Pyro and HTC

[GRUNHERZ]

M26 was on Okinawa but they did not see action, they just did gunnnery and other practice and then the war ended. Would be interesting to have them fight against 5 ton japanese light tanks. Even more fun was the use of Stalin III in Manchuria, when they werent falling apart at the weld seams on road marches..

M24 Chaffe would be a cool little tank, rougly same firepower as 75mm Sherman, 20mm or so armor and good speed. But I'd rather have a Puma, its faster, way cooler looking and prolly even better AP punch with its 50mm but no AA.

Pershing is much better than any Sherman, it had 90mm gun, way better armor, and infinitely better shilouette. However it used the same ford V8 engine with 500hp like Sherman but carried some 10+ tons more weight so it was a very sluggish tank. This really hurt it in the hilly terrain of Korea where many tankers indeed preffered the M4A3E8 - but then they were only facing T34/85 and such with second rate crews and not Tigers or Panthers with nasty east front veterans in them.

[Yeager]

Cc that GRUNZ.   good info

Im building the new Tamyia 1/35 Pershing as we speek

Xlent model....highly reccomend this one if you like that genre of kit building.  I sure do

Beef,

When I was a kid (maybe 16), me and a bunch of my friends used to frequently visit the Fort Lewis Military Museum.  Well, one day there was a new display.  A M24 Chaffee.  Very nice little tank.
Anyway, the hatches were all welded closed but I had a good mind (back then) and decided I would look under the tank to see if there was an escape hatch.  Naturally there was and sure enough, it WAS NOT WELDED CLOSED, and if fact was AJAR HEHE.

As you might imqagine we spent several days visiting the museum.

The inside of that Chaffee was quite well preserved and we found the periscopes and installed them.  It was funny watching people walk up to that tank and see them looking at us as we swiveled the scopes around watching them.  God that was fun.
I seem to recall the turret was locked or I am certain we would have been swiveling that damned thing around.  A dead give-a-way, lol.  Anyhow, we made off with the periscopes and my buddy Lee found the damned main sighting scope with a battery pack that illuminated the reticle.  We made off with that too.  Lee's dad was the getaway driver one splendid summer evening.  We thought we were the hot toejam.  Lee's dad was a GI and he promptly reported us to the CDC and they came and took the scopes back.  We were not punished in any way.  The next time we went to the museum that damned escape hatch was welded closed tighter than a frogs bellybutton in water.

Man, what a memory, thanks

[BGBMAW]

excellnet yeager..im gealous...

[BGBMAW]

ahh remenids me of the time we found an open hacth on the B-52....at the AF Musuem at Hurlbert AFB ...they had left this hacth open on the tail gunrs position.. and the vulcan cannon was still there..and they left a box of the 20 mill shells..and....owell ..nevermnd....i was Dreamn...heheh:)

[-Concho-]

By late 1943, the need for a 90mm gun armed tank reached the point that a requirement for one was issued. By this time, the T25 with HVSS suspension and the T26 with torsion bar suspension were under test. In September 1943, limited production of the T26 was ordered. The T26 had many features developed in the T20 Project including torsion bar suspension, wide center guided tracks, and a fluid drive automatic transmission.

The first T26s, officially Medium Tank T26E1 reached Europe in January 1945. Their first combat occurred in February. Other combat usage was on Okinawa in the Pacific in May 1945. In May 1945 the T26E1 was officially adopted as the M26. 2,350 were built between 1944 and 1945. At first identified as a heavy tank, it was reclassified as a medium. By the time the Pershing appeared, the war was all but won by the Allies. American tanker moral was low with a feeling of technical inferiority by this point. The Pershing was a superior design that restored flagging American moral.

Looks like the Devil Dogs had it on Oki....