Hobby Master HG5502 | M48A3 Patton "Wild One 3" 919th Engineers, Vietnam War

General Background:

The M48 Patton is a medium tank and was the third and final tank to be officially named after
General George S. Patton. The first version used in Vietnam was the gasoline engined M48A2
but was soon out numbered by the diesel powered M48A3 which became the most numerous US
tank during the conflict. The M48A3s were conversions of earlier models so it wasn’t uncommon for many characteristics to vary from tank to tank. Some M48A3s had 3 support rollers while others had 5 and the headlight assemblies could either be the early or later type.



The Tank:

The 919th Engineer Company (Armor) the “Red Devils” belonged to the 11th Armored Cavalry
and arrived in Vietnam in October 1966 tasked with building timber trestle bridges, constructing
river crossings, clearing landing zones and searching booby-trapped Viet Cong tunnels. The unit
used some M48 Pattons as fire power to help defend them as they went about their work. On one
occasion the M48A3 “Wild One 3” was captured by the NVA and in 1970 was transferred to the
Soviet Union for display at the Kubinka Tank Museum.

Specifications of the M48A3 tank
Role – Medium tank
Production Dates – 1952 – 1959
Number Produced – Approximately 12,000
Crew: 4

Dimensions
Length - 30 feet 6 inches
Width - 11 feet 11 inches
Height - 10 feet 1 inch

Weight: 53 Tons

Performance
Powerplant – 1 X Continental AVDS-1790-2A air-cooled diesel 750hp
Fuel Capacity - 375 gallons
Max Speed - 30mph
Range - 310 miles

Armor - 4.7 inch frontal

Armament
1 X 90 M41 Rifled Gun (64 rounds)
1 X 7.62mm coax Machine Gun
1 X 50 cal Machine Gun