Com-Central.net

Leopard C2 by Massimo Foti, on Flickr

Lanchester Armoured Car Mk II by Massimo Foti, on Flickr

Light Tank Mk VI by Massimo Foti, on Flickr

Light Tank Mk VIII "Harry Hopkins" by Massimo Foti, on Flickr

Luchs by Massimo Foti, on Flickr

LVT4 by Massimo Foti, on Flickr

M 14/41 by Massimo Foti, on Flickr

M3 Grant by Massimo Foti, on Flickr

M3A1 Stuart by Massimo Foti, on Flickr

Massimo,

according to Joe DeMarco, the Stuart is indeed an M3 Hybrid Diesel. Joe said that

"The Bovington Museum has mis-identified the M3 Hybrid Diesel as an M3A1.

American Car & Foundry built its M3 Stuarts at two plants.
Gas engined models were made at their main facility up the road in Berwick, Pennsylvania.
The diesels were made in St. Charles, Missouri.

I've only seen a single M3 diesel - SN 2704, USA 303238, a test tank at APG.
That one has 601 stamped on the right front tow lug.
(I suspect that was also stamped on the left rear lug, but it got broken off at some point.)

(note : the Bovington is SN 2862 and has 759 on the tow lugs).

Brazil received 279 M3A1 Gas as Lend Lease, so, no doubt, that will be most of what has survived.
However, they also got 120 M3 Diesels, so I would think there would have been a few among the imports.

You will note that there is nothing on the Bov dataplate that "says" it is a diesel, which seems kind of dumb.
The inspector's initials should have been different at the two plants, and that may be the only clue about G vs D."

Thanks for the extra info, I took note of them

Massimo

M4 "Michael" by Massimo Foti, on Flickr

M4A4 Crab by Massimo Foti, on Flickr

The tank "Fury" displayed at Bovington is an M4A2E8 (correct designation : M4A2(76) HVSS, E8 refers to the prototype only).

P-O

Thanks!

Massimo