A M-59 US Army field range outfit is being offered for sale on eBay.com. The seller is asking $350 with the "Buy it Now" feature. He will also entertain the best offer. Based on the description, the unit may have all the pots, pans and utensils included. However, you'll have to check with the seller to verify this.Here's the seller's description:
This is a big cook stove, or field oven, dated 1968 or so. It has the big pots in it, the big silverware, a place to put the merimite cans in the top part of it for heating them and the burner unit down below.Unless you live near the Austin, Minnesota, shipping point, shipping will add a significant amount to the purchase price.
Here's a few excerpts from the Navy Mess Management Specialist training manual:
Gasoline field range outfits are the most satisfactory appliances available for preparing meals in the field. The armed forces now use model M59. Chapter 10 of the Basic Doctrine for Army Field Feeding, FM 10-23, covers the operation of the model M59 field range. Operator, Organizational and Direct Support Maintenance Manual including Repair Parts and Special Tools List for Range Outfit Field, Gasoline, Model M59, TM 10-7360-204-13&P, covers the maintenance and repair of model M59.
One field range is adequate for 50 personnel or less. With two ranges, you can cook for 50 to 100 personnel. With three ranges, you can cook for as many as 225 people.
The gasoline field range outfit is designed to provide a complete outfit adaptable to the different requirements of field operations. The outfit consists of a cabinet with a burner unit, accessory outfit, and necessary cooking utensils. The outfit is portable and can be operated while in transit.
The range outfit can be used for boiling, roasting, frying and griddle cooking and can be adjusted to work as a bake oven. Some baking can be done in the covered roasting pan or in the cake pan placed inside the covered roasting pan. Pies bake well in the roasting pan alone. However, for all other baked foods, you should use the cake pan. If you do a great deal of baking with the range, make the necessary adaptation.
As an Army cook in the 80's I used these units alot. I forgot all about them till I saw the picture. One thing for sure... you had to be careful or you could set the whole unit on fire and once in awhile the whole mess tent would catch fire. I couldn't begin to tell you how many gallons of GI coffee I made in those pots. or the gallons of green eggs I would deliver to the guys out at the remote sites on the frozen mornings. They didn't care what color the eggs were as long as the coffee was hot and you had enough food. We would stick slices of bread in the bottom of the mermite cans that carried the bacon to absorb all the grease.
ReplyDeleteThe M59 stove is what I cooked with in Dau tiang s. vietnam as a cook mos 94b20 in 1968. I missed this offer. I loved it back then, wish I had one today. Thanks for the picture though.
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