The Duster

[@tankacebo9128]

ryan calling the AC-130 a "flying pirate ship" made my day.

[@skydiverclassc2031]

Because all good stories involve pirates. 🤤

[@robertgutheridge9672]

More like a flying fire base.

[@jeffreyhowards68]

The AC-130 40mm gun came off the Army York system.

[@markmclaughlin2690]

The last M 42 Duster ADA unit of the South Carolina National Guard 2/263 ADA was deactivated in 1988. I was stationed at Ft Stewart Ga in 1986 as an M60A3 Tanker, and saw them going down the tank trail and had to do a double take, not something you see everyday.

[@dennisjay3277]

Worked with a driver of a duster. He said it created a lot of havoc. VC and NVA would come running out of places you didn't know they were in.

[@NealB123]

Ah, the old Duster. My dad drove one of those when he was in the Army in the mid 50's. He loved it. Fast and easy to drive.

[@garlandblanchard8016]

I was here at Patriot's Point 2 days ago. I've lived here my whole life but finally got around to going. they have some really cool stuff there.

[@duster1968]

I was a Marine grunt in Vietnam (67-68) and remember the Duster well. There were several with us at Con Thien and were a very welcome addition since they could really pump out the shells. Side note, I don't remember any of our flak jackets having any sort of aluminum lining just heavy plastic plates that would not stop a bullet, only light shrapnel.

[@robertf3479]

As I understand it, the 40mm mount of the M-42 is carried in the place of the turret of the M-41 "Walker Bulldog," the two sharing a common chassis as was explained to me. It might be old, but that gun is still a great one.

[@jasonirwin4631]

Your are right the M41 and the M42 share a common hull. This is pretty common practice. The Germans made a number of tank based SPAA (self propelled anti-aircraft gun).

[@danielwright6620]

@@jasonirwin4631 There is a Walker Bulldog on display in Claremore Oklahoma of all places at the JM Davis Firearms Museum. I remember climbing around on it as a very young kid.

[@davidneel8327]

In WW2 we mounted 4 50 calibers on a truck chassis, I think, and used it in an anti-aircraft role and as well as a weapon against ground troops.

[@maxkronader5225]

The duster was actually replaced by the M163 VADS Vulcan Air Defense System, which, as the name implies, is a Vulcan 20mm rotary cannon with a ranging radar mounted on a M113 APC chassis.

[@henryturnerjr3857]

Yes and the Vulcan was supposed to be replaced by the Sgt. York which was a legendary design disaster. lol They still had the Vulcans at Ft. Bliss when I was there.

[@unr74]

I actually have a picture of me standing next to a Sgt York at Ft Bliss . 1982 or 83 I think.

[@korbell1089]

It is a turret, just an open turret. I was about a decade too late for the Duster but I can remember one sergeant talking about an ambush they had one night in Vietnam. They had a platoon of Dusters NDP'ed in a graveyard and the NVA attacked them. He said they leveled their guns and opened up, by sunlight there was nothing left but blood and broken tombstones!.

[@djolley61]

Forget the signs, I'm so climbing on that thing.

[@richardedwards6226]

One of my first tasks in the Army at Fort Hood was rescuing a M42 Duster for a museum at Fort Hood. 30 years later my wife and her retired COL friend were able to find it all restored in a restricted part of Fort Hood. I am glad I saved one. I went on to lead a platoon of M163 Vulcans in the 1st Infantry Division in Germany.

[@dustinshadle732]

Grew up with one in our town square. Grew to love it

[@glennedgar5057]

I grew up in Nobel County Ohio which was close to W Virginia and at time only had a few hard surface roads. Our county seat had a National Guard unit on one m42. When i grew up I new the seargent that commanded the tank. He said that every year that they trucked the gun to camp perry on lake erie. The guard would place targets on lake erie. The gun was expected to hit the target with no more than 2 shells. Our county got depopulated over time and the Ohio National Guard would take over our only air strip and use it forcombat operations. Our county resembled parts of vietnam and gunships would dotraining operation over the area atnight. One night they lite a small town up with seach lights which freaked the town out

[@sibhuskyguy]

In front of the Veterans home in Pramus NJ, right across the street from Bergen Regional they have a Duster.

[@thomaswilloughby9901]

Ryan, when you mentioned the crew you forgot the loaders. Someone has to feed those hungry guns. When I was in the New Jersey NG we trained with Duster crews out of New Mexico in the early 1980s.

[@Jreb1865]

Spare ammo was stored in the bins you see on the sides of the AV...

[@wdsf3178]

Friend’s grandpa was a Chinese veteran who served as a PLA in civil war and PVA in the Korean War. His unit encountered M-19 MGMCs (similar turret with duster but with a different chassis) in Korea. Despite high age he still recalled it clearly a called it something like an “American Grenade Pumper”. Scariest thing he has encountered in his life amidst decades of combat experience.

[@blank557]

Those M-19's helped save Task Force Faith on its retreat from the East Chosin Reservoir when the Chinese attacked. Unfortunate, the few they had were abandon later due to lack of ammo or breakdowns. Task Force Faith eventually lost one-third of its men from numerically numbers of the PLA.

[@zoopercoolguy]

OOO! One of my favorite US Army vehicles!

[@robinblackmoor8732]

Huh. I never saw or heard of this thing before. Thanks very much for the video. This channel is always interesting, and this video is even more interesting. I have to read more about Vietnam era weapon systems.

[@niagarawarrior9623]

I just wanted to take a moment to thank you for your time and efforts that make this youtube channel as interesting and informative as it is Keep up the great work

[@charletonzimmerman4205]

" TANKS", for the Memory's !

[@markcantemail8018]

Don had a 1970 Duster in High school . We used to take it Turkey Hunting . There was a big Rust patch on the Fenders right above the Towers . He drove it into the Back of an unlit Front end loader coming back from a Birthday Party late one Night . A tough Vehicle but it was destroyed .

[@forsakenghost7054]

The AC-130 had a 25mm gatling gun a 40mm bofors and a 105mm howitzer at least the one Ryan is talking about on a side note the c-47 Dakota/Skytrain was the fist “gunship” ever used it was named the AC-47 Spooky

[@ralphjacobson8815]

That thing's looking pretty tired. USABOT is a group of Armor Veterans that has an ongoing project to spruce those things up. I'll bring it up to our leadership.

[@jedironin380]

Never heard of these before, thanks for the video!

[@anselmdanker9519]

Thanks , didn't realise any were left around

[@iannarita9816]

M40 Dusters were used in Vietnam as anti personal weapons. A sergeant I knew in Germany told me that they were using Naval 40mm shells. The advantage was Army shells had a burnout fuse that limited flight time of the shell. This was prevent shells fired at aircraft from landing on the ground and causing friendly fire casualties. The Naval shell was the preferred shell in Vietnam as the M-40's were being used in ground combat and needed the longer range. On other interesting story I heard about US Army Air Defense Artillery(ADA) was about the M163 Vulcan. M163's were frequently used around fire bases to clear trees from the perimeter. On one occasion, during the tree trimming a whole bunch of secondary explosions started happening. The North Vietnamese had moved a large force into the trees near a fire base when the tree trimming operation started.

[@pattonorr7572]

I’m continuing to enjoy this “Ryan Takes Chucktown” content

[@jarodcrazyindian]

No, we didn't use them as an anti personnel weapon. We fired at the equipment that the enemy was carrying.

[@motaz1975]

makes sense. god knows we had tons of 40mm ammo laying around after ww2.

[@williamhigdon8728]

A Duster battery A-5-2 on 2nd Field Force was based at Phu Loi in the middle to late of 1970, they provided security for HWY 13 (Thunder Road). The section I was assigned to for that period was attached to them for some functions. I met a number of brave people there

[@tankacebo9128]

afaik the M19 and the M42 duster have a 6 man crew, with two loaders alongside the driver, gunner, commander, and radio operator/co-driver.

[@dalecomer5951]

The company to which I was assigned in Vietnam had a Duster and crew from an arty bn attached for the purpose of supply convoy escort. Turned out we didn't do much convoy escort but they left it with us for area defense. There was a metal plaque welded to the footplate of the gun mount which had the name of the U.S. Navy ship from which the gun had been removed. I remember that the ship was a DD and the year was 1947. The other company in the bn performed convoy escort into the Central Highlands through the An Khe Pass. They made good use of their Duster. Dusters and "quad fifties" were essental to repelling the human wave attacks at Khe San.

[@furmanmackey5479]

Shortly after rotating from West Germany to Ft. Hood, TX in 1985 and my assignment to 2nd Armored Division we participated in an ARTEP with our round out brigade from the Oklahoma Army National Guard. Among the various vehicles they showed up with was a battalion of Dusters. Some of the younger soldiers in my tank battalion laughed at them....Right up until those Oklahoma boys showed off their shooting skills with those Dusters.

[@davelewandoski4292]

Thanks Ryan, very informative video!

[@DrKahnihoochima]

Wings of Freedom museum Willow Grove, PA

[@Red-rl1xx]

That's really cool! I built a model of this a year or so ago.

[@jimblake3574]

So did I! (Well, I built it almost 50 years ago)

[@swyzzlestyx]

The Army did not have kevlar protection in Vietnam. Kevlar plastic was an invention in 1971, but its first use was in helmets in the 1980s. I served in the Army from 1984 to 1987 as an infantryman. When operating in the United States, I had no armored vests, but I was issued one in Germany, and it was simply rolled cardboard.

[@patricklynd4892]

When I served under Major Taylor at Ft Still Oklahoma in 1969 he and all of us were very proud of the fact that we were part of a 3Bn Artillery history. 2Bn2FA 105MM Towed was at Ft Still Oklahoma, the 1Bn2FA 105MM Towed was in Germany with the 8th Infantry Division and the 3Bn2FA was a 40MM Duster Bn stationed in Vietnam! Exploding 40MM rounds made the people setting up the ambush very sorry, as many met their ancestors sooner than they wanted to!! No 40MM Duster available then find a decked out gun truck fast!

[@orellaminx3530]

Hauge: Comma guys, please limit your weapons to things that will at least leave a finger behind so we can identify people. US: What!? I can't hear you!

[@macmcbride6521]

The new AC-130 does not have 40 mm bofors anymore. The ammunition was almost impossible to find. It's been replaced with a 40 kilowatt Odin laser. Sooooo 🤪

[@jth877]

I don't know if any ac130s have the 40mm anymore but they were always searching for bofors parts. ETA: Nope. All the 40mm ac130s are retired.

[@JerzeyBoy]

That dual bofurs sounds...

[@M167A1]

Vulcan next please!

[@JM-jv7ps]

Shame that they have that poor M151 upside down beside the duster...

[@SteamCrane]

They probably just left it where it ended up the last time it rolled over.

[@FIREBRAND38]

Oh, you were doing so well. The Geneva Convention doesn't "supersede" the Hague Convention. The Geneva Conventions concern only prisoners and non-combatants in war; they do not address the use of weapons of war, which are instead addressed by the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907, which concern conventional weapons, and the Geneva Protocol, which concerns biological and chemical warfare.

[@FIREBRAND38]

In fact, you've actually gotten the language of the Saint Petersburg Declaration of 1868 backwards: The Great Powers agreed to renounce, in case of war among themselves, the use "by their military or naval troops of any projectile of a weight below 400 grams (14 ounces avoirdupois), which is either explosive or charged with fulminating or inflammable substances." It was banning projectiles _below_ a pound in size that fragmented not more than a pound.

[@wildtimbrown]

"Oh" I do pity the folks who have to endure you when you exit your cave. His specialty is 1 BIG ship.

[@Riceball01]

@@wildtimbrown He's not wrong through. People regularly confuse the Hague Convention with the Geneva Convention.

[@FIREBRAND38]

@@wildtimbrown So let me get this straight. You're criticizing me for getting my facts straight? He put out bogus information as fact and you're defending that and throwing shade at the guy who corrected him? Brilliant. Just brilliant. And that goes for the 4 randos that gave you a thumbs up.

[@richardstephens3327]

The New Mexico National Guard did not retire the Duster until 1988 when they transitioned to the Chaparral missile system that was in turn retired in 1998.

[@johnmcmickle5685]

Actually, even a M2 .50 cal. is not supposed to be used against anything but material. But most people were shotting at the equipment. They should have left their web gear, weapon, and steel pot at home.

[@thomaspavelko9412]

AC 130.."Flying Pirate Ship"..🤣🤣👍👍👍👍

[@GrasshopperKelly]

RIP Clamagore

[@alonespirit9923]

Remember going to photograph a National Guard M42 and the unit representative said not to use camera flash inside it because it leaked a little bit of gasoline.

[@redbovine]

Nothing like some willie Pete in the morning.

[@paulheitkemper1559]

Reminds me of the Soviet zsu-23

[@thomasmaloney843]

Friend commanded an m42 duster near cu chi and parrots beak. He survived tet.

[@greeb666]

No armored divisions served in Vietnam, only Battalions and Cav squadrons.

[@SomeRandomHuman717]

He might have been put off the scent if he went by what unit patch soldiers are wearing as seen in photos; for example, the 1st Armor Division's divisional cavalry squadron (1st Squadron, 1st Cavalry) went to Viet Nam wearing the 1AD "Old Ironsides" patch.

[@alexanderwaite9403]

I believe that the a form of a duster was used in Korea.

[@deadendfriends1975]

Must have been fun..... being effective

[@RugNug]

I saw one for sale on ebay once.

[@keithmoore5306]

no Ryan the duster was replaced with the chapperal and vulcan 20mm anti air systems! and Kevlar armor didn;t come into service until after nam!!!

[@PKIllinoisFIN]

You know 40mm Bofors is still deadly and useful even today, weapon's don't get "old", it's word for salesman to say...

[@WALTERBROADDUS]

That's a funny-looking Plymouth Duster?

[@atomicshadowman9143]

Those were good cars, Walter.

[@cqdmgy]

You should do a collaboration with Chieftain! Or Ian from Forgotten Weapons. Or both. Or both at the same time! Make it an hour long video!

[@HazmatUnit]

The Army flak vest have Ballistic nylon not kevlar BTW

[@NomadShadow1]

lolol "a flying pirate ship"

[@markhudson2088]

@Battleship New Jersey Since you were at Patriot's Point will you be addressing their announcement that the Clamagore will be scrapped? 😞

[@Electronzap]

There is no perfect weapon. You need as many options as possible.

[@dennismason3740]

Don't scratch the paint or there will be...trouble. It's a frikken tank. Scratch your initials when nobody's lookin'... they come knockin' at your door...

[@wfoj21]

What is the background noise today? Is it a intentional speakers to add to the Vietnam Experience or construction/ maintenance or expansion work going on?

[@Jreb1865]

Wondered the same thing...

[@mcallahan9060]

1:26 "Obviously that war never happened..." Correction: That war has not happened...yet.

[@DaleRaby]

A "Sweet 16" is a 16 gauge Browning Auto-5 shotgun. I think you mean M-16.

[@bigsarge2085]

👍

[@danquigg8311]

Do you compare the Duster to the Sgt. York?

[@oatlord]

Ryan: are you guys arming the ship in prep for ww3? Thanks.

[@JohnRodriguesPhotographer]

Geneva convention is really kind of hokey in some ways. You can't shoot someone with a 40 mm round but hey 155 mm sounds good to me. Can't use a shotgun no problem how about this trench gun?

[@FIREBRAND38]

Actually, the Geneva convention doesn't address weapons so do a little research. Then you would know that under the Hague Convention that shotguns aren't banned but lead shotgun slugs are because they're deforming projectiles.

[@jerredwayne8401]

Someone remind me what they called the gunship. Wasn't it puff the magic dragon or something like that?

[@USSEnterpriseA1701]

Puff was the earlier AC-47, a modified C-47 transport plane right out of WWII. I think the name they started to give the AC-130's was 'Spooky' or something like that.

[@jerredwayne8401]

@@USSEnterpriseA1701 yah know I think you're right. That sounds familiar

[@azarellediaz4892]

There are two Patriots Point in SC, which one is this at?

[@georgesmith8113]

👍👊😎

[@chrisgay4786]

45mpg? Sounds faster then a dodge duster. At only twice the weight.

[@MichaelSmith-pp3wp]

>The Hague Convention banned shrapnel shells of greater than one pound. Yeah, don't think this is correct.

[@jeffersonchau7171]

*Vietnam flashback*

[@whyjnot420]

I understand the ethical implications of certain weapons. But aside from the NBC trio, I never understood exactly why a nation would want to limit its ability to wage war such as mentioned with shrapnel shells larger than 1 lb. I always strikes me as a boxer tying one of their arms to their torso in a fight. note: like I said I understand the ethical rationale here, it is the pragmatic & stoic sides of my psyche that asks questions about those kinda of weapons. NBC weapons, there is pragmatism to not using them, since they are nasty enough where you don't want to risk them being used on you, but a shrapnel shell that is just a little bit bigger being banned, while the smaller ones are still ok, that just makes no sense to me. It comes off as if it is simply to make the people writing and signing whatever convention happy with themselves. Those arguments about "but they do this to the body" are vacuous at best, kinetic warfare is largely about hurting people, if the people making such arguments truly felt that way, they would be banning it all, war included if they could (and to the credit of at least a handful of people, actually did want the end of war) Anyways, forgive my little rant. caveat: in the first paragraph I am thinking more of the people actually doing the fighting, in the 2nd I am coming at it from the side of the people making the treaties and conventions and whatnot.

[@djolley61]

One could reason that having horrifically powerful weapons lets you achieve victory faster, thus saving lives on both sides.

[@BlackHawkBallistic]

Its like how militaries are only able to use FMJ bullets, for the most part, when a FMJ is more likely to wound or lead to a longer agonizing death than a hollow point or soft nose.

[@djolley61]

@@BlackHawkBallistic My understanding is that hollow points or other type of expanding bullets are more likely to kill outright while an FMJ is more likely to wound (and maybe the guy behind the first guy). A wounded soldier requires medical attention and needs to be taken off the battlefield, tying up resources.

[@whyjnot420]

@@djolley61 I have heard some compelling arguments for the use of torture as well, coming at it purely from a pragmatic stance. Quite disturbing that no matter how much you wish it were not the case, some of these arguments, make a lot of sense when you look as impartially as you can. Then you bitchslap yourself and give yourself a reminder that you have morals.

[@jordansimpson9519]

fury

[@DanielsPolitics1]

Wow, the Dacia Duster looked really different in the North American market.

[@WTFproductionCrew]

I am not burning the duster. So forget it. I'm not burning the duster. That's crazy. That's like... that's insane. Why would I ever burn... It probably won't even burn anyway. It's not supposed to; it's flame retardant. That's like the whole point of the duster. It's like a shield of armor. So stop asking me to burn the duster! I'm not going to burn it! So... end of story… let's just move on…

[@kiereluurs1243]

Nope, the 105 mm gun is no 'howitzer'. GIY.

[@dennismason3740]

Do not climb? Seriously? Screw the insurance Imma man that ak-ak.

[@merlinwizard1000]

10th

[@penultimateh766]

Dude, if you're going to expand into discussions of land vehicles, tell us why all Russian tanks seem to be packed with dynamite and randomly timed detonators....

[@SteamCrane]

Ammo storage is inside the hull, unprotected, on the Russian tanks. When hit, all of the ammo goes up at once. Conversely, the M1 Abrams has the ammo in an armored cabinet, with doors that automatically open to allow pulling out 1 round, then close again. Plus the ammo storage has blow out panels on the roof. I don't know of any other tank that isolates the ammo that way. Thus Abrams has historically been extremely survivable, largely due to that feature.

[@penultimateh766]

@@SteamCrane Really? And I thought it was the moronic insistence of Russian tank crews to drive in column down un-scouted roads with no infantry support....

[@SteamCrane]

@@penultimateh766 Poor tactics is a big part of it, but idiotic design like unprotected ammo is equally to blame. Really summed up as total incompetence from a thoroughly corrupt country with a pathetically small GDP.

[@TrevorTrottier]

I'm not sure that the Vietnam war is all that braggable especially when flaunting war crimes.