Finally starting on that Tarhe and already know I’m gonna have to hang it. Considering that I have been tossing around the idea os a load. At first I was considering an APC or something but how to go about tying in four cables to the one kinda small hook seemed questionable. For a few months I got to skate resupplying ammo to a few of our FSB’s by truck and air. At any rate I thought of a few pics I snapped of a Chinook and Tarhe using sling loads of 155 ammo. I looked and lo and behold I may have the starting point but open to thoughts. This mesh is about 1/4" which would scale out to about 8". Thinking a load of ammo may be the easiest thing to sling under this is there something that is remade that might work out better?
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Hair net ?
Fishnet stockings ?
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I would use none of the above simply because they do not look prototypical. The nets are actually made of flat nylon webbing. I have been using Chartpak graphic tape for things like this for decades.
Unless of course speed and ease are your goals - then by all means use what you like. It’s easy to use the graphic tape - it’s self adhesive, comes on many useful widths, will last you forever, and maintains a correct width, so no tedious cutting of masking tape.
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That’s certainly closer in looks to webbing. Seems you could lay out the strips grid like and go from there. Wonder what one could use to eliminate the adhesive on the part you don’t want it to prevent a tangled mess once you get where you want to go. I spose the ammo crates would do it. Hmmm
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Stick it on your forearms and remove several times - that’ll get a lot of the adhesive off.
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I may just experiment with some masking tape placing the sticky sides together and cutting strips. I see that the cargo nets are indeed just squares with an attachment point in each corner. I only ever saw them already rigged and being lifted.
Really overkill hauling ammo with one but everyone wants to get some hours in no doubt.
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Laying them out in a grid will be quick. You won’t even have to do the “over and under” weave like on an apple pie, as I had to do with these seats:
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I may weave them anyway. Real cloth strips would probably be great but I don’t know of anything that wouldn’t show badly frayed edges. Have to experiment. I will say that this kit is very well done and the parts fit is very good for the most part. Measures a bit over 2feet long though and will be at least that wide!
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When building our FSB RIPCORD museum diorama, we cut 1/72 scale cargo nets from paper using a plotter-cutter (Silhouette or Cricut).
One of our club mates (Ralph Nardone) built a CH-47 hovering while delivering a sling load of 105mm howitzer ammo.
Here’s a picture of Ralph’s Chinook during one of the many test fittings of components and features. You can see that we cut a large number of the cargo nets to illustrate the logistics operations on the diorama.
We also used the same paper nets to depict logistics activities at the 155mm howitzer position where the sling loads were delivered directly onto a small area immediately adjacent to the guns.
We colored the paper nets by soaking them in Rit fabric dyes. To form the nets, they were later soaked in dilute white glue (actually Scenic Cement) and allowed to dry flat on waxed paper. Once dry, the flat nets could be formed around the various cargo items using a paint brush wetted with ordinary water. Once formed, they retained their shape and were glued to the cargo for later placement on the diorama.
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Those are excellent. Very familiar with Ripcord area. You’re resupplying my 2/11 arty !
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MMK from Czech Republic makes some netted loads.
http://www.mmk.cz/en/models/category/doplnky
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I really dig the paper cargo netting.
I do have some products from MMK - RZ 35045, which has the photo etched nets, RZ 35053 (500 gallon collapsible drums - far superior to Verlinden) and RZ 35054. They make good stuff, but I wasn’t going to recommend the PE set for this project simply because OP seems to be looking for more frugal options.
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Not looking for frugal necessarily just ideas for something that looks right. Those paper ones for that 155 FSB look great. Actually that gun in my profile pic I took may well have been at Ripcord. Forgot which battery was there.
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There’s a fairly detailed description of the 2/11 ARTY at RIPCORD contained in this:
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Thanks for sharing that. I’ll need to use my wife’s Facebook.
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I thought it was really interesting. OPN TEXAS STAR was a much, much larger conventional battle that involved two opposing corps, one PAVN and one US-ARVN. It rivals a lot of WWII Asia-Pacific battles in both scope and scale (if not necessarily by the tactics employed).
The Battle for FSB RIPCORD was just one part of the overall campaign, and by many measures, it was clear win for the PAVN. They achieved their objective and goal using their own tactics based on their previous experiences on how to best eliminate an enemy stronghold in PAVN territory. (The terrain and PAVN tactics successfully employed had many parallels to battle for Dien Bin Phu.)
At any rate, the entirety of OPN TEXAS STAR is worth serious study by anyone interested in the war in Vietnam. It presaged the major conventional battles that came later in the war’s final stages.
The battle for FSB RIPCORD was, at least in my opinion, a clear win for the PAVN, which is no criticism of the bravery and tenacity of the US troops on RIPCORD, just that the PAVN “out-generaled” the US commanders at every turn.
(Although more debatable, the whole campaign was probably a victory for the PAVN. At the best for the allied forces, OPN TEXAS STAR simply set the PAVN timetable for their own seasonal campaigns into the coastal areas back by a few months.)
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Went to memorial service just days after being transferred from 1st Inf. to 101st for some guys from Ripcord from 2/11. Interesting read, thanks.
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Bob Kalsu, a professional footballer for the Buffalo Bills was a captain assigned to the 2/11 (155) ARTY and was KIA on FSB RIPCORD. Also killed early on during the initial operations to secure the FSB hilltop was Chuck Norris’ brother, Wieland Norris.
The reasons and decision making on the US side during the battle for RIPCORD are debatable, but the fundamental result was that there was not enough US infantry committed to secure the key-terrain features around the FSB (over-looking high ground - i.e. hilltops - and the adjacent LZs needed to support units occupying those hilltops). The US infantry was successful in nearly every fight for every contested hilltop, but as soon as each hill was “won” the troops were sent to another one (or to interdict suspected PAVN LOCs).
The result was that the PAVN retained the initiative to constantly attack RIPCORD by accurate (observed and controlled) indirect fires as well as having the freedom to create anti-aircraft “kill zones” along the predictable flight routes of the supporting rotary wing LOCs. Since RIPCORD was inaccessible and unsupportable except by helicopter, the PAVN again retained the initiative to attack helo sustainment operations at will.
There were many contributing issues to the poor decision making by the higher US commanders (in particular, and most puzzling to me personally, was the refusal to believe any of the quite voluminous and very credible ELINT and SIGINT intel that clearly proved the PAVN’s strength in the area (two regular divisions plus several supporting regiments) and their intent to contest the allied operation. Infantry companies patrolling around RIPCORD intercepted and recorded PAVN landline communications, and a special INSCOM radio intercept unit was actually located on RIPCORD intercepting PAVN radio coms on a near continuous basis. (Add these indicators to the obvious contacts and encounters with PAVN forces during the fights for key terrain around RIPCORD, and the intel picture should have warranted the deployment of significantly greater US and ARVN forces.
Again, the reasons for the higher US command decisions are debatable, but the result was too little combat power applied to achieve the objectives and goals (assuming those objectives and goals were ever achievable).
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Yes, he was one of I think three battlefield crosses.
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