fort Benning, Georgia, and focused on aircraft gun cameras. JAWS-2 took place on Fort Hunter Liggett (formerly Hunter Liggett Military Reservation), California, using a Range Management System that linked with aircraft gun cameras in an attempt to calculate real-time ‘hits and misses’ during war games.

An A-10 Thunderbolt II fires a burst from its 30mm tank busting gatling gun, during a USA/USAF Combined Arms Live Fire Exercise (CALFEx) on Fort Hunter Liggett, December 1986. Photo by Staff Sergeant Gustavo A. Garcia.

It was during the JAWS/JAAT exercises that USA and USAF personnel learned each other’s tactical language for anti-tank operations.

Less than one year after the 1977 JAWS-2 wargame took place on Fort Hunter Liggett, the one-off M109(M108?) ZSU-23-4 made an appearance in West Germany, during FTX Certain Shield 1978.  According to the info that came with the photo below, its appearance had ‘tank spotters’ speculating that it was an new experimental U.S. Army anti-aircraft tank inspired by the Soviet ZSU-23-4.

Photo attributed to Bernd Hartmann, Raum Herbstein, Germany 1978.

Does anybody know what happened to the one and only M109 ZSU-23-4?

Cold War Fake News Armor: WHEN IS AN M551 NOT A SHERIDAN? WHEN IT’S A ZSU-23-4!

Fake News Armor 2020: IDAHO’S 1:1 SCALE FAKE NEWS RUSSIAN RADAR TANK

Kit Bashing, Technology

Cold War ‘Fake News’ Armor: When is an M551 not a Sheridan? When it’s a ZSU-23-4!

Image

This is a real Soviet made ZSU-23-4 Self Propelled anti-aircraft gun. Photo via U.S. Army.

The U.S. Army began reducing its inventory of M551 Sheridans in 1978, remaining Sheridans were relegated to the role of ‘bad guy’ for war games, being modified to look like various types of Soviet tanks for use on the U.S. Army’s then new National Training Center, in the early 1980s.

Two Sheridan ‘fake-news’ ZSU-23-4, National Training Center-Fort Irwin, California, September 1982. U.S. Army photo by Ben Andrade.

NTC, California. USA photo.

Photo attributed to Stefanowicz.

A ‘ZSU-23-4’ spotted in a convoy of fake-news Sheridans, National Training Center-Fort Irwin, California, January 1986. U.S. Army photo.

A 177th Armored Brigade ZSU-23-4- M551 Sheridan, parked next to a real BTR, NTC-Fort Irwin, California, March 1988. USA photo.

I remember when I was part of the 1st/185th Armor, CSC Company (armory in Apple Valley, later becoming Delta Company) of the California Army National Guard, we routinely used Fort Irwin for weekend drills. In the early 1980s, NTC was literally a dust bowl with almost no facilities, we used the giant boulders as our targets for live-fire tank gunnery. Finally, in 2003/2004 the M551 was retired from the OpFor (Opposition Forces) role, with the very last Sheridan seen being hauled to the U.S. Navy’s China Lake in March 2004 (probably to be used as a target).

Parked inside the Opposition Force’s (OpFor) vehicle compound, NTC, California, January 1991. USA photo.

In the last decade of the use of Sheridans as ‘Krasnovian’ OpFor vehicles, the M551s were kept alive by cannibalizing parts from other M551s, and the unusable parts were sold as scrap.  My last encounter with the Krasnovians was in 1998, with the Idaho Army National Guard.

Cold War Armor: M551 SHERIDAN, PROPAGANDA BORDER GUARD

Vehicle I-D: MORE U.S. ARMY FAKE-NEWS TANKS, TIGER STRIPES ANYBODY?