The Wartime Museum Motor Pool Winter Updates
We have been busy with restoration and maintenance over the winter. The Dodge command car is now finished with new paint, a new canvas top, and the radio installed. We decided to check out some of the smaller vehicles in the collection to take a break from the heavy lifting.
Maintenance was pulled on the USMC Desert Storm era Kawasaki KLR 250, the British MT 500 Harley and the Chinese Chang Jiang 750 which is a copy of the BMW R 71. We are still working out a few bugs on one of the S tanks with the help of Stefan Karlsson of the Swedish tank museum. The M 36 tank destroyer restoration will be picking up the pace as we recently received the gasket set for the GAA motor from our friends at BAIV in the Netherlands.
Since Vietnam Veterans Day is March 29, we thought we would highlight a vehicle from the collection that is from the Vietnam War period. We will take a brief look at the M 42 Duster SPAAG.
The M42 40 mm Self-Propelled Anti-Aircraft Gun, or "Duster", is an American armored light air-defense gun built for the United States Army from 1952 until December 1960, and was in service until 1988. Production of this vehicle was performed by the tank division of the General Motors Corporation.
Starting in the fall of 1966, the U.S. Army deployed three battalions of Dusters to the Republic of Vietnam. Each battalion consisted of a headquarters battery and four Duster batteries, and each augmented by one attached Quad-50 battery and an artillery searchlight battery. After the Vietnam War the Duster’s remained in National Guard service until the late 80’s. Below is a photo of a Duster in Vietnam and a photo of the Duster from the museum collection.
