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Posted

During one of our email exchanges, Tom "mohawkALSE" Steponaitis asked me if I had a TOW Tube Survival Kit. I told him I did, and I would do a post on it one day. Tom, this one is for you.

 

The AH-1 Cobra had very limited space so when the Army adopted the Aircraft Modular Survival System (AMSS) the Cobra survival kit was packed into an expended TOW missile tube. The suggested mounting point was on the right wing upper, outboard, launcher position. The expended TOW tube was cleaned to remove any residue from firing. The wire bundle remains were removed and the voids filled with epoxy filler and smoothed to prevent tearing the equipment bags when they were pushed down into the tube or removed from it. The Marmon clamp was saved from the forward carrying ring. A small hole was drilled in the quick release handle for a safety wire. Two metal discs were fabricated out of aluminum and painted black to be used as caps for the tube. The aft cap was sealed with a bead of silicone and held in place with the rear Marmon clamp and the front disc was held in place with the oner-center quick release Marmon clamp and sealed with a piece of safety wire.

 

After cleaning, the tube was repainted OD Green and stenciled with "SURVIVAL KIT", "INSPECTION DATE", and the "WEIGHT" of the kit.

 

The minimum kit components were 2-TOW Tube Equipment Bags, 4-Chemical Lights, 24-Emergency Water Packets, 6-Survival Food Packets, 2-Tents, 4-Smoke and Illuminating Flares, Firestarter, Survival Manual, Match Container, Fuel Siphon, Pocket Stove, and Light Marker, Distress with 3 Batteries. If the flight was in excess of 30 minutes flying time or 100 nautical miles from the nearest shoreline, a Mechanical Reverse Osmosis Device (MROD-06) was added. The MROD was used to remove salt from sea water to produce drinking water. The components were vacuum sealed.

 

The two equipment bags were clipped together with a carabiner to facilitate removing them from the tube.

 

The TOW tube has an inside diameter of about 6" and is 48" long. Packing all the components in the space was more of an art than a science.

 

                                                                                                                                            TOW Tube

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                                                       Front and Rear Marmon Clamps

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DSCN4448(2).JPG.edce34436aa5bb3dc266a3a3293cfae3.JPGDSCN4453(2).JPG.d5bf676099694c9daf7c6ad1e480f319.JPG

                                                                                               

                                                                                                 Components

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I have seen 5 different styles of TOW Tube Equipment Bags. Two have information printed on them and the others don't. It is possible one was a unit made item. The top bag has information printed on it and it is made of a light cotton material with a YKK zipper. This is likely one of the first equipment bag manufactured as it has a 1994 contract date on it. The next bag also has information printed on it. It is made of Cordura nylon with a metal zipper. This is likely one of the last bags made as it has a 2011 contract date on it. The next two bags are made of Cordura nylon with YKK zippers. The only difference I can see is the webbing. One has solid green webbing and the other has a red tracer down the middle of the webbing. There is nothing printed on these bags. The last bag is possibly unit made. It is made of heavy OD green canvas and had a metal zipper. There is nothing printed on this bag.  Both bags with information on them have an adjustable carrying strap. All the other bags have a fixed length of webbing.

DSCN4457(2).JPG.2e2c6d3b67dac1a9c7479d47e06df1b4.JPG

 

                                                                                                                                                 1994 Contract BagDSCN4459(2).JPG.d1e7c9c9061208cdda60d52fcb06f01e.JPG

 

                                                                                                                                             2011 Contract Bag

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Posted

Awesome ! Thanks. Does the Apache utilize something similar ?

Posted

The Apache has a dedicated compartment for the survival kit, so no. The Cobra was the only thing that used a TOW tube.

  • 2 months later...
Posted

Very cool! I have a couple of those Pyro signals and a similar bag to those. Though I believe mine is a different material. But still stenciled with AH-1(?) Survival kit. Never knew why it was long and skinny. Now I wish I had more of them!

Posted

Post a few pictures of your bag when you can!

Posted

Here are the pics of my bag. Hopefully you can confirm that it is a tow survival kit. Definitely marked AH-1 survival kit. The camo makes it real hard to read the marking but I could figure them out if I sat down with it for a bit. Wish I had more of them. I've been using it as a rope bag for climbing gear(just storage, haven't been climbing with it). Not sure what the camo pattern is. Sure is unique

 

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Posted

Also, your green canvas bag looks a lot like some tool bags we used for line maintenance when I was still working in army aviation. We liked to use those longer bags when we had to carry a torque wrench or other long tools out to the flight line. Makes me wonder if we were using old survival kits or if you may have possibly  misidentified it

Posted

Your camo bag is indeed an AH-1 TOW Tube survival kit bag! It looks like it has a 1997 contract date. It is an odd variant of a Woodland Camo pattern.

 

My OD bag is a TOW Tube Survival Kit bag.

 

If the bag you were using had a single zipper that ran the length of the top, and had carrying handles, then you were using a tool bag, like the one shown below. If the bag had a zipper that went part way down one side, across the top, partway down the other side with two zipper sliders, and had a shoulder strap, then it was a TOW Tube bag. 

                                                                                                                TOOL BAG

image.png.87a4fd1e61a78259b7cd533fb54f2828.png

 

                                                                                                                            TOW TUBE SURVIVAL KIT BAG

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Posted

Ah I see the straps now. I assume they are for pulling the kit out of the tube. Very cool! ALSE guys are trained to make bags from scratch, so it very well could have been a locally manufactured item to keep their aircraft airworthiness. I have some other aircraft survival kit bags if you want to see them. I have a box full of under seat/seat pan bags, mostly thick winter style with one or two thin nylon bags. They have shoulder straps to wear them like a backpack

Posted

It is kind of hard to see unless you know what you are looking for, but in the Components picture in the first post, you can see a little bit of the carabiner that connects the two TOW Tube bags together. You grab the top handle/strap on the 1st bag and the carabiner clips the second bag to that one so both bags come out without having to stick your arm down in the tube to grab for the 2nd bag. There is also a shoulder strap down the side of the TOW bag to aid in carrying it.

 

I would like to see your other bags, but rather than posting them here, please start a new thread and title it something like Army Survival Kit bags. 

  • 9 months later...
Posted

That is such an ingenious way to carry a kit. I mean I prefer having scram bags in the tail boom so as not to waste a good missile spot but make due with what you can.

Posted

True!  The TOW Tube kits were before SKRAM bags and had a lot more mandatory items.

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