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DogDodger

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Everything posted by DogDodger

  1. DogDodger
    Agree. The drum cupola is a give-away for Ausf.D. The "notch" in the hull side armor above the next-to-last road wheel was also eliminated in the Ausf.G. The steel-tired road wheels weren't dished like the rubber-tired wheels. Here's an Ausf.G with both types of wheels mounted for comparison purposes.
  2. DogDodger
    So who else checked to see if the M113 article was by the same author? Spoiler: it wasn't. M113A3 was.
  3. DogDodger
    That's the other end of the opposite torsion bar.
  4. DogDodger
    This one always gets me. McNair gets a lot of press here, but even if people aren't privy to the facts that the turret front plate on the Sherman was removable so they could use the 75 mm gun, a 105 mm howitzer, or an ordnance similar to the 3" antitank gun; or that weapons suites considered for the Sherman included the British 6-pounder antitank gun or even dual 37 mms (used by the infantry as antitank guns); or that work on what would become the 76 mm gun began as soon as it was realized the 3" antitank gun wouldn't fit in the turret, just look at what the US was actually fielding. The medium tank M2 and the light tanks M2A4-M5 were armed with a 37 mm antitank gun, and though the medium tank M3 did have a 75 mm gun that could fire decent HE as well as comfortably take on most tanks, when the designers couldn't put that gun in a turret they kept a turret anyway and armed it with a 37 mm antitank gun. And the first WW2-era attempt at a heavy tank? BOTH 3" and 37 mm antitank guns...
  5. DogDodger
    The May 1951 version of TM 9-729 for the M24 Chaffee notes that "The use of any fluids (water, antifreeze compound, or ammudamp) in ammunition box cans has been discontinued. All ammudamp cans will be completely drained of ammudamp fluid." So it seems that the US discontinued wet stowage even in tanks already using it not long after WW2.
  6. DogDodger
    Christie's tanks did generate a lot of initial enthusiasm in the combat branches. MG Campbell King thought they could be the main component of the mechanized force, and Infantry Chief MG Stephen Fuqua wanted some as fast breakthrough or flank actions. Cavalry officers were perhaps the most excited. Some biographers claim Patton, who was very enamored with the Christie tanks, may have helped finance Christie, though Patton's son denies this claim. Cavalry MAJ CC Benson was a strong proponent of the Christie tanks in articles in the Infantry and Cavalry Journals: In 1929 he even wrote that Christie's tank should be called the Model 1940 because it was that far advanced. Actual experience with the product, however, was deflating. In 1932 Cavalry MAJ Robert Grow complained about the tanks in use with Detachment for Mechanized Cavalry/Detachment, 1st Cavalry (Mechanized): "On only one day were all four Christies running...I complained bitterly that the Christie was not built as a fighting vehicle but only as a mobile 'cradle for an engine.'"
  7. DogDodger
    You know, I bet the FV4004 would hold a bunch of dismounts once you remove the gun...
  8. DogDodger
    I've actually come across a fair number of decently militarily-learned people who believe tank turrets are held on solely due to gravity.
  9. DogDodger
    Good eye, Walter. "Forceful III" is an M4A4.
  10. DogDodger
    But spelling skill, maybe 70%.
  11. DogDodger
    Nice link. Gilbert has a separate mention of Shermans helping Pershings up hills in Marine Corps Tank Battles in Korea:
  12. DogDodger
    The original pilot Covenanter had a pneumatically-operated transmission. According to Knight, the MEE report on the tank noted, "It is pointed out however that since the vehicle steering is entirely dependent on the air supply, any failure of the engine or compressor renders the salving of the vehicle a most difficult proceeding." The next pilot and production tanks switched to cables...
  13. DogDodger
    A win at Pike's Peak and Le Mans, not a bad 2016 for Dumas.
  14. DogDodger
    That looks like an absolutely reasonable AT-T facsimile.
  15. DogDodger
    Not bad at all. But is it just me, or does it look like the "interleaved" wheels aren't installed on the far side? There's a lot more daylight showing between the wheels it seems.
  16. DogDodger
    Unfortunately, not a photoshop.
  17. DogDodger
    That's how it goes. You should see the trunk hinges for a B7 Audi, for example. History repeats itself.
  18. DogDodger
    It was a gunnery observation vehicle.
  19. DogDodger
    The steering levers are disconnected as part of the transmission removal process. Was that what you were asking?
  20. DogDodger
    Indeed. Hunnicutt relates: "As the tactical situation grew worse with the German advance [through the Ardennes in December 1944], the 740th [Tank Battalion] moved to the Ordnance Vehicle Depot at Sprimont, Belgium to draw whatever combat vehicles were available...Two brand new M24 light tanks were at the depot by mistake. Part of the original shipment of 20 M24s to Europe, two had ended up at Sprimont through a shipping error...The M24 light tanks were particularly popular despite their low slung appearance that caused some recognition problems with the accompanying infantry. On several occasions they were stalked by bazooka teams from the 30th Infantry Division and the 82nd Airborne Division who mistook them for German Panther tanks. As a result, the two little tanks were nicknamed 'Panther Pups' by the battalion."
  21. DogDodger
    It arrived a few days ago, but has ~40 books and several pdfs ahead of it currently.
  22. DogDodger
    If my experience working with German engineering on modernish Audis and Minis is representative, all of your choices and more.
  23. DogDodger
    Miserable. Friedli quotes a June 1943 report from the Paderborn training school that says, "The exchange of an inner road wheel takes at least 10 hours even with a well-rehearsed crew." In conditions like those I'm sure the time rose appreciably.
  24. DogDodger
    Worked for the Germans...
  25. DogDodger
    It was deleted on the M47M as well.
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