For many of us, Duster is associated today with the compact crossover of Renault, which is presented on the Russian market and is quite popular with car owners. Meanwhile, long before the appearance of this vehicle, the same nickname was given to the American self-propelled anti-aircraft gun, created after the end of World War II on the basis of the light tank M41 "Walker Bulldog". Built by a fairly large series of ZSUs, it was practically not used to combat low-flying air targets, but it proved to be excellent in Vietnam, where it terrified the Viet Cong.
M42 Duster from idea to implementation
In the late 1940s, the American army had a large number of combat vehicles based on the M24 Chaffee light tank, which debuted in World War II. Among them was the M19 self-propelled anti-aircraft gun, the main armament of which was a twin 40-mm installation from the Bofors guns. This unit was produced in a small series, no more than 300 ZSU. She did not take part in the hostilities of World War II, but was used by American troops during the Korean War. The fighting on the Korean Peninsula showed that the undercarriage of the M24 tank is not very reliable, so the military decided to start the process of developing a new family of military equipment based on the more advanced light tank M41 "Walker Bulldog".
The new light tank, which was originally designed to replace the Chaffee troops, was built between 1946 and 1949. Serial production of the M41 tank continued in the United States until the end of the 1950s. On the chassis of the Walker Bulldog light tank, American designers have created a number of different combat vehicles - from the 155-mm self-propelled howitzer M44, which is familiar to many fans of the World of Tanks game today, to the tracked armored personnel carrier M75, which turned out to be not the most successful vehicle, but was released in an impressive series of 1780 copies. Another development of the American military-industrial complex was the M42 Duster self-propelled anti-aircraft gun based on the Walker Bulldog tank, armed with a coaxial 40-mm artillery unit.
At first, the Americans worked out the option of creating a new ZSU, which could interact on the battlefield with a target designation vehicle equipped with a compact radar. However, the technical base of the 1950s did not allow this idea to be realized. The industry and technological base were not yet ready to create a small-sized radar that would remain operational when mounted on a tracked chassis and moving over rough terrain. As a result, priority was given to the creation of a traditional anti-aircraft system with an optical targeting system, which differed little from the combat vehicles of the Second World War.
ZSU M19
The prototype of the future ZSU received the designation T141, its testing and certification process continued in the United States until the end of 1952, and already at the end of 1953, the new self-propelled anti-aircraft gun was officially adopted by the American army under the M42 index. Over the years of serial production, which ended in 1959, the American industry handed over to the military about 3,700 of these combat vehicles, which remained in service with the army until 1969, after which they continued to serve in parts of the National Guard, where the equipment was actively used until the early 1990s. years. In the army, by the early 1970s, the installation was replaced with a more advanced M163 ZSU, the main armament of which was the 20-mm six-barreled M61 Vulcan cannon.
Design features of the ZSU M42 Duster
The new American ZSU retained the chassis from the M41 tank with a torsion bar suspension and five road wheels on each side, but the body of the combat vehicle has undergone a significant alteration. Externally, the new anti-aircraft gun was a hybrid of the Walker Bulldog light tank, on which a turret with 40-mm guns was installed from the M19 mount. The hull of the tank was seriously redone by the designers. If the rear part remained practically unchanged, then the front and middle part was significantly modified, this space was actually redesigned. Separately, it can be noted that, unlike the M19, on the new installation, the fighting compartment was placed not in the stern, but in the central part of the hull.
In front of the hull of the anti-aircraft self-propelled gun, which later received the nickname Duster, the designers placed a command compartment, which increased in volume compared to a light tank. In the ZSU, there were places for two crew members - a mechanic driver and a unit commander, the first sat on the left, the second on the right relative to the axis of the combat vehicle. The designers changed the inclination of the frontal hull sheet (reduced it), and also placed two hatches in the roof of the control compartment for the crew members to access their workplaces. At the same time, an impressive rectangular hatch appeared in the frontal part of the hull right in the center of the inclined armor plate, which became one of the distinguishing features of the combat vehicle. The main purpose of the new hatch was to load ammunition into the combat vehicle.
Light tank M41 "Walker Bulldog"
In the central part of the hull, the designers placed an open-top turret of circular rotation, borrowed from the previous ZSU M19. For this, it was necessary to seriously change the hull, since the shoulder straps of the tank turret and the turret from the ZSU M19 did not match in size. In the open turret there were seats for four crew members - the crew commander, gunner and two loaders. In the overwhelming majority of cases, the crew consisted of five, and not six people, since the duties of the crew commander were assumed by the installation commander, but there were still six crew members on the platoon commanders' cars.
The main armament of the ZSU was a twin installation of 40-mm automatic cannons M2A1, which was a licensed version of the famous Swedish anti-aircraft gun Bofors L60, which was sold around the world and is still in service with many countries. The rate of fire of the guns was 240 rounds per minute, while after 100 rounds per barrel it was ordered to stop firing, since the barrels were cooled by air. At the ends of the barrel, massive flame arresters were installed, which were dismantled at many installations that took part in the hostilities in Vietnam. The installation's ammunition consisted of 480 rounds. The reach of the guns in height was 5000 meters, when firing at ground targets - up to 9500 meters. The aiming angles of the guns are from -5 to +85 degrees. The turret could be turned both in manual mode and with the help of an electro-hydraulic drive, while the speed gain was insignificant (10.5 seconds in manual mode versus 9 seconds for a 360-degree turret rotation electrically).
The installation was driven by a Continental six-cylinder gasoline engine of the AOS-895-3 model, the same air-cooled power plant was used on the M41 Walker Bulldog light tank. Engine power of 500 hp was enough to accelerate the M42 self-propelled anti-aircraft gun weighing 22.6 tons to 72 km / h. The cruising range on the highway was 160 kilometers. The reason for not the most outstanding performance is the insufficient fuel supply, limited to only 140 gallons.
ZSU M42 Duster
Combat use of installations M42 Duster
Although the first ZSU M42 Duster began to enter the troops already in 1953, the new combat vehicle did not have time for the war in Korea. At the same time, in the American divisions, the new self-propelled anti-aircraft guns quickly replaced not only the predecessor vehicles, but also the towed versions of the 40-mm Bofors. The full-fledged combat debut of the American self-propelled anti-aircraft gun fell on the Vietnam War, where light tanks M41 "Walker Bulldog" were practically not used, but work was found for machines built on their basis.
According to the states, each mechanized and tank division of the American army included a ZSU M42 division, a total of 64 installations. Later, the divisions of these self-propelled anti-aircraft guns were introduced into the composition of the American airborne divisions. At the same time, the parachuting of the installations was not allowed, the calculation was for the delivery of heavy transport aircraft to the captured airfields. Like any other self-propelled anti-aircraft guns, the main task of the M42 Duster was to combat air targets, but in the absence of such, they were quite effective against ground targets. 40-mm automatic cannons made it possible to confidently fight against infantry, as well as enemy military equipment, including lightly armored targets.
M42 Duster in Vietnam with flame arresters removed
As you might guess, in Vietnam, the installations were not used for their intended purpose, since the Americans did not have an air enemy. True, the installations would not be able to effectively deal with modern jet aircraft of the enemy, with all their desire. By the end of the 1950s, these were obsolete vehicles, the composition of weapons, sighting devices and the fire control system of which remained at the level of technology of the Second World War. But the "Dasters", which had a high density of fire from 40-mm guns, turned out to be very useful in the defense of stationary objects from ground attacks: they were used to protect air bases, artillery strongholds, and escort military columns.
It was in Vietnam that the installations got their name Duster (raising dust). Indeed, when firing at ground targets, when the ZSU guns were located horizontally, the installation was quickly covered with a cloud of dust raised from the ground. Partly for this reason, flame arresters were dismantled from many SPAAGs in Vietnam. In addition to the fact that such an upgrade reduced dust formation during firing, it also increased the psychological effect of the impact on enemy soldiers, who dubbed the anti-aircraft self-propelled guns "Fire dragon". Indeed, only a few "Dasters" could create a wall of fire in the path of the advancing enemy infantry, turning the advancing infantry units into a bloody mess. At the same time, 40-mm shells were effective against enemy armored targets. Armor-piercing shells of the installations without any problems pierced the Soviet amphibious tanks PT-76 delivered to North Vietnam, as well as their Chinese counterparts "Type 63".
M42 Duster installation fires, Fu Tai, 1970
Realizing the futility of daytime attacks, the Viet Cong preferred to act at night, but even this did little to save them from the return fire of rapid-fire anti-aircraft guns. Especially for operations in the dark, divisions armed with the M42 Duster ZSU were equipped with two types of searchlight batteries: 23-inch and more advanced 30-inch searchlights (76 cm AN / TVS-3). These searchlights could work not only in the visible, but also in the infrared spectrum. In night mode, they worked in infrared radiation, allowing observers equipped with night vision devices to detect targets, after which the enemy was illuminated with ordinary light and became a victim of concentrated fire, from which it was almost impossible to escape. In Vietnam, the M42 Duster ZSU was used by the Americans until about 1971, after which the remaining installations began to be transferred to the South Vietnamese army as part of the policy of "Vietnamizing" the war.
