They have or at least had one of these at the armor display at Aberdeen Proving Grounds, Maryland. I can remember crawling all over it when my dad was going to school there after his second tour in Vietnam and before we went back to Germany. That would've been 1971-72.
It’s all gone now, Kenny. Worked there about four years ago and was looking forward to the museum. Nothing left. Spent hours there while getting some schooling in the eighties, especially the small arms building. Someone said they moved it all to A. P. Hill. Hopefully that’s the case. Damn shame to loose that much history. Eod1sg Ret
ReplyDeleteAw man, I had some great memories there. I can't tell you how much I spent just wandering around the grounds.
DeleteThere are still a few things at APG I think - a lot (most?) of it went to Ft. Lee, VA, but it's not open to the public. There is a really nice private tank museum in Danville, VA, near the NC border, but hours are a bit spotty. But you can spend a lot of time there looking at all the armored vehicles, and they have a small arms collection as well.
Deletehttps://www.aaftankmuseum.com/
Yeah, lived on APG 3 times in my life, last was in 69. The rail gun was still there, and like Kenny, I used to climb all over it, and the other tanks on display out in the field. As kids, we used to sneak past the guard at night (I think they had some AIT students pulling guard duty). My house, which is also gone now, was just a stones throw away. They also had a Vietnamese village with tunnels and shit out in the training areas.
DeleteThey have a very similar one at Fort Riley, Kansas that was used to fire atomic shells for testing during the Cold War. Impressive to say the least.
ReplyDeleteMatt
For anyone that wants the road trip. The chinooks are all over the airfield below right now too. https://maps.app.goo.gl/7bfR46SFipzHXcHH6
DeleteI've run up the hill to that cannon plenty of times. "Run to the Gun". They never let me stop and admire the cannon at the top.
DeleteYes they moved everything out of there ..my father worked on post at LWL I can remember climbing on all the tanks on tank row good memories..Tanks were really hot in the sun..
ReplyDeleteI was there mid 60s, remember the guns and busted open bombs. Wanted to grab some of the explosives, dad said no. What did they do with it?
ReplyDeleteDaryl
Wirecutter, I was in Germany (Fulda) in the Army back in '71-'74. Where were you?
ReplyDeleteIn 1971 I was living in Aberdeen while my dad was stationed at Aberdeen Proving Grounds, from 1972-76 we were in Kaiserslautern Germany.
DeleteWhen I enlisted, I was stationed in Heilbronn West Fucking Germany from 1978-81.
My family was just around the corner living in Bel Air, MD in 1971. Dad had been killed in 1969. I always say that the Germans finally got him, that is a story for another day. Side note he hit Normandy 9 June, 5th Armor Division.
DeleteSaber 7
I visited Heilbronn for a day and night with a buddy of mine who had relatives there. His uncle (?) had been in the Hitleryouth during the war. He took us Guesthaus hopping the night of our visit. We went arm in arm the three of us down the cobble stone streets. Drunk on are asses from bar to bar. What a blast!
DeleteWow, we lived at APG 69-70 then moved the Fairfax County, VA, when the ole man went to Nam. Mannheim 74-77, then Schweinfurt when I joined in 77.
DeleteWell hell I am guessing that Fishbonesde is my brother. Dad worked in the LWL, mission was to fix equipment problems that developed in country. Short window of time too, something like 72 hours or something like that. So yeah we spent lots of time on post. Now back to the gun, yes that big thing was out front of the Ordnance Museum till they moved to Ft. Lee, VA, Last word I heard. In the early 2000s I was involved in hosting officer exchanges often. At the time I was working out of the Weede Army Airfield, Edgewood Arsenal. The ordnance museum was always a stop for the exchange.
ReplyDeleteOn a separate note the curator of the museum was a Dr. Jack Atwater. Jack knew my family well as our Father was a contributor to the museum. I remember being invited to a founders dinner there once and attended with my mother. So when I did my initial recon for the escort missions and had a meeting with Jack the introduction went something like this, “are you Don’s son?” Jack would take my exchange group on a personal tour of the museum, even into the many vaults loaded wall to wall with the tools of war. He called them his “inner sanctum”.
Jack wanted all the tanks to be housed inside or at least under a roof of some kind and APG did not want to assist. So the last time I was with Jack the post that promised was Ft. Lee Virginia.
Saber 7
I also was able to visiti Aberdeen more than several times, both before and after 9/11...after 9/11, very difficult to access, welj, you hadta jump through hoops to get in, which we were able to finally do...after seeing Dr. Atwater on The History Channel, always with white glove on, holding some military weapon, I was very fortunate to venture into the museum, and, there he was, sitting in his office, door open, and we had a real nice conversation, quite the gentleman! I do know, from searching around, that the tanks and guns have been split to 4-5 different locations, Ft. Lee is one of them, but not with a majority of anything and there was no date scheduled to re-open anything, which really sucks, because Aberdeen was awesome...remember the "Mile of Tanks" road?
DeleteI always loved seeing Dr. Atwater on the History Channel.
DeleteJust curious - did they have to aim the gun by moving it along a curve in the rail track?
ReplyDeletehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railway_gun#Methods_of_traverse
DeleteJust a bit of a shout out for the National Museum of Military Vehicles outside Dubois, Wyoming. Most of the museum is in doors, most of what's outside is at least under a roof. A major portion dates from WWII but they have stuff up at least through Vietnam and back to WWI. (hmm, see it's gone up $5 since I was there last year and apparently I attended a year before their grand opening.) It's on the way to Yellowstone if you choose the right road.
ReplyDeleteThe Virginia Museum of Military Museums is also excellent. http://vmmv.org/
DeleteKenny, I was an NCO with the 3/17th Arty at Merril Barracks during the same period, 72-75. Your Dad and I probably crossed tracks.
ReplyDeleteIt's very possible, he had friends down in Nuremburg that he went down and visited with fairly often.
DeleteHa, you're wrong comrade droopy pants, we don't need no steenkin f-15's or nukes, we got this, we can drop a load on your sorry carcass in district of cartoonistan from Missouri. Yeah thats what you call a "gun". Mo biggah, always mo bettah.
ReplyDeleteIt don't show up on Street view but is marked. SE corner of Oaklawn Blvd and Lee Avenue. Fort Lee Va.
ReplyDeleteDaryl
for the scoop on armored railcars check out: https://archive.org/details/wonderbookofknow00hillrich/page/470/mode/2up = pg 470 book was printed 1917, lots of "new" inventions! FLAwtha.
ReplyDeleteI was in Aberdeen for Aircraft Armament Subsystem Mechanic 45M school, Mid Jan-Mid April 1970 before shipping to Vietnam, 71st AHC, Chu Lai Armour/Gunner. Don't remember seeing it.
ReplyDeleteThere's an 8" railroad gun at the VA War Museum in Newport News, VA
ReplyDeleteYeah, right after Gulf War I, I took my wife over to the Aberdeen museum. We were early so we were sitting on the steps waiting for the doors to open when this big guy (Dr. Atwater) came out and started talking to us. Shortly a bus pulled up and a whole bunch of dudes with short haircuts and bandages, splints, and crutches got out. The Dr. said well my tour is here, why don't you two follow along. Oh, my we got to go into the back rooms with the racks and drawers with every small arm used by the army since the Revolutionary war and most of its enemy's small arms as well. Turned out the group were all wounded vets from GWI and were down from Walter Reed in DC
ReplyDeleteMy Dad called that beast at APG Anzio Annie. Like many of you, we grew up playing all over those tanks and equipment. My brother and his friends were able to crawl underneath and get up inside them. They caught on and welded them up. Too bad future generations will miss out
ReplyDelete