Tank Chats #108 | M48 | The Tank Museum

I served 15 months on the dmz in Vietnam on the M48. The tank was amazingly reliable and could go anywhere. The NVA really hated it as they destroyed two of my tanks. "love juice" was hit by an rpg at Lang Vei west of Khe Sanh on the Laotian border, she burned and exploded ammo for hours. "cheap thrills" was my new tank, Near Con Thien we hit a 250 pound B52 bomb rigged as a mine. The tank was destroyed and all crew medivaced, all survived. As for the M2 50 cal, they were never mounted in the cupela as they were were hard to reload in there. All were tripod mounted on top for range of fire and ease of reload. I have many pictures of my tour and destroyed M48s, they took a lot of them out. I loved the M48 and it saved my life many times. A GREAT TANK!

“Come take a look when all this other fuss is over”... David Fletcher, you are a treasure.

"When all this fuss is over." Well put Mr Fletcher.

“You could even fire the 50 cal from inside the tank. Probably not terribly accurately, but enough to make a noise and frighten people away.” - Lord Chandler, Duke of Bovington

"A 50-cal adds class to any vehicle." - The Chieftain.

This legend doesn't get enough credit in the public square...I'm of course talking about both Sir Fletcher and the M48 Patton.

"The muzzle brake is the T shaped thingy at the end".
Another great Fletcherism. :-)))

I spent years in an M48 A5 drove like a sports car. Dual machine guns for the Loader and the TC. No .50. And the Israeli hatch for the Commander. Great platform. The M68 105was a great gun as well. Coincidence range finder was easy to yes and accurate. The ends are ears. Every M48 I was in had an electro mechanical computer that input the correct super elevation for the range and round. As you dial in the range it whirred and the tube ratcheted up. For the time it was a very good system. That tracks are live and very quiet

Is David feeling well? I don't recall him talking about anything negative.

Fun fact: According to the official color US Army documentary, “Patton”, both the American and German armored forces used the m48 tank at the 1943 Battle of El Guettar.

Let me enjoy this moment in my 3 decades of life on this Earth and post the first comment under a David Fletcher video.

30 some years ago, when I was learning to drive tanks as a civilian contractor, myself and a couple of colleagues were shown around the Bovvy museum by Mr Fletcher. What a day that was, what a raconteur

Served on an M48 for 6 years. Thank You for this!

Who doesn’t like a mounted 50?
Put it on a pickup, fishing boat, tractor, train, plane, fan boat, donkey wagon doesn’t matter. Everything’s better with a Deucey.

One of my favorite tanks, presented by David Fletcher himself!

“ when all this other fuss is over “ , definitely Mr Fletcher , just try keeping us away . So great to see you ( and the M48)!

So happy to see another Tank Chat with David, they are always fun.

6:40
I never seen a soldier so happy with the Ma Duce.............

"When this fuss is over". Best way of describing ever from the legend himself

Love David’s snappy summary of Covid-19 “all this other fuss” 😀