Re: why did we adopt these?
From: Sarge (micdunn@ev1.net)
Date: Thu Oct 13 2005 - 16:15:31 PDT
Sarge here again.
I know all about the M.A.N.'s (Maschinenfabrik Augsburg Nurnburg)
I have all of the different flavors of MAN's on my government drivers
licence.
GLCM = Ground Launched Cruise Missile
SLCM = Sea Launched Cruise Missile
ALCM = Air Launched Cruise Missile
They were strictly USAF and were used for hauling the 4 missile GLCM
launchers, known as TEL's. TEL stands for Transporter Erector Launcher. They
also towed the LCC, Launch Control Center. There was also a wrecker version.
They came into service when the first GLCM unit was fielded, I think it was
1984. All USAF GLCM Tomahawk BGM-109 missiles were nuclear tipped, no GLCM
carried a conventional warhead. ALCM's and SLCM's could carry conventional
or nuclear warheads. The active units were at RAF Greenham Common and RAF
Molesworth in the UK. Germany, Belgium and Italy had one active unit each.
The Netherlands unit never became armed.
In the very late 1980's Reagan and Gorbachov agreed to take all GLCM's
off-line. All of the missiles were physically destroyed as were the TEL's.
Not one single MAN vehicle was destroyed. When they first were sold by DRMO,
they only got $2000 each even though many had less than 5000 kilometers
(3000 miles) on the clock. They are not suitable for civilian use because
the 5th wheel is a couple of feet to high for a standard trailer. The fifth
wheel cannot be lowered. The gearbox was truly amazing, sort of a standard
and automatic transmission. You pushed in the clutch, put it in first, then
let out the clutch slowly with your foot hard on the brake. The vehicle
would lurch, but not move. You then let off the brake and worked your way
through the first 8 gears without touching the clutch. Then you slapped the
gearshift to the right and worked your way through the next 8 gears. That's
how my memory tells me it was. but I haven't driven one for 15 years so ?.
The front four wheels steered normally and the rear two steered in the
opposite direction. They were much more powerful than the HEMMT's, and very
over length.
On a strange side note, whenever we drove them, we wore masks to conceal our
identity. Hauling nukes in the 80's got you a lot of serious death threats.
We liked Ronald Reagan masks the best, but our commanders insisted on
uniformity, so we all had to swap to generic gorilla masks. I'm not kidding.
There endeth the lesson.
Sarge out.
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