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Forums - Research / Post-WW2 |
This Post WW2 forum is intended for asking and discussing reference or historical related issues pertaining to any time after WW2 (1945+) subjects. |
| Topics | 1398 |
| Messages | 5046 |
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| Subject: | Re: Pink Panther -- Bob Lessels |  |
| Date: | Mar 16, 2005 |
| From: | Bob Lessels | |
| Yes, indeed. There was a pink colored Panther parked in what had been the old Michelin rubber plantation on the Vietnam-Cambodian border. We flew low in AC-119G Shadow gunships and the tank was a well-known landmark to ensure we were on course from Saigon to Phnom Penn. I can't say if the pink was weathered primer or if the local Cambodians had painted it (pink was a very poplular color in SEA). We never went below 1500 feet so seeing any details was impossible. I was told the French shipped a few captured late Panther G's to SEA when the Red Chinese started putting IS-2/2m tanks on their Vietnam border. The captured Panthers were about the only reliable tanks available to France in the late 40's to counter the threat. Nothing ever came of the Chinese IS-2 threat as far as I know. As for the Panthers, they were deemed too hot inside for use in SEA. We would roast in the cockpits of our planes with wind blowing in through the open doors -- so I can't imagine the heat level inside a sealed-up Panther. My horrow story deals with coming home from Nam. We left Saigon in February with the temps 120F on the runway. Landed in upstate NY in a small blizzard 30 hours later with temperatures in the minus 40 range. Thought I was gonna die walking from the plane to the terminal!! |
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 | Syrian Panther - John Griffin - Feb 17, 2005 |
| . . . Re: Syrian Panther - Ken - Feb 17, 2005 |
| . . . . . . Re: Syrian Panther - Ed Gilbert - Feb 17, 2005 |
| . . . Re: Syrian Panther - Mike McGregor - Feb 18, 2005 |
| . . . . . . Re: Syrian Panther - Jay Boorstein - Feb 20, 2005 |
| . . . . . . . . . Re: Syrian Panther - Clair Greenwood - Feb 20, 2005 |
| . . . . . . . . . . . . you can build it but... - Ed Gilbert - Mar 15, 2005 |
| . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Re: Pink Panther -- Bob Lessels - Paul A. Owen - Mar 15, 2005 |
| . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Re: Pink Panther -- Bob Lessels - Bob Lessels - Mar 16, 2005 |
| . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pink Panther -- Fact and fantasy - Guy Hubert - Mar 31, 2005 |
| . . . Re: Syrian Panther - Bob Lessels - Mar 16, 2005 |
| . . . . . . Re: Syrian Panther - Bob Lessels - Mar 16, 2005 |
| . . . . . . . . . Re: Syrian Panther - Erik Ahlstroem - Mar 16, 2005 |
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