M50 'Ontos' Light Anti-tank Vehicle - RECOILLESS TANK DESTROYER 

Sorry about my pronunciation of Hue! I’m always learning and trying to improve 👍

52 years ago i was at Hue and these things were quite a welcome asset. Havent seen one or thought of them in years.

Army: Nah Marines: SIX GUNS! MURICA!

A good friend of mine was a U.S. Marine fighting in the street by street, house to house, battle of Hue,. Which, by the way, is pronounced "Whey" not "Hue" as it is written in English. He loved the Ontos! Notice the Marines early in this in this video are talking to the Ontos's gunner, and pointing out VC sniper positions on the other side of the Perfume River. It was very effective in urban combat situations.

In the Battle of Hue, Colonel Stanley S. Hughes felt the Ontos was the most effective of all Marine supporting arms. At ranges of 300 to 500 yards (270 to 460 m), its recoilless rifles could knock holes in or completely knock down walls. The appearance of an Ontos was sometimes enough to make the enemy break and run, and anecdotal accounts describe the enemy fleeing occupied buildings when an Ontos's spotting round entered a window.

At 5:30 was a battle of Huế in 1968 happened on the both side of Hương river (Perfume river) when I was there. On the right side was controlled by US Marines, the background of Marines is Pedagogy school with a lot of refugees living around MACV, they were rescued and proteced by ARVN and US Army stayed inside that school. On the other side of river is Đông Ba market and the Citadel was controlled by VC. Some tanks M50 Ontos stayed on the bank of river rained down on the VC side during 28 days Huế was sieged by VC to stop them crossing the river. Thank you very much for great video reminding me about those days and/ with the so effective light tank M50 Ontos much helped our solders in the battle field in the past. Your pronunciation of Hue is so great like US leather neck in those days. I'm one of refugees rescued by Marines, an eyewitness of the scene in your video. Thank you again.

"Did he fire 6 shots or only 5?"

This past summer, when my Dad passed away, we discovered that one of the internet passwords he used was “Ontos”. Being a former Marine myself and having heard all his stories, I knew exactly what it referred to. He was an 0849, Shore Fire Control Partyman, during the early to mid ‘60’s and served in Chu Lai ‘65-66. His job was to call in naval gunfire, but he must have been taken by the sight of these unusual vehicles.

When I visited Hue, the guide a veteran, who had been on the receiving end. Told me 2 things 1 they underestimated it effectiveness. 2 once they understood what it can do, they avoided it. He told me when fighting in that citadel, 2 ontos come up firing at the fortification he and comrades were in. Because he was the ammo carrier and just behind the building he survived. Those walls were thick masonry.

A N G E R Y T R I A N G L E

During the battle of Hue the back blast from the Ontos recoilless rifles was used to create dust cloud cover that allowed Marines to cross streets out of view of the enemy.

My dad crewed an Ontos while in Vietnam in 1965-1966. He has always spoken highly of it, and when we went to see one at the National museum of the Marine Corps in 2015, another Marine thanked him for saving his ass. They were a small, but vicious machine.

I LOVED the M50 ONTOS, and Recoilless Rifles in General, along with the M42 Duster (Twin 40mm Bofors), that I escorted to Vietnam. It was also a great Infantry weapon, as a scarey alternative to smoke and marines charging. Both exposed the reloader / gunner to local fire, but with an infantry squad to support them, they brought a big shell to infantry.

My grandpa was on an Ontos crew in Vietnam in '69. It became obsolete while he was there and he was moved to an infantry unit, glad to learn more about it.

8:43 so we're all going to pretend like we didn't just see a recoilless rifle duct tape to the roof of a hovercraft?

I was a Canadian Army reservist in the early 80s, and was trained on the M40A1, the single barrel Jeep mounted version.....one going off is deafening, 6 is unimaginable......EDIT we had HEAT-T and HEP-T (high explosive plastic-tracer) we could reliably hit targets out to 1300m. No KE rounds, but a round with 10lbs of COMP-B moving at 1600 fps make 113s dance....with regard to tracer burnout at 1km +/-, the T48 spotting round had a white smoke burst function, very easy to see

My grandfather (Marine, got out just before 'Nam) told me they'd aim at a hill with the following dialogue: "That hill offends me, remove it." Then said hill would cease to exist.

"how many guns do we put on this thing?" "Yes"

My father was a crew member of an Ontos during Vietnam war. Probably saved his life and kept him away from the main fighting as the tanks weren't used as much as the 3 previous wars,except mainly for urban warfare. He mostly was stationed in defensive means. Probably, resulting in me being able to type this today. I actually have his training manuals and notes from Ontos school, as he has since passed. Tank crews, regardless of war and kit, are a rare breed and unique community.

Chatted with a couple Vietnam vets few years ago. One was a Gunner for this, other was a maintainer for them. These things were bread and butter and A-10 Warthog levels of fame and high demand on the ground with the infantry. They were crap for taking fire, but they could dish it out against opposing unarmored and entrenched infantry. They described it as the ideal weapon: simple, direct, effective, reliable.

I had the rare pleasure of restoring one of these bad boys to its former glory while volunteering at a museum but it had the later Chrysler v8 engine mod installed and it was a fast and very agile. Had alot of fun on that project.

FYI, if you're referring to the city of Hue in Vietnam, it's actually pronounced more like Way.

Sadly, a friend of mine who crewed one of these in the early 60's died last August and he can't comment. He told me his job was sighting the .50 spotter round.

Nobody: America: Aight hear me out, how about PORTABLE ARTILLERY BATTERY

Mat the Ontos is my favorite unit. In Nam they load up anti-personnel and support us.

This thing looks like something from warhammer 40k, or battletech.

Another military vehicle overview by Matsimus? Oh yes please.

"He's out, right?" *Nods *Gets up to fire back,gets fired upon, gets down "Where did you learn how to count?"

My old man fought in one of these. He loved the thing

Bro you have no idea how long I've been looking for a decent vid about this badass thing. Thanks!

I was a Marine platoon commander in Vietnam 1968-69 and we had both tripod mounted 106 RR Rifles and the Ontos. We didn't see much of the Ontos because we operated mainly in the rice paddy fields, valleys and mountains. The tripod mounted 106 and the Ontos were part of the battalion's cantonment defense, The battalion HQ was in the middle of nowhere protected by a three sided berm which had trenches along the top, bunkers on each corner, machine gun position and a tripod mounted 106 on each side of the perimeter. The Ontos was used in reserve in the event the enemy breached our perimeter. Of course outside of the perimeter were mines, crazy wire, and foo gas as well. As a platoon commander, my platoon was out in the field more than 90% of the time. There were only two or three times during the year that we were brought back to battalion for three days to rest and get some replacements. It was also a time to have a warm beer and some hot chow. As a side note, my body was so use to eating C-Rations, that the hot chow was just too rich and made me sick, so I ate C-Ration while at the battalion. So, what's the point? Well, when my platoon was brought back to the battalion for rest, we were required to augment the battalion perimeter. Two squads spent the night on the perimeter and one squad was in reserve as part of the reaction force. So we didn't get much rest and the only reason my Marines wanted the three days at battalion was for the beer. Anyway, one night the Viet Cong tried to overrun our battalion. When the firing began I could tell all Hell had broken lose and so a was making my way to my platoon's sector of responsibility when I unknowingly passed behind a 106 that fired a round. The back blast was terrific and it picked up sand and rocks that hit me like a shotgun blast. It knocked me several feet down the berm but I thought I was OK and made my way to my platoon to direct their fires. The Viet Cong were good fighters and they managed to penetrate the battalion for about a minute before being driven back. In the morning, my right side was red raw like I'd been sand blasted with large bruises where the rocks hit me. Just underscoring Matismus' warning that it would be dangerous to be behind the 106 when if fired. I loved the 106. It had a flechette round that was filled with hundreds of small metal darts, each about the size of you little finger. It was the ultimate shotgun against lots of attacking enemy. The next morning we were tasked to patrol outside the lines to recover the dead. Several of the dead were nailed to trees by the flechettes. Personally, I think there is still a place in the Marine Corps for a 106. Compared to the missiles they are using for bunker busters it's a very inexpensive round and it can be used against bunkers, light armor, and personnel. The big drawback is once it's fired, all of the dust and smoke it kicks up gives the position away. But in places like Afghanistan where Marines are in small outposts, 106 will clear a path through the attacking force. Maybe I'm just Old Corps, but I loved the 106.

Dude, I've been on the receiving end of the 75mm recoilless. They're nothing to sneeze at.

"you only know it if you played games" I am so old I have seen these at militaryy demonstration

9:35 "Marines are simple and need simple weapons, give them crayons and they'll give you a dead target" is what I heard.

The Ontos was history by the time I entered the Marine Corps in 1980. I was instead on the LVT7s - Landing Vehicle Tracked ver. 7 (now called AAVs - Amphibious Assault Vehicles) and we made amphibious beach landings. The Ontos was still highly spoken of in the Marine Corps at that time as many of the senior NCOs had served in Vietnam and were well familiar with their firepower.

Well, we are into the light tank discussion - never ending. It would like to refer you to the Saracen - series from Alvis. If they got up against a real tank they were toast. But what is often forgotten is that the RAF regiments used them to good effect to guard air stations. Airfields, Air Stations, Bridges etc. are prime targets for airborne troops. Such troops do not have heavy armour in their knapsack because they rely on element of surprice and speed. The other application of light troops and their speed is as reinforcements fighting from prepared positions - which of course demands some heavy staff work predicting where the nasty enemy is able to come. But given that: The protection from prepared positions is quite cheap and basically is a lot of earth mounds. The real deterrence is that such light forces can be placed before the nasty enemy has his tanks fuelled and tracks tensioned etc. Some years ago the russians were once again being nasty to the estonians and a flight of danish F-16 was scheduled to contribute to the air policing in about 3 weeks time. What our PM at the time did was to put a proposal to parliament that the stationing of the F-16's was to be moved forward 3 weeks - i.e. send them in right NOW. The bill passed with overwhelming majority, and as soon as the gavil came down the planes picked up their wheels and headed out. The result was a tremendeous relief in Estonia - and the russians backed down - on that occation. One should remember the German offensive in the Ardennes around X-mas 1944. The line was held by a very thin line indeed. The Germans ran out of ooumph - partly because they had no supplies - partly because even if they had had, they would not have been able to conceal the attack. Now: I still don't believe in airborne tanks dropped by parachute (generally leads to an immediate maintainance requirement); but if you have the transport capacity you could fly light forces in and let them move under their own steam. The point being: The transports will have other tasks; but there would be a "window of opportunity" of about 48 hours where they can land (on an airfield) about a BTN of light forces - with enough firepower to demand some reconsideration of plans from the enemy. In the mean time the other troops would gain time to gather their shit and fly in.

Every Marine is a rifleman, even the tanks, they just recoilless.

Reminds of the German Weisel. I love those damn things, and I really wish that the US still fielded something of this sort.

I was a platoon voice radio operator for a USMC Ontos platoon (3rd Platoon, 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marines). We landed in country May 18th of '65. We were one of the first units to see combat and participated in Operation Starlight early in the war. Other search and destroy operations followed. My responsibility was to maintain communications and radio equipment in every vehicle. I was cross trained as a crewman. The year of service was 1965 and the location was Chu Lai SVN. Our main mission was to support infantry with direct fire. The light Ontos could traverse terrain tanks could not. We were loved by the Grunts and feared by the VC. Firepower of this vehicle was awesome and very effective! Thank you for this video. Few examples this comprehensive exist.

Nicely Done. I wrote an article about the Ontos a couple years ago and the old Ontos guys came out of the woodwork. It's a weapon that needs to be remembered

I seem to recall the main protection of the M50 was its size, manuverability, and speed. The idea against armor, was to shoot and scoot.

IS 3s be like.. HA IM IN DANGER

I’ve been aware of the Ontos since I was a kid in the early 70’s. We actually had “books” in our library at “school” and they showed “such horrible things of war”

As a Mortarman (81mm L16A1) in an Infantry Support Company we worked closely with The Anti-Armour Platoon, who at that time was equipped with the M40 Recoilless Rifle as primary weapon and the M2 MRAAW Carl Gustav 84mm as secondary. So was fortunate to train on these systems too. As staunch friends and rivals in our Company. Thanks for sharing these vids, they are appreciated and have an awesome week

I was always interested in the Ontos. Thanks for putting your spotlight on this little monster.

How many recoilless rifles do you want? :Yes

A weird concept but it seemed to fill some unforeseen niches. The marines loved them in Vietnam. It was a great bunker buster.

Around 1980, the North Carolina Forest Service converted an ONTOS to a water tanker. The body was removed, a 500 gallon water tank added, and a heavy roll bar with wire mesh was added. It did not work well on actual forest fires, but was used as a water source on controlled burns. I was a patrol pilot for the NC Forest Service flying an L-19 Birddog at the time. During controlled burns, I would sometimes drive the ONTOS. It was a lot of fun to drive. Light weight and very responsive. One time, another driver got it stuck trying to cross a steep creek bed near the fire. We had to use the water in the tank to keep the fire away from the ONTOS until a bulldover could pull it out.

The USMC operation during Tet '68 was in the city of Hue, pronounced "h-way".

my dad loved the ontos. they had them at chu lai.

Thank you, brings back memories of the 1/32 Renwal kit. Revell repopped the kit after they bought the molds. There was an earlier 105mm recoilless rifle but with a more massive breech. When it was redesigned with the more smaller breech, the ammunition was also modified, so the later rounds were re-designated 106mm to prevent mix-up. The last M50s were stationed at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba for a few years after being withdrawn from from all other units. As you mentioned, there has been talk that after the Marines left SVN, some M50s left behind were used by the US Army infantry Brigade that took over the area, but confirmation is elusive.

Having being assigned to the MOS of 0351 (anti-tank assault), I got the privilege of becoming quite proficient in the use of the 106 recoilless rifle. But before I even finished training, I had heard about the Ontos and it's shortcomings. To me, the jeep mounted or mechanical mule mounted 106 was much more practical. With all three, the crew were vulnerable to small arms fire and all had their advantages as well. The mechanical mule and jeep mounted were much easier to conceal but unless they were working in groups of 2 or more, you were left with a single round and what seemed to be forever to reload (when under fire from the enemy) before being able to fire again. At least with all three, you could shoot and scoot, which was a lot better than a stationary tripod mounted 106. Myself, I was kinda glad that I was mainly involved with my secondary MOS, which was in mines and booby traps. Set them up and get the hell away from there. Just another tid bit of information. My trainer on the 106 served 2 tours in Vietnam and had 3 confirmed kills with the .50 cal. spotting rifle mounted on the 106. One was at around 900 yds. which isn't bad considering the sighting mechanism on the 106. (U.S. Marines 70-76)

When you want a revolver that kills tanks.

This tank looks like it was based off the imagination of a 10 year old.

My father was an Ontos Commander (gunner). He was with the 1st Anti-tank Division. He and his Ontos led the first relief convoy into Hue during the Tet Offensive. It was there he got paired up with an M48 and engaged the VC in buildings. While the fully armored M48 could stay in place, my Dad had to get behind a wall for cover to allow his loader to reload the rifles, then pull up next to the tank to shoot again. There’s an old CBS wartime documentary of this happening that Dad and I watched on TV where he shouted “ Hey that’s my Ontos!”. I’ve been searching for that clip ever since.

I was in the Navy, and I knew a lot of Marines who had already been to Vietnam, done that. They liked this thing for perimeter defense. They told me that the perimeter was quad-fifty, Ontos, tank. (Rinse and repeat.) Plus the line of Marines, that would be a lot of lead in the air.

Imagine these things with either a battery of TOWs, javelins, or even some stingers? Oh! Maybe add that tri barreled, .50 cal Gatling gun at the center for good measure.

My grandfather operated the m40 during his time in the army, though his was attached to a Jeep and not a cool tracked vehicle though.

One of these was on display as a gate guardian at the main gate to the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center at 29 Palms when I was stationed there as a Ground Radio Repair Course student in 1988-1990. I hope I still have the pic I had a fellow Marine take of me sitting on it right between the barrel clusters..! 😎

An uncle of mine was a marine stationed at Khe Sanh during the entire siege. He told me about these vehicles, he said the NVA never attacked the part of the perimeter being defended by one of these, they were loaded with canister rounds.

The Viet Cong HATED the M-50. When it came up to the line, Charles knew he was done,

Love the Ontos!

My father arrived as a Marine in country in Vietnam in 68, about 2 months after the Tet Offensive. He was assigned to 4th Combined Action Group in Quang Tri city. They had a Marine armor unit up the road from them that had several M50 Ontos. The Ontos was always in great demand for fire support and earned the nickname "The Thing with the Sting." He said nothing could clear a section of jungle like one of those carrying cannister rounds. The 106mm recoilless rifle, in general, was sought after and used to great effect by Marine Corps units for fire support. Frequently mounted on jeeps, or even the M247 military mule, Marines used them to great effect for reducing hard-points, and in the anti-personnel role. I saw my first one as a young Marine assigned to MCAGCC 29 Palms back in 1990. They had one on permanent display on the main road near the PMO. I thought the thing was neat as hell and that's what prompted me to mention it to my father. I just couldn't get over how small they actually were compared to other armored vehicles.

I joined the U.S.M.C. in may 1959, after boot camp I was sent to an antitank battalion which had one 106 mounted on a mule, shipped out to Okinawa and we had a 106 mounted on Jeeps, 1962 I rotated back state-side and was put into another anti-tank unit and we had the M50 Ontos, as per Marines way of doing things I would be trained as a Driver, Gunner and also Tank commander. They were dirty and hard work to maintain but were sure fun to drive and play with.

Welcome back matt hope the hols went great

Interesting stuff and video on one of my personal favorite vehicles/weapons. Oddly this vehicle could be considered to be the 'real world' test of the ultra-light/fast armored concept originally envisioned by people like Walter Christie and showed while the concept had some merit there were also a LOT of problems with having fast but lightly armored vehicles with heavy armor killing weapons on the battle field. I don't know if you cover it or knew about it on your other recoiless weapon videos but I often wonder why the RR autoloader's that were developed were never tried on a vehicle like the M50

I was in Ontos from 1964 until it was closed down 1969 Vietnam and closed down 2nd Antitank Battalion CLNC in 1970 . I was in the first Ontos unit that went into Vietnam on March 8th 1965, 9th Marine Expeditionary Brigade, I was eighteen. We were used in support 3rd Battalion 9th Marines. I extended 6 Months while there. Upon returning to stateside I was stationed at Camp Delmar, CA and was an instructor in Ontos. In 1969 I was sent back to Vietnam to Ontos but was in the Unit 1 month to close them out. I was then transferred to 3rd Battalion 5th Marines, a new experience being a grunt and in the in the bush/jungle/mountains for the next 12 months.

It helped us in certain situations in country back in '67 - '68

x6 106mm recoiless rifles loaded with HE firing at the same time is a lot of firepower.

The Bazooka TANK IT IS

Since you hearted my comment, Matsimus, I feel like I should elaborate. So here we go. In 1967 I was shipped, free of charge, thanks to the United States Air Force, to Vietnam, to make new friends, you know. Well I spent my first two months at Tan Son Nhut AFB, then was sent up country to a little F-100 base they were building called Phu Cat. It was a charming little place with the village of Phu Cat right outside the main gate. I worked as a Life Support Specialist, and as part of my job, I had to ferry the the pilots from our shop to their aircraft on the flightline. One of the perks of the job was that I got the use of the International Harvester step van after hours, so I was the only Airman 2nd class to have his own wheels when everybody else had to walk, so I was kinda popular cuz I gave rides to the other troops. Anyway, I needed extra money to go on R&R to Hawaii to see my wife, so I took a part time job running the movie projector at the little outdoor theater that had a screen and a stage in front of it. (I know I'm taking the long way around, but stick with me) It wasn't long after I arrived that we had our first artillery attack. Always at night.,.....First you heard a boom from the direction of the flightline, then the siren would start wailing,(yeah, it sounds just like in the movies) Everybody would pile out of their bunks, in their underwear, grab their helmets and flak jackets, and in an orderly fashion, (yeah, right) run out to the bomb proofs, at least that's what they were called. Picture a bunch of guys hunkered on the dirt floor, blinking at each other in the dark like some kind of cartoon, while listening to the wailing siren and muffled explosions. Fun, right? Ok,then. One night I was in the projector booth (on stilts, 6 feet in the air) getting ready to start the movie, (Audie Murphy in "The Texican"), when,...BAM!! We were a lot closer to the flightline, so it was a lot louder. Everybody jumped up and looked for a place to get cover. Our leaders in their infinite wisdom didn't think we needed a shelter at the theater where a few dozen people would gather every night, in front of a big, brightly lit screen showing movies, so the only choice was the shallow ditch alongside the road. The road made a 90 degree bend right there so there was a concrete water catch basin about 5ft. square. That's where I headed for. Me and six other guys. Got kinda crowded in there. We just tried to get our heads down as low as possible. We could hear the soft whirring sound of the shells going over our heads. It seems that night Charlie targeted the barracks. It figures that I picked that night to leave the van parked under a tree outside my barracks. When it was all over we all crawled out and checked for damages. Amazingly no one was killed, but they had a lot of sprained ankles. When it started, I dove out of the projection booth and as I started to run, I realized that the movie was still playing!! Should I go back and shut it off??,....Hell no! So, I'm walking around and I see some guys with flashlight shining on the screen and the movie is off. Did some idiot go up there and shut it off? I joined the flashlight guys and saw that the screen (plywood) was perforated like from a big, (really big) shotgun, and the stage had a hole about 2ft. in diameter in it. Feeling a little rattled, I walked back to the Barracks, and that's when the War became personal to me, because there under the tree where I left her was my beloved van. A shell had landed right in front of her and blew all the glass out as well as sending pieces of shrapnel through the radiator, and THE ENGINE BLOCK!!,....the horror, the horror. The next morning I went back to the theater with the EOD (bomb disposal) guys, and we crawled under the stage. He said it was safe. He dug around in the small crater left by the shell, "Yup, 75mm recoilless", he tells me in a very serious voice, then pulls up the exploded detinator and hands it to me. "Here, a souvenir".. It turns out that the shell hit the stage and blew up underneath it. At the same time it severed the powerline going to the projection booth. Since the first row of benches were only about 15ft. from the stage, it was a miracle that it hit where it did, and the stage absorbed the explosion, and saved a lot of lives that day. Well, that's my story. I know it's not "Platoon", or anything like that, but it's mine, and every word is true. I hope someone enjoys it, and if you don't, well,....ppfffffffttt!!!!! 🤐😜 Peace.

You covered all the features and limitations quite well. As a pre-teen in the early 1960s I had a plastic model of the Ontos but I forget which company manufactured it. The model was quite well done and included some of the interior and openable hatches and back doors.

They used these recoiless rifle weapons in Vietnam.

Back when the Gunny was doing Mail Call on the History Channel, I got him to do a segment on the Ontos

I think the Ontos has a psychological factor to it. For anyone who knows it's weakness, it shouldn't be a tough opponent if it's not behind a fortified position. Just nail it with fire. But for the common soldier seeing this thing with 6 cannons strapped to it that can fire immediately. I think it's intimidating.

I can remember seeing plastic scale models of the Ontos at the local hobby shop back in the 1950s.

I first learned about Ontos from Battletech, which had a tank by the same name.

8:34 hol up is dat a Recoiless Rifle mounted on top of a hovercraft??

Honestly, this would be the perfect platform for an AI controlled(but remote fired) ground vehicle. As the war against ISIS had shown, old Vietnam era recoiless rifles were very affective on a modern battlefield. Attach one of these to a unit, and it's like gaining a field gun detachment. While we're at it, we could even make a smaller one for urban warfare(say, the size of a large bomb disposal bot), armed with 4-6 Gustavs.

One of these things saved my friend's life in vietnam. The ontos rolled up and just leveled a building full of enemy soldiers that had my friend pinned down. he told me marines loved that tank, and it would demolish anything it hit.

The M40 recoilless rifles mounted on jeeps were far more versatile. Being dis-mountable and easier to conceal. Of course once fired it was game over. In British service equivalent was the BAT recoilless rifles, BAT, MOBAT and WOMBAT. The back-blast was so ferocious and location revealing. That the troops called them the VC guns. Because the Victoria Cross medal for the most part, is awarded posthumously. Get it?

11:44 That is a great Image, Photographer must have filled his Boots

Love those things. My dad was a USMC grunt in Vietnam. He told me they were useful as hell. We need something equivalent today to be honest.

My eldest brother was a Marine in Vietnam riding on the outside of one of these when it was destroyed by an RPG. He survived the attack and is still living to this day.

amazing stuff

I always did like the m106 especially on a Jeep, good for infantry support.

My Uncle spoke very highly of the Ontos when he was in Vietnam in the Marines from 1968-1969. He drove an M62 wrecker and there were two Ontos in the column that would go from Da Nang to Dong Ha. He said it was something to watch the Ontos swing around and open up. The only drawback was having to get out of it to reload the recoiless rifles. They were great against enemy bunkers and emplacements especially when they couldn't get a heavier tank in.

(I had a Driver who used to be a 106-gunner, when Inf Bns had Anti-Tk Pls [mounted on short-wheel base land-rovers]... Deaf as a post, he was!)

Nice. Been waiting for another equip teardown from you

I remember this tank from Conflict: Vietnam! When I first saw it in game and got to use it, I was like "Wtf kinda tank is this? I'll use it anyways." Lol good times. Miss that game dearly.

This tank is recommended by Astra Militarum Steel Legion

8:06 That is true. But, they are most likely replaced with laser range finders at this point.

Shoutout to Allis Chalmers, a tractor company....that also made these freakish things. They also helped make machinery to build *the bomb.* Aaaand superchargers to help military piston aircraft fly higher and higher. How humble.

I was in G Co 2/2 from '63-'65. We had a class on the Ontos. The things were amazingly small. The instructor told us they would fire only one rifle at a time; if they fired all six simultaneously, something would break. We were out on a field exercise on Vieques one day and were "ambushed" by one.

Hue, ive always heard it said like "way"

I would be interested to see the reloading drills being conducted by the crew.

I was at the national Marine Corps Museum in Virginia, back in 2017. I saw this vehicle or variant. My brother-in-law, a Lieutenant Colonel in the Army, thought it was a horrible design because once you fire all the tubes, it is difficult to reload fast. Myself, a Disabled OIF Marine Veteran with the highest rank of Corporal, thought this was great. First off, it has very fast mobility, so it can get in and out with some speed. Secondly, you have 6 shots, 1 shot could be effective to disable or kill a tank. Thirdly, the amount of crew needed to operate is low. Fourthly, the cost to produce one is greatly less than what they kill. We left that day with our own opinions to ourselves, with neither side changing opinion. But, I see so many pros for what it is. It isn't a tank, it isn't artillery. It is a tank killer. It is essentially, 6 AT-4s on wheels(tracks). If we can learn from history, the panzerschreck was successful, this is just an advanced version of that. What do ya'll think? P.S. His background is logistics, mine is Assault Amphibious Vehicles and MRAPs. He lived the life of luxury, I lived the front lines.

My father was in the Korean war as a Marine Tanker. He never told me about what happened in Korea and my mom said it was too terrible for him to discuss. He did tell me all about his three tours in Vietnam and at the end of his Tanker career in the Marines was as a crewmember in an M50 Ontos. He changed his MOS and became a Marine Photographer. He flew in the back of a TA-4 and filmed the lead TA-4 with the Spotter for a Battleship get it in the tail section, eject and get picked up by a 500 series ship. I've got that film and wished I could get it on DVD, but I think I'm well too late for that.

This is the best Ontos video ever! And I loved the Ontos since building the Renwal kit 50 years ago. fireballmike1 has an interesting short story about his Ontos experience.

I love how it looks like something the Imperial Guard or Orks from Warhammer 40k would use.