Com-Central.net

I just stumbled onto this series of M4A3 Restoration photos....AWESOME STUFF.



A sample from this site....

M4A3 Restoration Photo Series....

I figured some may be interested in this...

Don

Good find, Don. Did you check out his other galleries?

fred-d.mypicgallery.com/

- Doug_Kibbey

Good find, Don. Did you check out his other galleries?

fred-d.mypicgallery.com/

Yeah, I checked it out after posting above....

Don

he even has an M50 in U.S. markings, wonder why...
i have a feeling this is the same M50 that he later posts in the correct M50 Israeli markings...

Yeah, that would make for an awfully funny WWII US Sherman - having basically a German gun in it...

Neil

I find the drivers 'cut-out' photos quite interesting. I figure that the vehicle was used as a 'trainer'....perhaps a sub-cal gunnery or Anti-tank gunnery trainer?





Any idea on this?

Don

- Dontos

I find the drivers 'cut-out' photos quite interesting. I figure that the vehicle was used as a 'trainer'....perhaps a sub-cal gunnery or Anti-tank gunnery trainer?

Erm... would you sit behind a thin mesh screen while someone fires dangerous/deadly projectiles at you?

Looking at other vehicles converted to this function the one thing that stands out is the extra armour and the well protected indirect view periscopes.

My guess is one owner wanted to see out when he was driving. He didn't like using the hatch, or kept getting branches in the fact. This would explain the grillwork.

- Dontos

I find the drivers 'cut-out' photos quite interesting. I figure that the vehicle was used as a 'trainer'....perhaps a sub-cal gunnery or Anti-tank gunnery trainer?

Any idea on this?

Don

Before this tank came to its current home, it had at least three other owners other than the U.S. Army. The owner who made the 'cut-out' is Abdo S. Allen, Co. which was a demolition contractor in Oakland, CA. They used to use this Sherman to demo old houses and other small buildings by driving thru them. The 'cut-out' was to provide direct vision for the driver. I'm not too sure of the time frame but the owner of the company was killed or nearly killed when the Sherman plunged into an unexpected basement of an old Victorian style home and had a beam pierce the mesh, hence the big hole in it.

Sometime after that, Jacques Littlefield ended up with the tank(that's how I know the above story). It sat in storage at his place for many years. Then, sometime in 2004, Littlefield's crew took it out of storage and took some useful parts off of it for the now in progress M4A3E2 restoration. They then sold it to Brent Mullins in Texas who in turn sold it to the current owner.

Its nice to see it being take care of. I plan on following this restoration on G503