In the second part of the “Inside the Chieftain’s Hatch” episode about the M4A1 Sherman, Nicholas Moran takes a look inside the vehicle.
The Chieftain’s Hatch: Bigger Turret, Less Room
November 23, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Over at the World of Tanks website, tank researcher Nicholas “The Chieftain” Moran has posted an article on Sherman tank turrets and guns. Specifically, he found some archival materials about an attempt to put a 75mm gun into the T23 turret (this is basically the same turret as the 76mm armed Sherman tanks). Oddly enough, they found that the 75mm gun did not fit. While this may seem counter-intuitive since the T23 turret was larger than the 75mm gun turret, the answer lies in the shape of the turret and the placement of the trunnions. The Chieftain uses this example to make the larger point that up gunning a tank turret is more than just a simple case of making sure the turret ring is big enough and jamming in a new gun.
Excerpt:
One of the problems with Firefly was that the turret was a little cramped.
The 17pr is not a small gun to cram into a turret bustle measured in inches. US Army Ordnance had a crack at putting the somewhat smaller and lighter 76mm into the same turret, and Armored Force found it unsatisfactorily cramped and rejected it.
Another lesser-known issue for Firefly is that in order to be converted, the tank had to be the 75mm one with the smaller turret. This is partly why the 75mm Sherman remained on the production lines even after the US Army decided to switch to the 76mm. But it raises the question: why did they mandate use of the 75mm tank? Surely the 76mm turret, bigger as it was, would have been a better match, and reduce the limitations the Firefly was under. How could the British miss this?
Video: Security on the March for Mechanized Units
October 8, 2016 by 1 Comment
This video showed up on youtube yesterday. It is a 1943 instructional video on “Security on the March: Mechanized Units”. Some nice footage showing the exterior and interior of early model M4 and M4A1 tanks.
From the Vault: The unusual case of John Coyne and his Sherman tank
August 18, 2016 by Leave a Comment
WCPO Cincinnati has posted an article and some vintage video clips pertaining to the rather unusual story of New Richmond Ohio resident John Coyne. A self-described “Freedom Fighter for Individual Liberty”, Coyne is a polarizing figure in his community with a long record of conflicts with local law enforcement, ranging from the relatively minor offences of violating zoning ordinances and driving a tank on public roads to the much more serious charge of man-slaughter. Most of Coyne’s disputes with neighbors and law enforcement stemmed from his property which was a junk and salvage yard.
According to Coyne, in 1965 he was arrested for possession of a machine gun. In response to this charge, he decided to up the ante and purchase a Sherman tank, which he kept on his property. The local judge told Coyle that the tank was junk and violated local ordnances. Coyne went to jail for nearly six months until the judge finally accepted his argument that the tank was a historic vehicle and not “junk.” Coyne gained local notoriety for his rather outspoken criticisms of local authorities, including writing messages on his Sherman tank and his WWII era half track denouncing them as “the Southwestern Ohio Gestapo.”
At this point in Coyne’s story, he could be viewed as an eccentric “local character” who was interested in preserving historic military vehicles. However, in 1981 his story takes a much darker turn when he was arrested for shooting three youth that were looting from his junkyard, killing one and injuring the other two. Oddly enough, he was acquitted of killing the one teen, but found guilty of two counts of felonious assault on the two teens he wounded. He spent 17 years in prison, including extra time for a failed escape attempt. During the time, his former wife had his belonging auctioned off to recover 75,000 dollars he owed her as part of their settlement. The Sherman tank sold for $23,000 to a business man named R.J. Corman. After being freed, Coyne went back to his old ways, purchasing a British Scorpion light tank which he still drives around in defiance of local law authorities.
Click here to read a 1976 newspaper editorial about Coyne’s battle with local authorities over his Sherman tank display.
“Blues Brothers” Sherman Tank
Below are four youtube clips of vintage local news stories of John Coyne as well as a more recent video news piece from 2014. In the video is footage of his Sherman tank and some of his other vehicles. One of the videos notes that Coyne’s Sherman tank appeared in the film “The Blues Brothers.” As far as we can tell, this is probably not correct. An article from the Evansville Courier & Press states that the tank that appears in the movie belonged to Judge Jim Osborne of Vincennes, Ind. However, the article also notes that Osborne said there were several Sherman tanks on set, and that “One guy brought his tank from Ohio and another guy hauled his from Missouri. The deal was that they could paint our tanks however they wanted for the movie, but after shooting was over they had to put them back like they were.” The “guy from Ohio” could very well have been John Coyne. Based on the news video clips, Coyne’s Sherman had an obviously fake looking gun barrel while the Sherman tank in the Blues Brothers film appears to have an original gun barrel. Also, Coyne’s Sherman has the early style narrow gun mantlet, the Blues Brothers tank has the later wider style mantlet. If anyone has more information about the current location of Coyne’s Sherman tank, we would much appreciate it.
Photo of the Day 2/27/2016
February 27, 2016 by 1 Comment
This photo comes from the recently updated page on M4 and M4A1 75mm Shermans produced by Pressed Steel Car Co., Inc on the Sherman Minutia website. The photo above was taken at the Desert Training Center in California around mid 1943, and documents a king pin failure on a transport trailer.
Photo of the Day 2/16/2016
February 16, 2016 by Leave a Comment
World War II reenactor and retired Army Lt. Col. Alexander Kose inspects the M4 Sherman Tank. The reenactor was supporting the 728th Combat Support Sustainment Battalion’s noncommissioned officer and commissioned officer development program. More here.
Sherman tank moved from Pittsburgh display
January 27, 2016 by Leave a Comment
From CBS Pittsburgh comes this news story.
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — A Sherman tank rolled into Pittsburgh on June 17, and took up residence at Heinz History Center during its World War II exhibit.
Fifty-thousand Sherman tanks helped to defeat Nazi forces in Europe. But after seven months on loan, this one is moving out.
“Right now we’re going to take it to Fort Indiantown Gap, and there’s a re-enactment going on in a few days,” said owner Tom Pippins of Sewickley.
Pippins says he fell in love with tanks as a kid.
“I told my dad, ‘Hey, let’s buy a tank.’ He said no, so 30 years later I bought my own,” Pippins said.
This one took part in the Battle of the Bulge. Eventually, it will return to Ligonier, where the owner’s mother has a farm.
Museum President Andy Masich says it caught people’s attention.
“There wasn’t anyone that passed the History Center over the past six months who didn’t stop and take a selfie, in front of the Sherman tank,” Masich said.
Pippins maneuvers his tank toward the flatbed truck, which will carry it to its next location. Pittsburgh contributed to the design during the war.
“The turret was made in Lawrenceville in 1944,” Masich said. “Westinghouse helped make the gun stabilizer that made it possible for Sherman tanks to fire on the move. There are all kinds of Pittsburgh connections.”
The next exhibit at the History Center will be “Toys of the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s.” That opens in early March. And at that time, the tank will be replaced with a 20 foot, inflatable Gumby.
A final word from History Center President Masich: “The Sherman tank has left the building. Tanks for the memories.”
From the Vault: WW2 tank mobility tests
January 26, 2016 by 1 Comment
Today we have a few videos of World War 2 era tanks being put through a series of mobility tests.
First is this video from 1951 from Sweden. The video compares the mobility of a Sherman Firefly vs a British Churchill tank, a German Panther and the Strv M/42. The audio is in Swedish but fortunately English subtitles are provided.
The next video is of an Australian test conducted in January of 1945 comparing the Sherman and Churchill tanks. This video shows the rather extreme conditions these vehicles were operated in by the Australian forces. We were not able to embed this video in the post but if you click the image below, it will take you to the page where the video may be watched.
This next video is a short clip from a German propaganda film showing a Panther tank successfully clearing an obstacle which a M3 Lee is unable to clear.
Here is a short clip of a damaged Royal Tiger (“Porsche turret”) being put through a water fording test by Allied solders.
And finally, here is a longer clip showing US soldiers driving around a captured German Panther tank. At the 7:31 mark the footage switches to scenes of a British Archer and Valentine using a Tiger I for target practice. At the 9:18 mark the video shows footage of the hull of the uncompleted E-100 German super heavy tank.
Camp Blanding Museum and Memorial Park, Armor
September 14, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Here is a photo gallery of the vehicles on display of the armor on display at the Camp Blanding Museum and Memorial Park in Florida by blogger “1meandad.”
Camp Blanding is located about an hour north of Gainesville, FL and is the primary military reservation and training base for the Florida National Guard, both the Florida Army National Guard and certain non-flying activities of the Florida Air National Guard. The based also served as a training center and POW camp during the Second World War.
To celebrate its history, located on site is the Camp Blanding Museum and Memorial Park. Open to the public, the facility contains a history museum in one of Camp Blanding’s restored World War II buildings, tracing the history of both Camp Blanding and the Florida National Guard. Outdoor exhibits and displays include equipment and Army, Navy and Air Force aircraft from World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Cold War and Operation Desert Storm, including captured Soviet-manufactured Iraqi equipment from the latter conflict.
From the Vault: College Fraternity buys Sherman Tank circa 1957
August 31, 2015 by Leave a Comment
While browsing through some old newspaper articles, we stumbled across this amusing headline from the Reading Eagle, Dec 22, 1957, “College boys Buy 33-Ton Sherman Tank.” The article states that a fraternity in Madison WI, some of whom were Korean War veterans, bought the tank for approximately $600 in a scrap auction. Considering what an operational Sherman tank is worth these days (well into six figures), $600 seems like quite a good investment.
Tank and AFV News 