M60A3

Here are some shots I took in 1988:

I commanded an M60A3TTS tank platoon from 1987-89.

I'm new to the Armor stuff and bought a Tamiya M60A3 and soon found out that reference sites are hard to find also for this type. I put mine back in the box for awhile. Try the usual armorama, missinglynx etc. Here (this forum is where I found most of the good stuff even if it wasn't paticular to the M60) is probably a good bet..............good luck................  Late edit: I'll bet Rob knows a thing or ten about them............

http://public.fotki.com/pcmodeler/reference_gallery/armor_reference_photos-1/m60a3/

 

There is a good book by Verlinden that Amazon carries. If you don't want to buy it, click on the "Search Inside" link over the picture of the books cover. It will take you to a sample of inside pages. They only let you go through a handfull of pages, but if you hit the "Surprise Me" link it jumps to somewhere else in the book and lets you see more pages. Do that a couple times and you'll have access to the complete book.

Patton-mania.com  It's got some stuff.  Not a whole lot on the A3.

empeter wrote:

http://public.fotki.com/pcmodeler/reference_gallery/armor_reference_photos-1/m60a3/   There is a good book by Verlinden that Amazon carries. If you don't want to buy it, click on the "Search Inside" link over the picture of the books cover. It will take you to a sample of inside pages. They only let you go through a handfull of pages, but if you hit the "Surprise Me" link it jumps to somewhere else in the book and lets you see more pages. Do that a couple times and you'll have access to the complete book.

This book is a good reference on the A3, but there are several photos of M60A1 RISE/Passive tanks that are identified as M60A3TTS. Good pictures nonetheless.

Wow, thanks guys. Rob, those are some neat shots you took... where were you, Germany? Eastern U.S.?

hernando wrote:

Wow, thanks guys. Rob, those are some neat shots you took... where were you, Germany? Eastern U.S.?

The photos were taken during Reforger 88, the last of the large scale maneuver exercises to take place on the German countryside. I was stationed in Mannheim but the maneuver area was much farther north. After the Wall fell, the exercise in 1989 was cancelled and the one in 1990 was extremely scaled down and became a HMMWV-exercise.

There are plenty of A3s on display around Ft. Knox. After the tank was removed from frontline service, the largest concentration of them remained here at the Armor School.

Rob, those are some really impressive photos!  The detail is pretty good, though the shooting's a little fuzzy.  Ironically, the fuzziness adds to the realism effect.  And the people look so natural in form.

What scale you modeling there?

~insert big cheesey grin~

Couldn't resist... hawhawhaw!

Apologies for the quality of the pictures. Most people do not bring a good quality camera with them out in the field. They were taken with an old 35mm camera that was at the limits of its useful life even in 1988. The pictures haven't seen the light of day in over a decade. Larger versions of the photos are available here: http://photos.kitmaker.net/showgallery.php/cat/17112

Interesting photos Rob. The one with the engine being replaced looks alot like a diorama I once saw photos of online. Was that you? Or, maybea you showed the photos to someone who later built it?

They also had quite a few of those beasts running around Hohenfels as OPFOR ( I am sure you know THAT place). At least they did on all my visits there over the past few years. Not sure if they still do that role there anymore with all the changes being made to units.

These were taken while I attended the Armor Officer Basic Course (AOBC) at Fort Knox, KY, in late 1987, when I trained on the M60A3.  They were during the '10-day war' at the end of the course, which is for all intent and purposes a final exam.  Of course, I had to pose a la Patton:

I'm in the center of this photo.  As you can see, it was just a little muddy out there!

After the course I returned to my reserve unit, which was not armor, and have never even touched a tank since.  I really missed not having the chance to train on the M1.

Mark

Mark, we were playing in the Kentucky mud around the same time. I was in AOB class 14-87 which ran from approximately 27 Jul to 24 Nov 87. We graduated the day before Thanksgiving. Our 10 day war wasn't as muddy, but it was near frozen and very cold. I arrived in Germany about 2 weeks later and right after New Year's Day 1988, we deployed to Graf for winter gunnery where I continued to freeze.

Rob Gronovius wrote:

Mark, we were playing in the Kentucky mud around the same time. I was in AOB class 14-87 which ran from approximately 27 Jul to 24 Nov 87. We graduated the day before Thanksgiving. Our 10 day war wasn't as muddy, but it was near frozen and very cold. I arrived in Germany about 2 weeks later and right after New Year's Day 1988, we deployed to Graf for winter gunnery where I continued to freeze.

I don't remember the exact dates I was there, Rob (the memory gets a little fuzzy after almost 20 years!), although I have everything packed away somewhere (everthing that is except my manual on the M60A3, which mysteriously grew legs and walked away around the time I was leaving!).  I graduated around Christmas. 

Our 10-day war either started or ended very cold (again, for the life of me I can't remember which), and everything froze as well.  I think that was the coldest I've ever been.  It didn't help that the heater in our tank didn't work.  That I DO remember!

Mark

 Mark, Rob. We were all three playing in the Kentucky mud at the same time. I was there for my OSUT, 19E armor crewman, M60A3 tanker school  from Aug-Nov 1987. I was in A-4-13. 1st ATB.
 Remember the night, I think in Oct. when it snowed, but it all melted by the next afternoon? I also remember guard duty at the motor pools and looking at the M1's that were still somewhat "newfangled".
Also watching the deer on the gunnery ranges, not a care in the world as we fired main gun rounds over their heads.
 Lot's of memories...

                                                                               -60

Ahhhh the lovely school for hard knocks. Good times, good times.

I  have my revenge though. I work in the post HQs in the G3 directorate.

Those are all great photos, regardless of what ever camera limits.  I was just having a little fun there, Rob. 

I enjoy the real life shots and input all your "real time: armor guys have to offer all the rest.  Thanks for your wealth of information where ever you provide.

Sorry about the question rob, but those photos just reminded me of a bunch that my dad has. He was infantry during the time and took photos from every place he went. thanks for all the pics guys, these are really helping me to make this look better ( but not much, this is only the third model ive ever built)

I joined the US Marines in 1975 under a Combat Arms contract. The Marines in their infinite wisdom saw to make me an Artillery Scout Observer, or Forward Observer. I became the best one in my battalion in the 10th Marine Regiment (according to the officers I worked with). But my true love lied with the M60A1. I really wanted to go to Fort Knox and be a tanker, but as fate would have it, it was not meant to be. I guess if I had been a tanker I probably would have made the Corps my career. Probably would have gone to Iraq for Desert Storm. But I guess everything works itself out. I'm glad for those who have had the opportunity to be a tanker. I guess I would've tried to change the US policy of using tanks for infantry support and use them in Blitzkrieg formations...lol. Well at least I get to build them. Semper Fi

TigerII