Tankopedia
Early Cold WarLightSPAAGUnited States

M42 Duster

In service 1953 - 1988 (National Guard)

Twin 40 mm Bofors on M41 running gear, built for air defence and used in Vietnam as a devastating ground-fire weapon.

Built byGeneral Motors Cadillac Division

M42 Duster
M42 Duster, 1968 — Robert L. Drieslein Collection, Marine Corps History Division, via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 2.0

Development history

The M42 put the twin 40 mm mounting of the wartime M19 onto the M41 light tank chassis in an open-topped powered turret. Jet aircraft soon outpaced optically aimed Bofors guns and the US Army moved to missiles, but in Vietnam the Duster found a second life escorting convoys and defending firebases, where two 40 mm guns firing into treelines were worth far more than any missile. Around 3,700 were built and National Guard units kept them until 1988.

Variants

One canonical record, 2 recorded variants.

  1. M42

    1953

    Twin 40 mm Bofors on M41 running gear with petrol engine.

  2. M42A1

    1956

    Fuel-injected engine and improved electrical system.

Notable actions

  • Vietnam War
  • Convoy escort and firebase defence