On February 21, 1968, U.S. Marines brought the M50 Ontos into action along the Perfume River during the Battle of Huế in Hue City, Vietnam.
The 9-ton tracked vehicle, nicknamed the Thing, mounted six 106mm recoilless rifles and could thread the city’s narrow streets and alleys where the heavier 50-ton M48 tanks often could not.
That day Marine infantry used Ontos fire to reduce NVA strongpoints and fortified buildings as units pressed toward the Citadel walls on the north bank of the river.
Its rapid salvos of high-explosive and beehive rounds blasted openings through masonry and silenced flanking fire from across the water, giving rifle companies the direct support they needed in the tight urban fight.
Colonel Stanley S. Hughes later called the Ontos the most effective of all Marine supporting arms in the battle. 🫡
A late 1930's look at a Grumman J2F-1 Duck and Scouting Squadron Two Vought SU-4 Corsairs launching from the deck of the USS Saratoga (CV-3) off Virginia Coast (based on my research)—taking part in a home defense exercise. Just had to squeeze interwar birds into your feed.🫡
as part of the 1970s' Improved Manned Interceptor program, a new variant of the F-14 Tomcat was proposed to serve NORAD. it would have been powered by the F100 engine, armed with the GAU-7 25mm gun, and able to carry substantially more fuel in a conformal tank.