News for all things related to Tanks and Armored Fighting Vehicles
From WNEP 16 comes this update about the efforts to open a museum commemorating the Stuart light tanks built at the factory in Berwick PA.
To learn more about this effort, be sure to check out the “Bring Stuie Home” page. Those who will be in the area this summer may want to reserve July 22 and 23 on their calendars as the Stuart Tank Memorial Association will be presenting their 2nd Annual World War II Weekend.
The Photo of the Day comes from Armorama.com who recently posted a photo gallery walk-around of an M-56 Scorpion on display at 45th Infantry Division Museum in Oklahoma City. You can view the entire gallery as well as read a short description of the vehicle at the Armorama website.
As a follow-up to our Photo of the Day from yesterday about the T28 heavy tank that slide off a HET during transit, here is a statement from the facebook page of the National Armor and Cavalry Museum regarding the event.
Friends of the National Armor and Cavalry Museum,
Last Thursday we were very excited to show off the T28 leaving the yard. It was on its way to begin the first part of a clean-up, re-paint, and partial restoration. Unfortunately things do not always go as planned. During the journey across post to where it was to be painted, the contracted Heavy Equipment Transporter (HET) was traveling down a hill when it suffered an unexpected and massive brake failure. In order to keep the HET on the road, the contractor crew was forced to make an extremely sharp turn. This forcefully shifted the T28 (currently weighing about the same as an M1A2 Abrams as it is without its outer track set or engine installed) around the trailer. Despite the large amounts of chain used, the T28 broke completely free. In hindsight, this probably prevented a worse accident since the T28 was not left partially chained, which could have caused the tank to roll over and off. Instead the T28 slid off the trailer and hit the ground with both tracks. It then rolled rear first, into a ditch before stopping.
First and foremost, we are extremely thankful no one was injured in the incident. As for the accident itself, the appropriate departments are conducting their investigations. As for the T28, we are very lucky that it was built very tough! Considering the U.S. Super Heavy was definitely not designed to fly short distances, it landed in the best manner imaginable. The impact of the landing and subsequent stop in the ditch did cause some damage to the suspension, specifically two bogie stations. The good news is everything is repairable and will be incorporated into the painting and cleanup. While she spent a night in the ditch, she was recovered the next day with no issues by two M88A1 Hercules Recovery Vehicles. During this time, we did not put out information until all chains of command could be informed and a proper damage assessment could be completed. While this is an unfortunate setback, it is minor in the long run and the T28 will be back. In closing we’d like to thank everyone for their support during this process and hope you continue to follow our work in preserving and restoring the U.S. Army’s armor collection. Thank you!
Sincerly,
The NACM Staff and Volunteers
Here are a handful of articles from the world wide web related to armored vehicles. Click on the headline to read the full piece.
The Flying Heritage Collection’s new M48A1 Patton tank has taken the long way around to its final destination. The tank was built in the United States and then sold to the Kingdom of Jordan in Western Asia. Jordan, an ally of the US, UK, and France, received 197 M48 and 200 M48A1 tanks beginning in the mid-1960s. Many Jordanian tanks saw combat during the Six Day War with Israel in 1967. It is unknown where this particular tank was assigned at the time. When newer tanks like the M60 became available, Jordan retired many of its M48s. This tank was a gift to the Flying Heritage Collection from the Royal Tank Museum in Aqaba, Jordan.
The Indian Army is set to deploy over 460 new T-90SM main battle tanks (MBTs) along India’s border with Pakistan, senior Indian defense officials told IHS Jane’s Defense Weekly on January 19. The new T-90SM MBT (other designations T-90AM or T-90MS) is the latest and most modern version of the T-90 (which in turn is a modernized variant of the T-72 MBT), and has specifically been designed for export by Russia. According to IHS Jane’s Defense Weekly, the newly ordered MBTs will supplement 850-900 license-built T-90S Bhishma tanks, divided into 18 regiments, and currently deployed in the Indian states of Rajasthan and Punjab.
The Army has sent a tank and armoured vehicles through the Channel Tunnel for the first time as it looks at ways to dispatch heavy armour quickly to eastern Europe in the event of a crisis with Russia. Five armoured vehicles loaded on wagons were sent through to France soon after midnight on Wednesday as part of the logistics exercise. They completed the 40 minute return journey a few hours later. The drill came as the Army looks for new ways to deploy armour from the UK once it closes its bases in Germany. When the bases are closed at the end of the decade, the Army will have to deploy armoured vehicles from the UK if they are needed by Nato’s rapid reaction force to bolster defences in eastern Europe.
Turkey’s plans to build its Altay main battle tank (MBT) have hit a snag after Tümosan, the planned engine provider, cancelled a key technical support contract with Austria’s AVL List GmbH. The cancellation comes after Austria’s parliament unanimously adopted a non-binding motion that imposed an arms embargo against Turkey in November 2016. As a result conditions were placed on the transfer of technology to Turkey. Austria made the move in response to Turkey’s increasing violation of human rights since the failed military coup attempt in July 2016.
MOSCOW, January 19. /TASS/. Russia’s new active protection system Arena-M for T-72 and T-90 tanks is capable of protecting armored vehicles from US Tube-launched Optically-tracked Wire-guided (TOW) missiles, Chief Designer of the Machine-Building Design Bureau Valery Kashin told TASS. “According to the information we have on these missiles, the Arena-M will undoubtedly be able to protect a tank from a TOW,” the chief designer said.
World of Tanks have certainly been busy posting videos the last few days! Here is another one on the German World War II Karl-Gerät mortar.
The latest episode of “Inside the Chieftain’s Hatch” takes a look at the M4A1 tank. In this first part, Nicholas “The Chieftain” Moran will talk about the exterior features of the famous Sherman tank and it’s Continental Motors radial engine.
Wargaming Europe presents this video featuring World of Tanks Richard “The Challenger” Cutland giving a quick tour of Tiger 131. This video is a special format that allows the viewer to move the camera around, a rather handy feature for looking around the interior of the vehicle.
From the youtube channel of World of Tanks comes this video on one of the strangest armored vehicles ever built, the Russian “Tsar Tank.”
From Overlord’s Blog comes this post recounting an action from 1942 by some Royal Engineers versus Axis tanks in North Africa.
In late November 1942 , twenty sappers of the 1st Parachute Squadron, Royal Engineers were picking their way across the Tunisian landscape. Overhead a bright moon bore down, and the peaceful night sky was frosted with stars. Their mission was to emplace mines and set up an anti-armour ambush on a road. This road led to an harbour area with a large number of Axis forces, including tanks. Once these forces were in place two companies of Para’s, covered by a section of three inch mortars and supported by some ex Vichy Senegalese infantry whom had decided to join up with the Paras, would launch a frontal assault on the Axis position. The harbour was on the slopes of a place called Gue Hill.
It was similar to an ambush launched about a week earlier. They had convinced the German forces near Béja that the Paratroop force was actually three times its size, by the simple expedient of marching through the town three times, but switching headgear each time. The Para’s had moved to Mateur where they got word of a large German convoy protected by armoured cars that had moved past. So they mined the road and when the convoy returned they attacked with Gammon bombs and small arms. This resulted in several captured German armoured cars and quite a haul of POW’s.
From the Haslemere Herald comes this article about the papers of a British WWI tank commander that were recently published.
THE papers of a Somme tank commander who married his sweetheart in Farnham before fighting on the Western Front have been published for the first time by the National Army Museum.
Major Allen Holford-Walker, originally from Essex, married Joan Barrington Moody in Farnham soon after the outbreak of war in 1914.
As a tank commander on the Somme, serving with The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders in honour of his mother’s Scottish heritage, he later fought in both the Battle of Flers-Courcelette and the Battle of Ancre in late 1916.
His papers, which include photos, diaries and letters, give a first-hand account of the earliest days of tank warfare, as the British struggled to make the most of their new weapon.
Tank and AFV News 