M48A3 outside of Vietnam

[flyinghorse]

Building an M48a3 in 1/35 scale. Does anyone know if tge M48a3 served anywhere other than Vietnam? I have only seen photographs of this variant in Vietnam. Did it serve anywhere else or was this variant only made for service in Vietnam? Any info or photos are helpful, thank you  

[Kingsman]

M48A3 was accepted for service in 1958 and new production ceased in 1961, although some conversions may have carried on beyond this date.  It was withdrawn from Europe in 1961 but continued in Army and USMC service until 1973 and served on with some National Guard units until 1979 - although from 1975 they were further converted into M48A5s and served until 1987. 

 

More than 600 M48s went to Vietnam, although they were initially A2s: don't know how many were A3s.  About 120 were lost in US service.  About 320 surviving A3s sent to Vietnam were transferred to South Vietnam and all were eventually lost.  About 30 were captured by NVA and used briefly: no spares or ammunition.

 

So it seems inevitable that M48A3 will have served with US Army and USMC units in Germany and the USA, possibly South Korea.  But these were non-operational essentially peacetime deployments.  Vietnam was the M48's only shooting war in US service.  Then there is SVA service in Vietnam.

 

There were many export users of M48s but who had which variant is confusing.  Some certainly had A3s and/or A5s.  Combat use by other nations would mostly be in the Middle East.

 

The configuration of M48A3s varied as they were a mixture of new-build and conversion of A2s and A1s, so you might need to do some digging around on this.  Copying an example is always good.

[flyinghorse]

16 hours ago, Das Abteilung said:

M48A3 was accepted for service in 1958 and new production ceased in 1961, although some conversions may have carried on beyond this date.  It was withdrawn from Europe in 1961 but continued in Army and USMC service until 1973 and served on with some National Guard units until 1979 - although from 1975 they were further converted into M48A5s and served until 1987. 

 

More than 600 M48s went to Vietnam, although they were initially A2s: don't know how many were A3s.  About 120 were lost in US service.  About 320 surviving A3s sent to Vietnam were transferred to South Vietnam and all were eventually lost.  About 30 were captured by NVA and used briefly: no spares or ammunition.

 

So it seems inevitable that M48A3 will have served with US Army and USMC units in Germany and the USA, possibly South Korea.  But these were non-operational essentially peacetime deployments.  Vietnam was the M48's only shooting war in US service.  Then there is SVA service in Vietnam.

 

There were many export users of M48s but who had which variant is confusing.  Some certainly had A3s and/or A5s.  Combat use by other nations would mostly be in the Middle East.

 

The configuration of M48A3s varied as they were a mixture of new-build and conversion of A2s and A1s, so you might need to do some digging around on this.  Copying an example is always good.

Thanks, I appreciate the info. I was interested in modelling a U.S. M48A3 serving in post-war S. Korea during the 1960's but there are more photos of the tanks service in Vietnam, so digging up markings info will be tough. Thanks again.