M50/M50A1 Ontos by David Doyle

M50/M50A1 Ontos by David Doyle

Designed to counter the threat of a massed Soviet armored assault, the M50 Ontos showed its merit in the jungles and streets of Vietnam. Ontos grew out of Project Vista, the secret study of possible improvements to NATO defenses. Project Vista identified the need for an inexpensive, heavily armed something to thwart waves of Soviet armor. Armed with six powerful recoilless rifles, the diminutive M50 was given the name Ontos, an Army mistranslation of Greek for the Thing. Initially, the Army felt that the Allis-Chalmers T165E1 (later standardized as the M50) was the thing to fill the recommendation of Project Vista. Ultimately, and after some controversy, the Army lost interest in the vehicle, but the United States Marine Corps believed in the vehicle and in 1955 the M50 entered production. While the Corps first used the Ontos in Santo Domingo in 1965, it would rise to fame in Vietnam, where the M50, as well as the modernized M50A1, saw considerable use as antipersonnel weapons and in perimeter defense. On the streets of Hue, Marines made considerable use of the Ontos, blasting open walls and using antipersonnel rounds to create faux smoke screens. Over 270 photos, many in color, chronicle the development, production, combat use, and details of this famed vehicle and the men who used them.

Since 1999, David Doyle has written over 200 published books, and the range of topics has expanded to include warships and combat aircraft. These books have ranged in size from 56 pages to large works approaching 1,000 pages.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780764365126
ISBN 10	0764365126
Title	M50/M50A1 Ontos
Author	David Doyle
Series	Legends Of Warfare: Ground
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Schiffer Publishing Ltd
Year published	2022-12-20
Number of pages	128
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.