Was The WW2 M19 Gun Motor Carriage with twin M2 40mm guns based on Chaffee Chassis effective as,?
By the time this system appeared there wasn’t much left in the air to shoot at. Combat experience at any rate would have been rather limited given the late arrival. These systems were standard issue to the anti-aircraft battalions of the infantry divisions at the outset of the Korean conflict where they were used exclusively in the ground support role. By 1953 though they had been withdrawn and replaced by M16 Half Track anti-aircraft vehicles. These latter were more effective at dealing with Chinese “human wave” attacks. The later M42 Duster used the turret of the M19 married to the mechanical components of the M41 light tank and saw fairly extensive use in the ground role in Vietnam. Here too it was later replaced by “gun trucks” carrying machine guns. This had more to do with the inefficiency of a tracked vehicle on convoy escort than it did with the performance of the guns though – which was quite good. A few weeks ago I watched a Duster on the parade ground go through its paces. I
