| Sundance | 14 Mar 2010 6:21 a.m. PST |
I haven't found any photographic evidence showing BTR-50s with deck mounted weapons, but I believe GHQ sells theirs with weapons to be mounted on the rear deck. Is this correct or should I just discard the weapons? |
| Griefbringer | 14 Mar 2010 6:37 a.m. PST |
For which country are you planning on using them? |
| Cold Steel | 14 Mar 2010 6:45 a.m. PST |
The only deck mounted Soviet weapon I ever saw photos of was an SPG-9 recoilless rifle from the late 60's to 70s era. |
| Cosmic Reset | 14 Mar 2010 6:55 a.m. PST |
The BTR-50P was originally introduced with loading ramps that permitted a 57mm, 76mm, or 85mm gun to be loaded onto the rear deck. It could be fired from the the deck, firing over the open topped infantry compartment. This was dropped from the BTR-50A. I have seen at least one photo of a BTR-50 type APC (could be OT-62, just don't remember at the moment) that had a recoiless rifle on the deck. Don't know if in Soviet or third world service. I would think that you would only find them being used with the cannons in the very early Cold War era, but others here may be better informed about that. |
aecurtis  | 14 Mar 2010 6:56 a.m. PST |
I know I have some GHQ BTR-50s with a hole in the back deck from the 1970s, but do they still do a pack that way? ghqmodels.com/store/w21.html But in real life: as Cold Steel says, an SPG-9 or B-10 is what I recall. Allen |
| Jemima Fawr | 14 Mar 2010 7:05 a.m. PST |
BTR-50s with ZPU-1 or ZPU-2 were often used as battalion air defence platoons in a number of Warsaw Pact armies. The Romanians were still using these well into the 1980s. |
| aecurtis | 14 Mar 2010 7:27 a.m. PST |
Were those BTR-50PKs (the only type that GHQ makes any more) with the ZPUs mounted/carried externally, or BTR-50Ps with them in the open troop compartment? Allen |
| Jemima Fawr | 14 Mar 2010 10:33 a.m. PST |
Unfortunately I've only found them in lists – I've not seen photos of the actual items. |
| aecurtis | 14 Mar 2010 10:55 a.m. PST |
Exactly! (He says with empathy!) Back in the '80s, we'd try to find pics of them for Army publications and standard programs of instruction, and failed. That's not quite true: there were images (of lots of lovely things) from the British official recognition products that we couldn't use, as they were Restricted; generally they came from mission photography. And we couldn't pry our equivalents out of the intel system… What I recall, though, and it's only vague after 20-25 years, were ZPUs in the troop compartments of open BTR-50Ps. I may be misremembering, though, because ZPUs in open BTR-152s and BTR-40s were quite common, earlier. I may be conflating them. And I daren't admit that I have boxes of Recognition Journals over in storage. Oops! Wait: I just remembered a slide from a class and slide set I did on Soviet Naval Infantry: a ZPU on either a BTR-50PK or an MT-LB. I really should keep that older stuff readily available, I suppose. Allen |
| Sundance | 14 Mar 2010 11:04 a.m. PST |
I'm using them for Soviet Union. I don't know if GHQ still packages them that way – it doesn't look like it from their website. I had purchased some used and they had recoilless rifles and mortars on them. I assumed it was a prop used by the previous owner to identify the troops in them, but when I cleaned them, there was the hole with a matching bump on the weapon to fit them in place. Actually, I think I'll just discard the weapons and use them as is… Thanks for the help, fellas! |
| aecurtis | 14 Mar 2010 11:39 a.m. PST |
Those must be from old, discontinued packs; I have the same ones. GHQ used to make BTR-50Ps, too. Noting wrong with them in principle. They used to mount Vasilek automatic mortars on the back decks of MT-LBs, as well, at least in Afghanistan. Allen |
| Jemima Fawr | 14 Mar 2010 12:09 p.m. PST |
Sorry! I'm having a 'Homer' day today! It was BTR-40s I was thinking of… Doh! I don't recall AA gun mounts on BTR-50s. As has been said, they had the facility to carry weapons piggy-back and the odd B-10 was mounted on them, but that's all I've come across. (I too have a hoard of Recognition Journals) |
| Sundance | 14 Mar 2010 12:14 p.m. PST |
Talking to friend just now, he suggested I could use them for Egyptians in the Six Day War and keep a couple of the recoilless rifles on them. I think I'll do that instead. |
| aecurtis | 14 Mar 2010 12:47 p.m. PST |
Sundance, that rings a bell; I want to say that those older GHQ BTR-50s with weapons *were* meant for the Arab-Israeli Wars. I know my ZSU-57-2s (still available!) and SU-100s were purchased back then at the same time, for that purpose rather than for Soviet forces. RMD, if it helps, Wikipedia mentions prototypes of the ZTPU-2 and ZTPU-4: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BTR-50 So it may not be *all* "Homer" at work there. Although the ZTPU-2 is also credited to the BTR-40 chassis: link …and both the BTR-152 and BTR-40: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZSU-57-2 …so the designation may really refer to the weapon mount, rather than the mounted system. I dunno… Allen |
