On BTR-50PK those inside did have overhead armor.
KL
There is stuff we captured that someone sold to Pvt collectors example the Syrian Hummel that was completely intact and the only known one to be in full running condition somehow went to some rich guy in Spain.
The contested captured Dragon wagons were captured fully intact from the Jordanian army near Jenin and are in a Pvt transportation companies museum in ramle Israel. And while in Pvt hands they were subject to reserve call up for heavy equipment.
Though some experts still deny it’s existence.
So if I get a couple hours free from driving Miz Crazy I’ll shoot over to latrun and ask…
The American locust is still on a southern kibbutz rusting away where it was left by the Egyptian army. And all the Italian tanks they had were sold and or scrapped
Does anyone own the book Concord Armor at War 7008 Tank Battles of the Mid East Wars (1) 1948-1973? Perhaps it contains a photo of an Egyptian ASU-57?
Once upon a time, many model marking options originated from photos in one Concord Publications book or another. If I recall correctly, Concord Publications and Hobby Boss are both based in Hong Kong. Perhaps a model designer at Hobby Boss based the Egyptian ASU-57 marking scheme on a photo in the book referenced above?
I was thinking about the BTR-50P (БТР-50П)
The 20 isn’t just for the BTR-50P. The second sentence of the passage translates as: Each armored personnel carrier of both variants provides transportation and transportation of 20 landing troops in full combat gear or 2000 kg of various military cargo.
[emphasis added]
I would’ve liked a model of the BTR-50P, or even a conversion, if Trumpeter hadn’t totally butchered their D-44 gun. To make it worthwhile we’d need a new kit of that. too.
KL
I have the book and the ASU-57 is not pictured or even mentioned in the text. I’m wondering if they were given just a handful to mess around with but just never employed them.
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Thank you for that confirmation. So far, I have not found a picture in similar books available on archive sites.
Based on what I am reading, Israeli soldiers captured a lot of material, especially during the Egyptian retreat phase (my characterization of the event). The Soviet Union was supplying the Egyptians, perhaps including some vehicles for evaluation in desert conditions. It seems reasonable that some unusual vehicles were captured. It also seems reasonable that the United States would want such vehicles for evaluation. If one went to Aberdeen Proving Ground, there will be information about the transaction and evaluation in the associated archive. Most armor book writers in the United States seem to draw from that archive.
And on that note, I have several references that show photos of the carnage at Mitla pass - all sorts of vehicles and AFV’s, yet not one of the vehicle in question. One might also ask: Of all the Soviet transport planes purchased by Egypt, were any of them capable of air dropping an ASU-57? Not all transports are - and if none had that capability, the ASU-57 would be rather pointless. There are orders of battle listed - I’m not inclined to spend a Sunday afternoon with great riding weather looking at them - but they do mention some airborne units and how they were deployed.
I don’t this the Egyptians got that far with the vehicle. I don’t think they had the capability to airdrop anything except troops.,And the ASU-57 wasn’t cap of destroying the later model Israeli tanks of the time - unless I’m wrong of course.
Sorry i didn’t have my reading glasses on guys lol and on top of that i was out picking up groceries with the wife!
I meant to say I don’t think the Egyptians had the capability to airdrop vehicles at that time. And the ASU-57 would have been of very limited value against the later model Israeli tanks at the time as well. I could be wrong about all of this of course.
But here’s a thought:
After doing a little reading on the BTR -50 - they had room for four fuel tanks - two cylindrical ones as seen above and which I opined could be used for sitting on - and two flat fuel cells on the rear hull corners. I have seen a photo of those. But in those parade photos shown above, those devices on the rear corners look to me to be unfoldable ramps, presumably to load up some sort of towed anti-tank gun. There certainly seems to be enough room on the engine deck to support that idea.
So, you get your troops and a gun, all in one package. The ASU-57 would have brought little to the table if that’s the case.
Well that settles it then. That will become project number 176, behind all of the others. Now that I see it was done, I could imagine them even using that set up in Ukraine.
I don’t think they have any -50Ps left but there have been -50PKs knocked out, and I saw one with a turret like a OT-62 a couple of weeks ago.
KL
At this point they could be scavenging gate guards and museum pieces.
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They don’t seem to be doing that as they still have plenty of T-55s to go through, but even so, I have not been able to find any -50P walkarounds on the Russian model sites.
KL
I’m currently building the Hobbyboss kit.
Interior is almost done, working on tracks and wheels.
Tracks are a small, tiny nightmare to clean up…
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Naturally we’ll need photos.
Desperate times, desperate measures…
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I have the Hobby Boss kit too. I’m sure it’s way better than the kit I’m building. I haven’t looked at the HB kit in a while to compare as I just up and decided to start this thing, but at some point I will. The tracks from my kit are not very detailed but easy to cut off the sprues and clean up.