Canmoore

Here is a pic of the MBT-70

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MBT-70.jpg (200.7 KB, 239 views)

Canmoore

Then there is also the very rare RAM QF, an abondoned attempt to fit a 94mm AA gun, onto a RAM chasis, however it was abandoned.

I am finding it next to impossible to find any specifications on this long gone mobile AA gun project. But i do have a picture

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RustyBattleship

That is a neat and very rare photo of a very rare weapon experiment. Notice the gun shield on the starboard side of the tank. That traversed with the gun mount and would provide some protection against return fire if used as a tank buster like the German Acht Achts were. At first thought it would be a promising combination of a mobile AA battery as well as a mobile AT implacement. Even the US tried a 75 mm "Skysweeper" version (really a modified Navy 3"/50) but as planes and missiles got faster (with better guidance systems) gun fire for anti-aircraft quickly joined the dinosaurs.

Still an interesting experiment though and probably was fun to test out.

Canmoore

Indeed. I am curious what it must have been like to be in the Chasis when that gun was firing! the vehicle must have rocked violently from such a blast.

SnowLeopard

As I recall from an armor history book, the post WWII light tank was born out of the consideration for something for rapid deploywment, ie, air droppable, that could be put on the ground the quickest. Now, maybe that was the Walker, maybe it was the beast with 4 or so recoiless rifles on it, but in either case, the note in the book ended about how they, ie those fighting, wanted the not so light tanks there as soon as possible.
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("Uplink, underground, uplink, underground! If you don't shut up, I'm going to uplink you a** and then you'll be underground!"--Ben Richards, (wtte), "The Running Man")

dalem

Actually it was merely a 57mm (6lbr) -armed version of the M4 Sherman licensed to be produced in Canada. When U.S. production levels of the finalized 75mm-armed M4 were compared to Canada's production of the Ram, the Canucks wisely stopped making tanks. The chassis were converted to (and produced as throughout the war I believe) other useful platforms.

-dale

RustyBattleship

You're close with the air deployable theory. However, for the aircraft we had at the time (early 50's) the M-41 was 5 to 10 tons too heavy. Many have claimed the Walker was designed as an upgraded model of the M-24 Chaffee. Totally false. Hull, turret and gun design was totally different. Also the Chaffee used twin engines and the Walker only a single Continental engine. The only (almost) identical parts was the suspension system using torsion bars instead of bogies.

There WAS a 15 ton tank designed and tested for air deployment. About 40 years ago I found a 1:25 model of it to build as it was really an odd ball looking vehicle. I saw a painting of one used in an illustration of a fictional war story. I have read that the biggest problem this tank had was there were too many inside corners to act as shell traps. (Recall seeing a photo of an 88 mm shell hole through the front armor plate of an M-26 Pershing that got caught under the lifting padeye). So the idea of Airborne tanks was dropped until we could build bigger airplanes.

I forget the model number of that wierd tank with a very low profile 76 mm gun (no turret that I recall) and cannot find it on the Internet. If any of you can ID that freaky thing and post a picture I'd appreciate it.

No. It was not the M-22 (of which one has been restored). The M-22 still looked like a normal tank but smaller and lightly armored. The one I'm thinking of would have been adored by George Lucas and used in one of his movies.

sappersgt

Those chasiss were the basis for the self propelled 25 pounder howitzer.

Canmoore

Tank Production in the UK was insufficient to supply Canada as well, so it was decided to manufacture locally. The M3 was choosen as the basis for the design. The british cruiser tank specification of a two pounder gun was adhered to.

However the turret was designed to take a larger 6 pdr when one became available as battlefield experience was already showing that the 2 pdr was insufficient.

A prototype of the Ram was completed in June 1941. Production of the Ram I began in November of the same year. By February 1942, production had switched to the Ram II model with the 6 pounder gun and continued until July 1943, when a decision was made to adopt the Sherman tank for all British and Canadian units.

1948 tanks were created, most were then used as training vehicles for the British, and some were used as Artillary observation posts

SnowLeopard

Then it might have been the beast with the 4 or 5 recoiless rifles mounted on it. It's in the Ballitine (I think) book on Armor. If I find it, I'll look it up.

I seem to recall a picture of a NAZI glider that could carry a light tank of the day. If my memory is correct, shows at least someone was thinking along those lines for a while.

Are you thinking of the Bofors S tank, the "Swedish S"?
(photo reference: rollmodels.net/nreviews/armor/stank/stank.php). It had a 105 mm gun and was loved and critisized by many. Afraid I have to fall into the latter group. It's arrangement left the commander free to command and let the driver also be the gunner (or something like that, been a while since I read on it, but it had 3 crew) but since the entire aiming of the gun depended on the suspension, it seems like a break down and mission loss waiting to happen.

HOWEVER, it is not in the category of armor that didn't make it. It was in Swedish service for four decades or so.
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("Out of fuel, become a pillbox. Out of ammo, become a bunker. Out of time, become heros."--Soviet tank commander handing out the gernades, (w,stte), "The Beast")

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RustyBattleship

For Snow Leopard:
You are very close in the looks of the tank I mentioned. I wish I had kept that model but I stripped it for parts on other models. It was an American design with a 76 mm gun but with pretty good elevation capabilities. It was in development status as an air droppable vehicle and got enough publicity for a model kit company to put out a 1/2"=1'-0" scale model of it. It was the same company that put out a M-41 Walker in the same scale. I had a Walker also (naturally) but didn't like the model very much because the gun was designed to be at a fixed elevation and some of the hull add-ons (tarps, pioneering rack, etc.) were too small so I stripped them for a 3/8" scale model.

And the "beast" you mentioned was the USMC "Ontos" which is Greek for "The Thing". It mounted up to six 105 mm recoiless rifles with up to two .50 caliber M-2 MG "spotting" guns (though one was usually sufficient for the "Follow my Tracer" command).

RustyBattleship

I found it. It was the T-92 "Air Drop" tank. Ideal made a 1:24 model of it. I found a website that has a picture of the box top but I don't know how to copy and paste photos on here.

Recalling, now, it DID have a turret -- if you could call it that. It was more like a low profile cupola with a couple more cupolas on it. The engine was in front. The driver's hatch was on the left and looks like an exact copy of an M-41 hatch with the aperatures for Four M-17 driver's periscopes.

This link shows the photo of the boxtop: http://www.afvnews.ca/cgi-bin/web-bb...mes/read/65082

I also found this following link where the T-92 was an early attempt that finally led up to the Sheridan.

http://eaglehorse.org/4_ftx_gunnery/.../sheridan2.htm