Milsurp After Hours

This is the kind of thing that would go here. I was posting about ACV's...Air cushion vehicle... on a 9th Division facebook page and I suddenly wondered if those things had been mentioned here or not. Can't find them so since I already dug out the photos I'll post.

The ACV was an experiment in Vietnam. It could cruise over marshes like the Plain of Reeds as a hovercraft with mini guns and or machine guns blazing. The crews were all Army and many were given OJT training in Vietnam, which I know because I once upon a time was in contact with one. There were three ACV's. Two of them were destroyed by set explosives that they ran over about six months apart. It was not a good idea to take the same path twice but that was a lesson that was learned the hard way. They were good for getting to the enemy in swamps in a quick hurry. You can imagine the terror such fast moving objects produced as they sometimes came half flying and half floating to the rescue of some small element in contact.

With the exception of the B&W with the singular Ranger in the Plain of Reeds, the other photos are ones I took in Vietnam in 1970. The one with the October date in the margin was developed probably two or three months after it was taken. In October of 1970 the 3rd Brigade of the 9th had just disbanded.

I remember hearing about them but I don't remember actually seeing one.

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The last one to be blown up was transporting some Delta 6/31st guys on the deck. Your old infantry company connection, but a year later. The infantry guys were all blown free and nobody was killed or seriously injured amazingly enough. However, the commander for the ACV force who was aboard, a major I think, and he wasn't so lucky and was killed along with maybe another crew guy.

This photo is one taken by a platoon sergeant in Delta company named Charlie Tapp. His platoon had to go safeguard the wreckage after the explosion and see to the dust offs too I'd imagine.

It all started here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SR.N1

Current UK Forces use. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LCAC(L)

Of course it did, Duncan .........

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The ACV's had a few drawbacks that kept the out of the Army vehicle pool after the last one of the three was sent to a military museum.

From Wikipedia:

......Another downside of the PACV was the degree of maintenance it required: each hour of operation required 20 hours of maintenance,[34] double the 10-hour average for contemporary military helicopters.[35][c] An Army evaluation found that the PACV had an operationally ready rate of 55.7 percent,[21] and all three Army ACVs were only operational during June 1969.[25] This maintenance requirement, which was made even worse when the vehicles suffered damage,[36] combined with the insufficient firepower to lead an Army evaluation to conclude that "there is no hope of the [PACV/ACV] unit fighting to a satisfactory conclusion in any large engagement."[19] The PACV was also very expensive,[18] costing about $1 million each

From what you see online the ACV's were considered under armed with a couple of 50 calibers an maybe a M60 or two. I did find this photo from a 9th division magazine I brought home. Looks like a mini gun in the top photo.