Jump to content
Please support this forum by joining the SH Patreon ×
Sturgeon's House

The M4 Sherman Tank Epic Information Thread.. (work in progress)


Recommended Posts

First improved image in the R975 series.   I'll be getting the G catalog for the GM 6046 soon too, so I'll have those images to do.  I'm getting good enough at this I can put them out pretty fast, though this one took several days since I added a bunch of caption arrows, from out images that highlighted other stuff. Instead of cleaning the images with a white background, I'm actually erasing the noise from the background, leaving me with an image layer I can use on stuff like hats and T-shirts, or pasting into other images much more easily. When I add back in the arrows and captions, they are all on their own layers. 

F01-2-975-c4-rear-view-improvved-flat.pn

F01-2-975-c4-rear-view-improvved-1600x13

This is the original, I want to get away from just posting the simple part name and part numbers lists. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, Jeeps_Guns_Tanks said:

First improved image in the R975 series.   I'll be getting the G catalog for the GM 6046 soon too, so I'll have those images to do.  I'm getting good enough at this I can put them out pretty fast, though this one took several days since I added a bunch of caption arrows, from out images that highlighted other stuff. Instead of cleaning the images with a white background, I'm actually erasing the noise from the background, leaving me with an image layer I can use on stuff like hats and T-shirts, or pasting into other images much more easily. When I add back in the arrows and captions, they are all on their own layers. 

F01-2-975-c4-rear-view-improvved-flat.pn

F01-2-975-c4-rear-view-improvved-1600x13

This is the original, I want to get away from just posting the simple part name and part numbers lists. 

The part labelled "Distributor", is for the fuel priming system, not the ignition system.

Just to avoid confusion. The ignition system "distributor" is part of the magneto itself.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, Meplat said:

The part labelled "Distributor", is for the fuel priming system, not the ignition system.

Just to avoid confusion. The ignition system "distributor" is part of the magneto itself.

 

Cool,  I was wondering about that, since there was nothing there that looked like an ignition distributor, but there is a distributor block in the fuel priming system.

 

Thanks for the help,  easy to fix.

 

I had no idea there were so many changes between the 975-c1 and c4.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Jeeps_Guns_Tanks said:

GAA-Right-side-late-improvedVV-Series-fo

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Minor suggestion to avoid confusion by those who don;t know these engines-

 

The part marked "carburetor adapter tube" should be termed "carburetor heater pipe" or "Carburetor adapter heater pipe".

They provide exhaust heat to the "carburetor adapter" to give improved vaporization. Basically they work like the "hot spot"  in some inline six cylinder engines.

 

TM 9-1731 B "Ford Tank Engines (Models GAA, GAF, and GAN)" is my reference.

 

https://i.imgur.com/lKV1bb3.png

 

https://i.imgur.com/pkysGOl.png

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 minutes ago, Meplat said:

Minor suggestion to avoid confusion by those who don;t know these engines-

 

The part marked "carburetor adapter tube" should be termed "carburetor heater pipe" or "Carburetor adapter heater pipe".

They provide exhaust heat to the "carburetor adapter" to give improved vaporization. Basically they work like the "hot spot"  in some inline six cylinder engines.

 

TM 9-1731 B "Ford Tank Engines (Models GAA, GAF, and GAN)" is my reference.

 

https://i.imgur.com/lKV1bb3.png

 

https://i.imgur.com/pkysGOl.png

 

 

 

 

Thanks, that's what I figured it was, but they are labeled differently in the Ord 9, and various manuals.  

 

I'm really happy with the r975 top view, the cleanup went really well., 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, Jeeps_Guns_Tanks said:

 

 

Thanks, that's what I figured it was, but they are labeled differently in the Ord 9, and various manuals.  

 

I'm really happy with the r975 top view, the cleanup went really well., 

Yeah, I'm impressed with what you've done with the normally shitastic images one finds in some of these manuals.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, EnsignExpendable said:

I have some neat images from Firefly APDS trials with the shot groups overlaid on a Panther turret silhouette. Shame it's more scanning/compression artefacts than original drawing though. I should really just redraw those from scratch.

I've had to do that with some of mine.   You should be able to find tracing paper at a hobby shop or drafting supply, that and a very fine mechanical pencil with a hard grade graphite is what I used.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

43 minutes ago, EnsignExpendable said:

Oh, I was thinking on the computer, but I guess this is a more authentic way of doing it. 

 

Haha, well, maybe you could do it on a computer.

When I took mechanical drawing/drafting,  there were no computers, so "old habits die hard".

I just found it easier to do, and I could leave the improved sketch-trace in the manual itself, after hitting it with fixative.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So, to help support the cost of the website, I put together a Cafepress store. I'm now making Shirts I find clever for it. I've now dropped well over 1500 bucks in books and hosting feels just last year, and that's a big chunk of my budget for things like shooting, buying games, etc.  I'm hoping to at least offset the hosting costs. 

 

2_350x350_Front_Color-White.png?region=%

 

 

2_350x350_Back_Color-White.png?region=%7

The back says, 

 

The M4A4 used the A57 multibank motor,
five car motors to into one tank motor. So
complicated it was almost German, but not
German at all since it was reliable.

 

https://www.cafepress.com/theshermantanksitegearshop.216963725

 

 

Here's another. 

 

2_350x350_Back_Color-White.png?region=%7

 

https://www.cafepress.com/theshermantanksitegearshop.216969340

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

31 minutes ago, EnsignExpendable said:

Hey, @Jeeps_Guns_Tanks, what kind of gun is this? 75 mm or 105 mm? 

 

6HdTrvb.jpg

 

 

That's an M4 or M4A3 105 tank, you can tell by the funny looking port for the coax mg. and the built-up area around the tube on the mantlet. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So here is the new store page and a link to the Store. If it even makes 10 bucks a month it would be great!
ShermantanksiteGearshop.png
The Sherman Tank Store Page: To help Support this site, you can purchase Sherman Tank Site Gear, shirts and hats, and all kinds of other stuff. There’s even a throw rug. 

I never figured this webpage would get all that pricey, but I never thought my on-hand Sherman resources would wear thin for the things I wanted to do the most with the website.  Life has also gotten a little tight, and we’ve had to tighten things up in real life. That said, the Sherman Tank Site is not going anywhere. I love putting out as much info on the Sherman as I can. This site went a site for busting myths about the Sherman primarily, to now, a repository of Sherman books, documents, rare technical images,  restored manual photos, and I’ve created content like the Gun and engine Data Sheets. I had no idea I would it would get this far, and I’ve learned so much along the way and had so much fun doing it, I can’t imagine stopping.

With all that said, I would love to offset some of the costs of the costly books and manuals I have picked up recently and to offset the domain name and hosting renewals. Plus, I still have some rare manuals I’m looking for, and any extra could go for them.  So, I’m not going to put up adds or anything like that or worse, charging for the content of the site in some way.  What I have done, is put up a word press store, and I’ve made a lot of Shirts, sweaters, hats, stickers, and other things you can purchase, and a small cut goes to the site.

Click here to go right to the store: Or browse a few samples below. 

Hats

65_350x350_Front_Color-NA.png?region=%7B                                 The Sherman Tank Hat 140_350x350_Front_Color-Khaki.png?region                                    M4A1 Cutaway Hat

 

Sherman Tank Related Shirts!

Support the site by purchasing a selection of Sherman Shirts! Be the life of any party with this Awesome shirts! Cafepress products are very nice quality T-shirts, made to last.

The US Army’s #1 Cat Killer Shirt 

Since you can see the image on the back clearly I did not add larger images. Since the M4A3 76W HVSS was the ultimate Sherman, and it had no trouble with the Cars, it deserved a shirt.

Cat-Killer-front.pngCat-killer-back.png

 

The M4A4 Shirt, The Tank no one wanted, but the British loved. 

The M4A4 was an important an underrated version of the Sherman, and it had, in my opinion, the coolest motor of the war.  The A57 tank motor was 5 inline 6 car motors tied together on one crankcase to make one huge Tank Motor, it was so complicated, was almost German in design, but not really German at all since it was actually very reliable!!

 

Front

M4A4-Shirt-Front-MK1.png

Back

M4A4-Shirt-rear-MK1.png

The Detroit Muscle Sherman Shirt:  A T-shirt dedicated to the huge resource the Motor City was to WWII. 

2_350x350_Front_Color-White-1motorcity1.2_350x350_Back_Color-Whitemotorcity2.png

Detroits-Original-Muscle-Machine-Shirt.p

Detroits-Original-Muscle-Machine-Shirt-b

The Wehraboo Patrol T-shirt

2_350x350_Front_Color-White-1patrol1.png2_350x350_Back_Color-White-patrol-2.png

wehraboo-hunter-shirt-mk1-front-1.png

wehraboo-hunter-shirt-mk1.png

 

 

Sweaters

The Almost Ultimate Sherman Sweatshirt

4_350x350_Front_Color-White.png4_350x350_Back_Color-White.png

There are other sweaters, and I will be adding more.

Stuff for the Ladies

A shirt for wives, girlfriends, and girl Sherman fanatics. 

166_350x350_Front_Color-White-curvy.png166_350x350_Back_Color-White-curvy2.png

 

Odds and Ends

The Sherman Tank site Sticker 2018 edition!

new_logo_sherman_tank_sticker_2018_editi

 

Check out the Store page, there is a lot more stuff up there, also email me any suggestions or comments. 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Stabilizer question: Is it a myth it was not used very often?

 

 

 

So, as I’ve been reading through a lot of Sherman Technical Manuals, and now have one for all the major versions of the M4 Medium Tank. I have manuals issued with the earliest of M4 Mediums, the M4, M4A1, and M4A2 and M4A4, and mid and late manuals for the M4A3.  I even have the Russian version of the M4A2 75 manual.

 

They all have a lot in common, they cover maintaining the tank in depth, the early manuals are concerned with chemical weapons attacks, and how to clean the vehicle. The later manuals barely mention it. They all also cover how to drive the vehicle, and use its back up generator. They surprisingly have little info on the weapons, but I guess that’s because these weapons had their own dedicated manuals. They all also cover the stabilizer system, in depth, even in the Russian manual, at least going by the illustrations. In-depth on how it worked.

 

I've have also seen a training film that detailed out exactly how to set it up. If may have been the security on the march video I have linked somewhere,  on the site. The system is not particularly complicated, consisting extra hydraulic system controlled and was controlled by a box with two dials, one adjusts the gun stiffness and is set when the system is started, and the other is adjusts the recoil switch, and the gunner has to fine tune it. The later manuals give directions for the improved system on second gen Shermans, but they are all very simple to use.

In many cases, Armored Division and independent tank battalions had years to train on their Shermans.  I find it hard to believe these men would not have used the system, why not they spend days on end in these machines. They memorized the Technical Manuals.  They drilled on the tanks when they were not driving them around. The Tank was the focus of the crew's life. On top of that, these men had a lot of time on their hands and could almost universally read. You can’t hand them a manual and tell them a section is secret and they can’t read it.

 

The main argument for the stabilizer not being commonly used to justify American Tankers not using it was that the system was too classified. I find this hard to believe, considering all Lee and Sherman Technical Manuals, the manuals issued with the tanks, and even the Russian translation have sections on how to maintain and use the stabilizer. I’ve even read a translated Russian report saying they felt the Shermans Stabilizer was too primitive and they could do better. The Germans didn’t have the resources for something like a stabilizer that required it’s own electric motor to power a hydraulic ram, controlled by a gyro. That was Buck Rogers tech to them. So, that seems weak.

I think the more likely problem is the vast majority of the people interviewing tankers are ignorant that the Sherman even had a Stabilizer, and was, in fact, one of the most technologically advanced tanks of the war! Think about the reporter or bookworm types you know who interview people. Most reporters, military or not, can’t find their ass with a map! Military Historians are notoriously uninterested in the gritty details of a tanks features like the Shermans fire control suite was vastly better by 44 than anything the Germans had.

 

I think there could have been some cases were replacement crews, who got in theater training may have not been as familiar with the equipment, but even they would be handed the manuals, and there would be maintenance NCOs who knew how it worked.

 

I lean towards thinking the whole thing is blown out of proportion by Historians not knowing what to asks, and the lack of living men who actually used the equipment, just from age.  I wonder what Brigadier General Albin F. Irzyk would say, he still around, and he fought the machine.


What do you guys think?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Jeeps_Guns_Tanks said:

I lean towards thinking the whole thing is blown out of proportion by Historians not knowing what to asks, and the lack of living men who actually used the equipment, just from age.

 

It seems like a reasonable assertion, especially with the general lack of public interest in the subject until the last decade or so.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It cannot have been that classified, I can find all kinds of operation and maintenance info on the very similar gyrostabilizer used in the T17E1 armored car (TM9-741, 1942).

 

In fact, here is a copy, online.

TM9-741

 

Go to page  318 for the info on it's gyrostabilizer.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...