Recent Yuri Pasholok articles at Status Report blog.

April 13, 2015 by Leave a Comment

2256162_originalThe blog “Status Report” has posted two English language translations of  articles by Russian armor researcher Yuri Pasholok this past couple days. An article posted on Monday contains a number of pictures of the AMX-30 prototype that is stored at the French Armor Museum in Saumur.  People interested in the AMX- 30 Status Report article may read it here, the original Russian language article is available here.

2219285_originalAn article posted on Sunday provides a history and photo gallery of the 47mm gun on Renault R35 chassis at the Panzermuseum in Thun, Switzerland.   This vehicle was an improvised tank destroyer, consisting of a captured French tank hull being mated with a captured Czech 47mm gun.  By the time of the Normandy campaign, 110 of these converted panzerjagers were still in service.  The article notes that the one at Thun most likely saw combat as it exhibits signs of battle damage.  The original Russian language version of the article can be read here, the translated Status Report version is here.

Filed Under: Historical Vehicle News Tagged With: , , , ,

Workers find tank hatch in Hereford, England

April 13, 2015 by Leave a Comment

sherman tank hatchThe Hereford Times is reporting that workers at at a construction site found a heavy metal hatch while digging.  The object was identified as one half of the split hatch for an M4 Sherman tank.  The location of the construction site, Skylon Park in Rotherwas, was at one point home to the Royal Ordnance Factory at Rothewas.  The Factory closed in September of 1945 and taken over by the Ministry of Supply for use in breaking down obsolete or scrap armored vehicles.  The article quotes Daniel Rees of the Herfordshire Light Infantry Museum how notes “The find … pinpoints one of the actual models of vehicle being broken down, this is very important in building a picture of the site after the Second World War. If anyone has any further details of the armoured vehicles or the breaking operations in Rotherwas it would be gratefully appreciated.”

Full article here.

Filed Under: Historical Vehicle News Tagged With: ,

From the Vault: The Patents of General Barnes

April 11, 2015 by 3 Comments

For those with an interest in the history of US Armor, the name General Gladeon Barnes may be a familiar one.  Barnes served as the head of the Technical Division of the Ordnance Department during World War 2.  In his book “Armored Thunderbolt”, Steven Zaloga refers to Barnes as “the single most influential U.S. Army officer in the development of wartime tank designs.”  During World War 2, Barnes and the Ordnance Dept. often butted heads with Army Ground Forces and the Armored force.  in particular, Barnes and the ordnance dept. were known for their advocacy of a heavy tank for the US Army and for the development of the T20 series of vehicles to replace the M4 Sherman.

Barnes started his career with the U.S. Army in 1910 as a lieutenant of Coast Artillery.  He transferred to the Ordnance Department and spent World War 1 designing heavy artillery. According to the book “Faint Praise” by Charles Baily, Barnes’ post war assignments gave him experience in both production and design, and he owned some thirty-four patents.  We thought it might be interesting to do a search for some of these patents and see what they looked like.  A quick search in Google patents revealed four pages of results (click here to view them.)  Most of the results are for various gun designs or vehicle components.  However, there are two rather unusual patents from 1942 and 1944 simply described as “tank.”  Both patents seem to describe the same vehicle.  Let’s take a look.

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Filed Under: From the Vault, Historical Documents Tagged With: ,

Germany to bring 100 Leopard 2 tanks back into service

April 11, 2015 by Leave a Comment

_82239158_456988628Reuters is reporting that Germany plans to bring back into service more than 100 Leopard 2 tanks that had been mothballed. The decision to increase it’s inventory of tanks comes as NATO tries to hasten the response time of its rapid reaction force following Russia’s annexation of Crimea last year and conflict in Ukraine. The article notes that before the end of the Cold War, in the 1980s, the then West Germany had more than 3,500 tanks. Now, seventy years after World War Two, it has just 225. As a result soldiers have to share tanks and heavy equipment across different units.  A defense ministry spokesperson confirmed that “the ministry has decided to raise the upper limit for the future to 328 (tanks)”

Original article here.

Filed Under: Modern Vehicle News Tagged With: ,

Algeria to get another 360 upgraded BMP IFVs

April 10, 2015 by Leave a Comment

1631313_-_mainJane’s is reporting that Algeria will be receiving another 360 upgraded BMP infantry fighting vehicles to compliment the 400 upgraded BMPs they had received initially.  These vehicles are part of a contract being carried out by the Russian KBP Instrument Design Bureau.  The vehicles being upgraded are BMP-1s, the work is being done at an Algerian armor repair plant with the help of Russian technicians.  The upgrade package includes the Berezhok combat module, which is armed with four 9M133 Kornet-E anti-tank guided missiles and an AGS-30 30 mm automatic grenade launcher in addition to the 30 mm 2A42 main gun used on the BMP-2 IFV and the standard PKT 7.62 mm coaxial machine gun. The Berezhok upgrade also includes a new fire-control system and optics.

Read the Jane’s 360 article here.

Filed Under: Modern Vehicle News Tagged With: , ,

Reporters driving Armored Vehicles

April 10, 2015 by Leave a Comment

For some reason, the last month has seen several articles in the media about reporters driving tanks and armored vehicles.  Two of these pieces have appeared in Business Insider.  The first of which is an article from March 23 by Lianna Brinded called “I went to Lithuania to drive a tank and it was one of the coolest things ever.”  Of course, the use of the term “tank” in the headline is misleading.  As usual the media call any vehicle with tracks a tank regardless of what it actually is.  In this case, the tank in question was actually a FV432 APC.

lianna-fv432-lith

A few days later Business Insider ran another story about a reporter goofing around with tanks called “We visited a farm in England that lets you crush cars with military tanks.”

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Filed Under: Modern Vehicle News Tagged With: ,

Home-made armored vehicles of China

April 10, 2015 by Leave a Comment

Today we came across this rather odd picture while searching for tank related news.  This image is from a Business Insider piece, although it has little to do with the article itself, which is a roundup of world economic news.

homemade-tank-1

The photo is accompanied with a caption reading: “Villagers look on as a home-made armoured vehicle, built by local 35-year-old farmer Liu Shijie (in the vehicle), drives on a dirt road at a village in Huaibei, Anhui.”

This is not the first time a home-made tank from China has made the news.  A year ago there were multiple stories in the Western media about Jian Lin, who built a working three ton “tank” for his son.

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Filed Under: Modern Vehicle News Tagged With: , , ,

From the Editor: M103 Heavy Tank in Dowagiac MI Picture Gallery

April 9, 2015 by Leave a Comment

101_1240For those interested in the M103 heavy tank, here is a gallery of pictures we took two years ago of what appears to be an M109A2 on display in front of the National Guard Armory at 700 W Prairie Ronde St in Dowagiac MI.  As can be seen in the photos, this vehicle is in desperate need of a new paint job.  Also, the rear engine grills and engine deck are completely missing, having been replaced with some thin sheet metal!  Oddly enough, wikipedia lists 25 M109 tanks on display in the United States, although this particular vehicle in Dowagiac is not included in that list.  These were taken on a very sunny day with a relatively cheap digital camera so some shots are a bit washed out.

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Armor for the Ages launches updated website

April 9, 2015 by Leave a Comment

armor for the agesThe folks at Armor for the Ages have launched a new version of their website.  Armor for the Ages (AFTA) mission is to provide information on the General George Patton Museum of Leadership at Fort Knox, Kentucky and the National Armor & Cavalry Museum (NACM) at Fort Benning, Georgia and the volunteer programs that serve both institutions along with news on projects, events and exhibits.  Information about the volunteer programs can be found in the volunteer section of the AFTA site.  AFTA also offers information on the vehicles and weapons that have been or are currently in these museums’ collections. Currently the AFTA site contains profiles for the Panther G, T28 GMC, StuG IIIG, JagdTiger and Sturmpanzer as well as vehicle restoration projects Cobra King, SdKfz 251D/9 and the Patton Command Van.  The AFTA site also includes descriptions of the different iterations of the Patton Museum at Fort Knox.  Over the past 15 years there have been a number of changes concerning the location and public accessibility of historic armored vehicles in the US.  The AFTA website is a valuable resource for people wanting to learn more about the changes affecting these vehicle collections at the Fort Knox and Fort Benning locations.

Filed Under: Historical Vehicle News Tagged With: , , ,

Book Alert: Hunnicutt’s Sherman and Stuart reprinted

April 9, 2015 by 1 Comment

Sherman-600x600As of March 26, Richard Hunnicutt’s books “Stuart” and “Sherman” have been reprinted are and available in both hardcover and softcover.  These books have long been out of print and are highly prized by fans of American armor history.  Prices on the original editions range from 200-300 dollars so while this reprint edition is not cheap, it is a welcome alternative to the rather pricey original copies.  These editions have been published by Echo Point Books & Media, an outfit probably unfamiliar to most tank book readers.  According to their website, Echo Point Books specializes in republishing out of print books.

Publisher’s Description for “Sherman”:

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Filed Under: New Book Alerts Tagged With: , , ,
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