M113 Lynx photos needed for book project

[maple_leaf_eh]

Originally Posted by jdmcm

Robin I believe the Lynx you speak of from the Littlefield debacle ended up in Colorado and was cut apart to make a German tank replica

The conversion shop is PanzerFabrik, and I think they scratchbuilt the Luchs, and got the Lynx running separately.

[JRRDixon]

I came across this is one of my manuals. Says the Australians fitted 76mm Saladin turrets on a bunch. Didn't see it on the list.

[Douglas Greville]

Originally Posted by JRRDixon

I came across this is one of my manuals. Says the Australians fitted 76mm Saladin turrets on a bunch. Didn't see it on the list.

Jason

It is there, see M113A1 FSV (Fire Support Vehicle) x 15. That was replaced by MRV (Medium Reconnaissance Vehicle) with the Scorpion turret x 42.

Regards
Doug

[JRRDixon]

And so it was. My bad.
I do remember seeing a Couple personnel carriers in St Thomas at a little museum. Not sure if they lynx''s. Did not look sloped enough for m114's. Trying to load pictures but not having any luck. Does anyone know of the ones I am referring to?

[Douglas Greville]

Jason

Understandable that you did not align the vehicle types. The "FSV" nomenclature was closely followed by "MRV", which are essentially 2 very different names for the same class of vehicle doing the same job.

Usual military inability to stick with terminology. Somebody probably got a promotion due to his ability to think up a new designation.

It was worse with our 113s that had the Cadillac Cage turret. If 2 x .30s were fitted, they had one designation, if a .30 and a .50 were fitted, then a different designation. As it was a fairly quick exercise to swap out the guns, it all seemed rather pointless to me.

Regards
Doug

[Mike Cecil]

Doug is right, of course, the nomenclature can be a bit puzzling. With the introduction of the CG T50(Aust) turret in the late 1960s, there were two armament configurations decided upon: the APC with twin .30cals, and the LRV (Light Recce Veh) with the .50/.30 combination. Units designated as 'APC' units like 3/9SAMR were to be equipped with the APC variant, while recce units like XLH in Western Australia were to be equipped with the .50/.30 armed LRV. The distinction was soon dropped, in part due to operational experience by 3 Cav Regt then serving in South Vietnam. By the early/mid 1970s, both the APC and LRV were equipped with the .50/.30 combination. This is covered in my book 'The M113 and M113A1 in Aust Service 1964 to 1971' - I still have a few copies left if anyone wants one. PM me.

The introduction of the Scorpion turret version of the Fire Support Vehicle also saw the alignment of the nomenclature with the LRV nomenclature introduced in 1968, by designating the new vehicle the Medium Recce Veh - MRV. There was no 'HRV'.

There were 48 Scorpion turret MRVs built (not 42), all on new-build APC hulls purchased from FMC in 1972-1973. Their registration and hull numbers are not sequential, but are scattered through the registration numbers allocated to a larger order for APCs.

The earlier FSV was a combination of the Saladin turrets removed from the 15 Saladin armd cars purchased by Australia in the late 1950s. The first (prototype) was mounted onto a previously registered APC which was later given a new number, and the other 14 mounted on new-purchase APCs supplied by FMC from their San Jose plant. The registrations were 134700 to 134714 for the total of 15.

I have an official diagram somewhere that details the differences between T130 and T130E1 track. I'll post it when I find it! The AWM was fortunate to acquire a pallet load of the early T130 track to equip the APC on display in the SVN gallery.

Mike