Literally two of the three built for the army got destroyed by the VC, not the NVA, the damn VC, who couldn’t organize a nun shoot in a nunnery. They were RPG magnets that were woefully under-gunned, unreliable, expensive, loud, hard to refuel in the field, and being demanding to pilot, required one PACV to be set aside for training, 14 days of every month. It also required 20 hrs of maintenance for every hour of operation. Although it performed admirably when used in conjunction with air support, it was greatly outweighed by the laundry list of issues, including its surprisingly limited areas of operation due to operating poorly in the dry season. It did have radar so it could be used as a covert radar station while the engines are off.
Still an awesome idea for dealing swamp marsh. Could you imagine being a crew member, blasting through dense swamp at 60 mph blasting twin 50 cals! Monster indeed, would feel like riding an angry dragon into battle.
It has its strategic denial of operations. No one in their right mind would use the swamps to try and mount an attack with these things present. Perhaps just a show of force and heli recon would be enough to tamper any ideas.
Ou seem very well informed I wonder if you could answer a question please. If the engine was to go on one of these would it be able to be towed like a normal craft/vehicle or have to be destroyed in situ?
February 14, 1982 Hong Kong I met some UK Royal Navy and Marines. Unfortunately some crewmen had wrecked one a week prior to our arrival. Very unforgiving at high speed.
The British SRN2 was a tour de force all over the world from providing aid to Amazon dwellers to the use you see here. Plural of Hovercraft is Hovercraft. Another great vid - thanks.
I remember my Dad taking us down to the Bell lab boat slip on Fuhrmann Blvd along the shore of Lake Erie in Buffalo where they were testing the first hovercraft in the early 60s. As a kid I thought they were the coolest idea.
I heard one of them in the Philippines. Five minutes before I felt it. And ten minutes before I saw it. Right up on the beach. Of course the entire town was standing there waiting for it. They knew what was coming LONG BEFORE it was seen. Except for gunfire it's the loudest machine I've ever heard. It was pretty damn cool though.
Hovercraft are the love of my life (2nd to wife) thanks for the reminder they were around before I was! PaCV was ahead of it's time and it is sad hovercraft get bad press more than good these days (sorry clettus mfarland you are no help really)
Also watching to end - appreciate pointing out the Shortcomings of maintenance etc is well done - maybe with todays material science some of those hurdles could be overcome and bring the benefits of ACV's back - of course it might take a war???
Thanks for the video. I was aware that hovercraft had been used, but I didn't know the details. Even after the element of surprise had been lost, I would think that they might have some value as transport or rescue craft. If they only served to intimidate the enemy in clearing an area, maybe they could have been useful.
Speed, surprise and violence of action. I would think your level of surprise would be compromised but certainly speed and overwhelming violence of action were still in play
I think I've heard of these machines before but had almost forgotten till I saw this. Even now they still look pretty cool like something out of sci-fi.⚛😀
The hover craft seems like a fantastic way to get around that environment, but wouldn’t it take only a singly rifle round to pop the air cushion bubble thingy it rides on?
LCACs are SERIOUSLY different than the PACV. In the same breath though, so is the mission. Directional control: PACV - fan blowing air past a rudder LCAC - turbine exhaust jets on a 360 degree rotation pylon Footprint: PACV - 38ft10in x 23ft9in (922 1/4 sq.ft) LCAC - 87ft11in x 47ft (4127 sq.ft) Powerplant: PACV - 1x General Electric 7LM100-PJ102 turbine LCAC - 4x TF40B gas turbine engines An LCAC can approach a beach, pull onto said beach, offload, turn around in it's own footprint and go back to sea for the next load. The PACV would get swamped by most breakers, and typically needed a river outlet to get inland from the sea (When they weren't just trucked in). The PACV also has to be able to move forward to turn thanks to the fan and rudder system. LCAC is also unarmored (Read as "Extra metal wasn't added as bullet stops"), the PACV had armored crew positions.
@nunyabidness674 westpac '99 my ship had one go up on a beach in Hawaii...and wipeout a generation of sea turtles... yeah, it's totally different... Seal team, whatever lived on it... self contained and massive...
@@matthewmcneill301 at one point a group of us former ground pounders were looking into buying one for the purposes of supply deliveries during the Alaskan summer. Think "Ice Road Truckers" without the ice or trucks. We were all of 3 weeks from purchasing 3 surplus LCACs when we found out what they ACTUALLY cost to operate. Turns out there's a perfectly logical reason they aren't already in use. To hell with the fuel bill, a quarter million for a skirt every 1500-2000 hours...
The genesis of this war is often forgotten and perhaps the most shameful part The first "liberated" France invaded Indochina in 1946.Wages war until 65. FINANCED BY THE USA
US Generals: Look, I know them brits are not knows as good enginners, but this time I promise they struck gold... also, they kinda founded us, so let's just import those things.
Literally two of the three built for the army got destroyed by the VC, not the NVA, the damn VC, who couldn’t organize a nun shoot in a nunnery. They were RPG magnets that were woefully under-gunned, unreliable, expensive, loud, hard to refuel in the field, and being demanding to pilot, required one PACV to be set aside for training, 14 days of every month. It also required 20 hrs of maintenance for every hour of operation. Although it performed admirably when used in conjunction with air support, it was greatly outweighed by the laundry list of issues, including its surprisingly limited areas of operation due to operating poorly in the dry season. It did have radar so it could be used as a covert radar station while the engines are off.
Still an awesome idea for dealing swamp marsh. Could you imagine being a crew member, blasting through dense swamp at 60 mph blasting twin 50 cals! Monster indeed, would feel like riding an angry dragon into battle.
It has its strategic denial of operations. No one in their right mind would use the swamps to try and mount an attack with these things present. Perhaps just a show of force and heli recon would be enough to tamper any ideas.
You say that like the viet cong weren’t capable of doing damage……
Ou seem very well informed I wonder if you could answer a question please. If the engine was to go on one of these would it be able to be towed like a normal craft/vehicle or have to be destroyed in situ?
@@pattracey105
Yes it could be used for alittle crotch pot cookin.
February 14, 1982 Hong Kong
I met some UK Royal Navy and Marines.
Unfortunately some crewmen had wrecked one a week prior to our arrival.
Very unforgiving at high speed.
Those worked far better than I ever thought possible. On behalf of my oldest Brother who was over there on a Navy PBR, THANK YOU, Darkman! ❤🤍💙
The British SRN2 was a tour de force all over the world from providing aid to Amazon dwellers to the use you see here.
Plural of Hovercraft is Hovercraft.
Another great vid - thanks.
I want to see a 24 foot wide SUV!
So I did hear that right... Oh the Canyonero
@@hoka838212yards long and 3 lanes wide, 65 tonnes of American pride.....
@@hoka8382 That's what I was thinking!
Referring to an SUV's length, it was poorly worded
@@hello7533 Smells like a steak and seats 35!
I remember my Dad taking us down to the Bell lab boat slip on Fuhrmann Blvd along the shore of Lake Erie in Buffalo where they were testing the first hovercraft in the early 60s. As a kid I thought they were the coolest idea.
Grew up on the Westside would go to the foot of West Ferry to watch them run the river. Fastest way to the falls😂😂😂
GI Joe swears by them.
Yooooo Joe
Coolest Looking Vic Ever! With some Hueys it's like the ultimate playset!
And knowing is half the battle 😁
"The Whale" was the best thing ever..
was so awesome...doubt well see a remake, or a rerun for that matter
It’s like a hovering blitzkrieg!!
When I went to AH-1 Cobra repairers course at Ft. Eustis, there were 2-3 of them there on static display...cool seeing them in action.
Fascinating content. Thanks for the time taken to research and present this 🙏
I heard one of them in the Philippines. Five minutes before I felt it. And ten minutes before I saw it. Right up on the beach. Of course the entire town was standing there waiting for it. They knew what was coming LONG BEFORE it was seen. Except for gunfire it's the loudest machine I've ever heard. It was pretty damn cool though.
Like Hammer's Slammers. Lets see who gets that reference.
Pogs? Lol
Sadly these didn't have Fusion Bottles like Hammer's vehicles did. Nor were they part of The 1st Regiment of the Friesland Defense Force.
David Drake.
Lov3 it studied a lot on this war, but never knew thank you🙏🏻
Hovercraft are the love of my life (2nd to wife) thanks for the reminder they were around before I was! PaCV was ahead of it's time and it is sad hovercraft get bad press more than good these days (sorry clettus mfarland you are no help really)
Also watching to end - appreciate pointing out the Shortcomings of maintenance etc is well done - maybe with todays material science some of those hurdles could be overcome and bring the benefits of ACV's back - of course it might take a war???
@@FullTiltOnyou could use them in the sandbox.
Thanks for the video.
I was aware that hovercraft had been used, but I didn't know the details. Even after the element of surprise had been lost, I would think that they might have some value as transport or rescue craft. If they only served to intimidate the enemy in clearing an area, maybe they could have been useful.
Another outstanding video
I always loved to hear the LCACs operating in St Andrews Bay Panama City Beach Florida.
What year was that?
I moved to PC in the mid 90s. Lots of activity in the Bay with mine warfare training and LCACs. New ones arriving too.
Here's one operational in 2017
I posted a few other links but I don't see them showing. Oh well.
Would love to see a modern version of this...surely a cowl or NOTAR style set up would help, plus better blades and exhaust ducting.
That would be amazing to see the technology of today used to build a 21st century version.
Love this vehicle, great stuff!
DD 687 in the background. USS Uhlmann, an old Fletcher class destroyer.
This is badass, I loved the hovercraft on bf5
Speed, surprise and violence of action. I would think your level of surprise would be compromised but certainly speed and overwhelming violence of action were still in play
This is the first time I’ve heard of these PAC-V’s being used in ‘Nam,this is wild warfare at its best.
I think I've heard of these machines before but had almost forgotten till I saw this. Even now they still look pretty cool like something out of sci-fi.⚛😀
They still operate a service across the Solent to the isle of Wight
@@frostyfrost4094wow ⚛😀
what did they do when it needed to refuel away from base?
Kinda like the Argos of their time period,,the 6 wheeled ,8wheeled ATVs they still make today. Cool
Wow,good stuff, didn't know a about this,thank you
These were louder than the Heuy? Damn!
good stuff... also look the Jacky Chan movie Rumble in Bronx.. where one of these were used!!!!! :)
Why is this the first time I have ever heard of these?
The hover craft seems like a fantastic way to get around that environment, but wouldn’t it take only a singly rifle round to pop the air cushion bubble thingy it rides on?
how many people help him? does anyone actually know his name? (the person behind this and his other channels)
Who cares.😊
Robert Beltram. He was commander Chicotay on the show " Star Trek Voyager!"
Can I buy a couple dozen of these?
i need this in a video game
The plural of aircraft, aircraft and hovercraft is the same word with nothing added.
Thank you friend, it needed to be said.
And Lego!
The plural of lego is lego.
Sweet.
At last, the hovercrafts of Vietnam.
LCACS, are stil in use
LCACs are SERIOUSLY different than the PACV. In the same breath though, so is the mission.
Directional control:
PACV - fan blowing air past a rudder
LCAC - turbine exhaust jets on a 360 degree rotation pylon
Footprint:
PACV - 38ft10in x 23ft9in (922 1/4 sq.ft)
LCAC - 87ft11in x 47ft (4127 sq.ft)
Powerplant:
PACV - 1x General Electric 7LM100-PJ102 turbine
LCAC - 4x TF40B gas turbine engines
An LCAC can approach a beach, pull onto said beach, offload, turn around in it's own footprint and go back to sea for the next load. The PACV would get swamped by most breakers, and typically needed a river outlet to get inland from the sea (When they weren't just trucked in). The PACV also has to be able to move forward to turn thanks to the fan and rudder system.
LCAC is also unarmored (Read as "Extra metal wasn't added as bullet stops"), the PACV had armored crew positions.
@nunyabidness674 westpac '99 my ship had one go up on a beach in Hawaii...and wipeout a generation of sea turtles... yeah, it's totally different... Seal team, whatever lived on it... self contained and massive...
@@matthewmcneill301 at one point a group of us former ground pounders were looking into buying one for the purposes of supply deliveries during the Alaskan summer. Think "Ice Road Truckers" without the ice or trucks. We were all of 3 weeks from purchasing 3 surplus LCACs when we found out what they ACTUALLY cost to operate.
Turns out there's a perfectly logical reason they aren't already in use. To hell with the fuel bill, a quarter million for a skirt every 1500-2000 hours...
Lol!!!
LHA-5 Was 10k a yard... at sea..
Still use LCACs today.......
gunboats are well known but I had never heard of hovercrafts in Vietnam before, interesting...
The genesis of this war is often forgotten and perhaps the most shameful part
The first "liberated" France invaded Indochina in 1946.Wages war until 65. FINANCED BY THE USA
i enjoy the narrative but find i can't recall any of the facts afterwards. 🤯
Just imagine if they were armed with a pair of 40mm anti-aircraft cannons like on an M41 Duster tank, or like the chain gun on a Bradley turret.
If Elon is watching this he might build an electric one.
Four FEET above the water? Four INCHES is closer to it.
"Still, in the deep swamp of Vietnam, the hovercraft crews would face the ultimate test" *meat church music starts*
Remember kids, we were putting down a civilian uprising against a despotic US-allied dictator
I thought we were aiding a SEATO ally who was invaded by communists (much the way other free countries were invaded both before and after Vietnam).
Never seen these hover crafts used in Vietnam.
They suffered terrible losses of men and material.
GI Joe made a toy one of these i think.
I still have that toy 😂
GI Joe drove one. He was too tough to make toys.
Toy? They were deployed in many living room battles
I didn't even know there were military hovercraft... damn, thanks DD.
No wonder thay lost... 😂😂
They are still used today and are much bigger now.
@@Yumums Dank
Russia still use hovercrafts on beach assaults and they are bigger than the PAC-V’s.
These monsters would have been good on the planet Arrakis...Dune II
US Generals: Look, I know them brits are not knows as good enginners, but this time I promise they struck gold... also, they kinda founded us, so let's just import those things.
How did a hover craft explode a landmine? I'm honestly interested
The mine could have had a tilt rod .
@@ozzy7763 didn't know that was a thing, thank you
@@cmdr_ryker2083 no problem.
In what world is an SUV 24 ft wide? They're not even that long
I remember when huver crafts were the new in thing,,my Dad sold them & demoed them in the early 70s!! Lmfao,,they were a novelty, but cool too
Fast Flying Fart Cart
*Imagine a pac v with a belt fed grenade launcher*
🇺🇸
How did we lose? Oh they just shot the rubber part. Oh ok.
Who says most people dont understand wiki..
They were to loud and over engineered.
How? If you make a statement you should back it up with facts.
Would these be useful in the muddy seasons of Ukraine, where trucks and troops get bogged down?
If they can hover over sea and land, what do you think?
Honestly who gives a shit about Ukraine
Seemingly a great many people care.
@massmike11 Flags and emojis don't count.
@@Michaelfatman-xo7gv your forgetting mutable nations giving them billions in equipment and supplies. Thats more than flags and emojis
Your making it easy to justify
And that's how they won the - oops, never mind
Diesel jet fuel Uh huh
The marine corps still has bigger ones. Lcac or lcat or something there so fucking loud they hold 180 fully armed ready to eat Marines. 0311
One minute your downing a bud and smoking your pipe 30 min later your deep in the djungle wetlands
Yes but where they full of eels?
Lmfao no wonder america lost.... 😅
what i want to know is how tf they got em all the way to vietnam
nevermind chatgpt says they were shipping by Amazon
When are we going to get Russia V Ukraine hovercraft videos?
😎💚💙👍👍🍺🍺
The whole video could have been over in two minutes. More double talk than Yogi, bear.
In Vietnam was the Hook
American troops were so good in Viet Nam. So they always say. What went wrong? Why did you run?
I guess you aren't a student of history. The press turned the public against the war, and our president caved.
I have a feeling your bravery is limited to the UA-cam comment section.
Sincerely,
Son of a combat veteran.
Crazy how theses 5 foot tall 80 pound jungle sent them packing and financially bled them to defeat
Crazy how you misspelled "5 foot 10 politicians from the US handcuffed the military and caused the disaster in Vietnam..."
TWIN M2 would go from 1 side of the village to the other....nothing was safe. Thanks again JMB
All that technology and still lost
AND AMERICA STILL LOSING IN VIETNAM...LOL😂😂😂😂😂