Tanks of the Commonwealth in WWII thread

[EnsignExpendable]

I'll see if they have any Ram or Grizzly books the next time I'm there. I don't think they do, otherwise I would have bought them.

[whelm]

 

 

Shame about the quality.

[EnsignExpendable]

LAC's slides look like ass. Here's an image of a prospective Canadian squeezebore weapon, and this is after I cleaned it up.

 

[whelm]

They can be decent if the image operator at the time knew what they were doing. But most of the time it seems it was just a 9 to 5 and they didn't care.

 

 

examples

 

[EnsignExpendable]

Woah, those photos look amazing! Most of the ones I see have been taken with the contrast cranked all the way up and are completely unusable

[whelm]

Some ram clips out of war time videos

Spoiler

 

 

Factory work, plane flying over formation of Ram's and then one going full tilt

 

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Kangaroo crews showing how many they jammed into them

 

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small clip after the sherman flail

 

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Small training clip, Rams loaded with guys all over it.

 

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Factory workers examining Rams at Borden

 

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Shermans and Rams saluting with guns in parade.

 

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couple seconds of a Ram driving by firing.

 

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McNaughton looking at Ram suspension.

 

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sons of King Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia looking over Ram tank

 

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Rams on landing ships for exercise pirate

 

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Victory bond drive, Ram used as display

 

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Another exercise for d-day with Rams going by

 

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Rams firing smoke, crossing a bridge and the end of the video has the waterproofed ones dropping off the landing ships and lining up to fire on the beach after.

 

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Ram assault bridge

 

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Bonus Captured Italian SPG in use

[whelm]

A nice write up on the 6 pdr APDS MK I shot design dated January 1945

 

https://imgur.com/a/zphKP9z

[EnsignExpendable]

Cool stuff. I had a bit of practice cleaning up one of the drawings.

 

[EnsignExpendable]

Here are some Ram diagrams that aren't shit. Click for big.

 

[whelm]

Yes they are nice stowage diagrams, I had paid to have two different 6 pdr mounting part lists scanned at the Aussie archives and they host everything like that after on their site which is nice. Bonus was the stowage stuff included in the papers.

 

 

 

 

 

they are nice for layering as well to compare and get a idea on rough slope for the different sections (in front of driver and cupola)

 

 

 

[EnsignExpendable]

It's interesting how the Australians have so many Ram docs, I guess they consulted Canada on their modernization of the Medium Tank M3 modernization, but decided to go their separate way with the Sentinel.

[whelm]

3 hours ago, EnsignExpendable said:

It's interesting how the Australians have so many Ram docs, I guess they consulted Canada on their modernization of the Medium Tank M3 modernization, but decided to go their separate way with the Sentinel.

Same reason the Ram I had the 2 pdr, no tank mounting existed for the 6 pdr. Canada's waiting on the UK who say they are working on it but it's not materializing so they go ahead and design their own. Australia wants the 6 pdr in their tank so they ask Canada for drawings to see how they manged it.

 

[EnsignExpendable]

Haha, "chatty notes". Commonwealth English is so delightfully different from American English. 

[whelm]

It's next to impossible to find images of the gun + front adapter assembly dismounted from the tank, but one of the videos Canada at war had this scene.

 

[whelm]

Wartime censorship in action.

 

 

 

And the unedited version

[EnsignExpendable]

What's so special about the unedited version? Are you sure it wasn't just cropped to look better for the newspapers?

[ZloyKrolik]

The armor is thicker in the unedited version.

[EnsignExpendable]

Oh wow, that's a pretty big change. I think I spent too much time looking at the girl.

[whelm]

Kangaroo with what looks like an engine change or some sort of major mod. exhaust soot on the rear upper plate, and what looks like the two exhausts sticking out of the rear engine deck plate. Only thing I can think of is an engine change to something like the Fords who's exhaust normally comes right out the lower rear plate on the M4A3, so instead of cutting 1.5 inches of steel to make an opening, they just piped it up and out of the engine cover.

 

Edit: Turns out that exhaust mod was done specifically to Ram towers only it seems, I suppose for clearance issues or wadding requirements?

 

[Meplat]

The Ram makes a long dead bit of my anatomy wiggle. Just  so...

Because it is Canadian , but it is not quite ALL Canuck.

 

I want to hug it, but it says "No you are American!", and I say "But wait, so are you!".

As it waits, I say " And my relatives are Canadian (A lie, as we were chased out by the British)" Thus is the Ram lulled.

[EnsignExpendable]

@whelm I'm finally getting around to publishing the Sexton article (it turned out to be quite huge even for a two-parter, so it took a while). Do you want an acknowledgement, and if so by what name?

[ZloyKrolik]

 

A crew from the 16th/5th Lancers, 6th Armored Division, clean the gun barrel of their Crusader tank at El Aroussa in Tunisia, May 1943.

[whelm]

15 hours ago, EnsignExpendable said:

@whelm I'm finally getting around to publishing the Sexton article (it turned out to be quite huge even for a two-parter, so it took a while). Do you want an acknowledgement, and if so by what name?

Whelms fine. Thanks

 

 

 

 

[whelm]

 

 

 

 

Taking known dimensions from primary sources on the Ram OP and regular Ram I + II to come up with numbers. Hull height is to the highest point at the turret ring, Turret height is to top of periscope over cupola and top of periscope on turret roof. No idea on actual roof height but you could probably make a rough estimation using the known heights, the photo with the turret removed and the measurements from the suspension. Hull width is the side hull cast in bulges, versions with the door in place are wider still. You can see in the photo how the actual overall width is lower everywhere else on the hull.

 

Question remains if they had measured to the older style periscopes or the newer taller ones.

 

Spoiler

 

 

[EnsignExpendable]

When was the 2" bomb thrower eliminated? I thought the British were super into those things and wanted them in everything.