27 May 2024 M14 Picture of the Day

[Bill Hollinger]

[QUOTE=Terry Hawker;539055]

It's magnesium pretty brittle?

Don't know about mag wheels, but I have to wonder how many people were killed by those M151A1 death traps?

My first vehicle after I got out of High School was a military surplus, 1953, M38A1 jeep. For those of you who may not be aware of the various models, the M38 was the government version with the rounded hood and similar body style to that of the civilian CJ5. It had a much beefier body and chassis, with 13-leaf springs as compared to the CJ5's 5-leaf springs, as well as other heavy duty features. I was in a four-wheel drive club in the middle '60's, and with everyone else driving CJ5's and Toyota Land Cruisers, I was usually selected as the pathfinder vehicle when we got into the heavy brush on our weekend runs into the boonies of Southern California.
Naturally, when I got into the Army I was anxious to compare the performance of my old M38A1 to the then-current M151A1. My opportunity finally came after I finished the standard SF training, was assigned to my unit, then pulled a day of duty in the 6th Group motor pool. Looking forward to my first time behind the wheel of a "modern" military jeep, I had to move one that had just been serviced and park it in the back lot. When I reached the parking space I turned the wheel to nose in at about the same speed as I would have normally with my M38, then got the scare of my life when I felt the front end dip down as the opposite back end started to lift, threatening to roll over. Luckily I corrected quickly enough to avoid disaster, but it was a close run thing - this on a perfectly flat, dry parking lot! During that same period, a leg mechanic in the motor pool had to take a jeep back to Bragg from where we were engaged in an FTX. On the way back he flipped the jeep, killing one soldier and seriously injuring two others. On another FTX, a Captain flipped his, but fortunately wasn't killed. These weren't isolated incidents, but rather a common narrative in the service in those days. The independent suspension on that vehicle created a situation where the front wheels were prone to tucking under with catastrophic results. My old M38 would have run rings around it.

The Government's acquisition of these incredibly dangerous vehicles is just another example of politics pushing aside common sense. These are the kind of decisions that get made when people like Robert S. McNamara of Ford Motor Company (and Edsel infamy) become Secretary of Defense.

It's not an A1 it's too early for that. It's a straight M151. The A1 had an ROP kit and the A2 even better improvements. The M151 was a death trap, the A1 slightly better and the A2 was a huge improvement.