M1008 with TOW System

[Sergeant1983]

Seeing this on youtube made me wonder if I could mount a TOW tube on my M1009 just for kicks. I have an old practice TOW I use as part of my living military history displays I do.


PS Its 1:19 min into this video
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=t-akbhcsjmg

 

[Tinstar]

You’ll get attention that’s for sure.

Dang TOW wires were always a problem for us.
Can’t hardly see them and they wrap around control tubes,
etc really fast.

Sometimes on post flight, some guys would find remnants of TOW wire because we flew in an area
that didn’t have the TOW wire hazard marked on the main map.

 

[patracy]

That's pretty cool. And it's interesting to see the range of vehicles in that video. There's 151's, CUCV's, and HMMWV's. Definitely early 80's. Wonder how many antennas were lost from them? I noticed the driver on the 151 quickly tied it down.

 

[mkcoen]

I was in a TOW battalion at Ft Lewis. We switched from M151 mounted TOWs to HMMWV TOWs around 1986. They were great until you had to ground mount them for an exercise and pack all the crap about 100 yards from the vehicle.

 

[D6T]

I was just an 11B at the time so I rarely had anything to do with the TOW, but I recall when we were playing the role of an armor-killer team going against OPFOR at Fort Drum, we had a HMMWV with a TOW in the bed. What I couldn't get over was how the whole thing was precariously stabilized (for lack of a better term) with steel cables tied down to all four corners of the bed as an afterthought. The TOW guys explained they had to do that as the truck needed it and otherwise the TOW pedestal thing could tilt. These were serious 1/2 inch thick braided steel cables like you see grounding a utility pole. It was difficult to move around the bed of the vehicle stepping over the cables and whatnot. I don't think that was common practice, I believe the unit made the cable arrangement.

 

[mkcoen]

We had the slant back and the TOW was mounted to the turret ring.

 

[MarcusOReallyus]

I was in one of the first TOW classes at Ft. Carson in 1976. They were replacing the 106mm recoilless rifle. Ours were mounted on M113A1s. It was a pretty decent setup.

 

[85CUCVtom]

Just out of curiosity, what kind of gauge are TOW wires? I've always wondered how the wire stay attached under the force of the rocket.

 

[Sergeant1983]

Its very small but durable. I will take a picture and add it.

1/6th drill bit and TOW wire from end of Missile

 

[85CUCVtom]

Its very small but durable. I will take a picture and add it.

Cool!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Sergeant1983]

I think this would look cool as a mock up on top of my M1009

 

[CARNAC]

We had TOW's mounted in the back of M998's in Desert Storm. I think even in the back of the 4 seaters in that short bed. I have pics somewhere. Desert Storm hit when some of the units in Germany were converting from the older M113 infantry battalions to the M2/3 infantry battalions. The E company was the anti-armor in the 113 battalions. Each of the M901 Improved TOW Vehicles (ITV) had a dismount TOW also. Those were pulled when the ITV was turned in. They were sitting around awaiting turn=in at some units and some units took them to the desert.

 

[Sergeant1983]

I was in the 101st in DS and saw some old stuff. I had not seen an M113 or M16a1s in years. I think everyone that went to the sand box ended up with new stuff. We turned all our CUCVs in for Humvee's and M7 bayonets in for M9 Bayonets.

 

[Sergeant1983]

I have a damaged practice TOW that I can fix up. So putting a mock dual set up would be great. Could do one empty and one full.

 

[MarcusOReallyus]

Just out of curiosity, what kind of gauge are TOW wires? I've always wondered how the wire stay attached under the force of the rocket.

I never thought about it in terms of gauge, but I know this: If you tried to break it in your hands, you'd cut your hands to ribbons.

The way it spools out the back, though, there's very little force applied to the wire. It comes out very easily.

 

[Guyfang]

I was in a TOW battalion at Ft Lewis. We switched from M151 mounted TOWs to HMMWV TOWs around 1986. They were great until you had to ground mount them for an exercise and pack all the crap about 100 yards from the vehicle.

What year? I was in F co. 709th Maint. We did all the maint on Tow, Vulcan and Chaparral. This was in 1980.

 

[mkcoen]

What year? I was in F co. 709th Maint. We did all the maint on Tow, Vulcan and Chaparral. This was in 1980.

I was there '86-'88. 2/60th INF in old concrete block barracks on the south side of the airfield.

 

[Sergeant1983]

Does anyone know the manual for working on a TOW missile? I was wondering if there is a way to manually retract the stabilizer fins.
This appears to be for maybe cranking?

 

[patracy]

I'm guessing those manuals would still be restricted?

 

[big block 88]

Is it mounted yet?