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panthertank · ***Power User*** Offline Joined: Jan 27, 2006 Posts: 23

JimWeb

The track was usually old stuff and used to increase the protection of the vehicle - but then again you probably knew that so this is intended for the consumption of those that didn't...

Cool

JeffStringer · ***Power User*** Offline Joined: Jan 24, 2006 Posts: 637

That makes them Heavy Tanks then, right? Laughing

Jeff

JimWeb

Hellfish6

Was using tracks for armor effective?

JimWeb

An extra few inches of armour - yes it was but it was hard on the engines, transmission & suspension.

Some thought obviously went into the track mounting on the vehicle images as the way its mounted with the spuds towards the armour must provide a modicum of spaced armour effect to protect against heat/hollow charge rounds. It would have been far easier to mount it 'spuds' out.

Cool

Dontos

- Hellfish6

Was using tracks for armor effective?

The use of the extra track sections was two-fold. To provide additional protection and to enable the vehicle to carry additional track sections incase of damaged track.

These vehicles are taking the additional protection idea a bit too far. Taht much track per vehicle would seriously hinder mobility and possibly cause mechanical failure.

Notice that the turret on the 'Firefly' has german track mounted to it. Unusable on any allied vehicle.

Don

JimWeb

- Dontos

Notice that the turret on the 'Firefly' has german track mounted to it. Unusable on any allied vehicle.

d*mn thats it - I kept looking at that image thinking something is strange about it and couldn't quite put my finger on it... I mistakenly assumed the track was chuchill stuff.

Cool

J.McGillivray · ***Power User*** Offline Joined: Jan 24, 2006 Posts: 149

Those tanks must be Canadian. The Canadians were notorious for beefing up the armour on their Shermans. In Normandy Maj. Radley-Walters had 140 track links welded on his tank Caribou for an additional weight of 3.5 tonnes. This seemed to work because Caribou survived 9 hits during the campaign before it was finally knocked out on the 14th of August, 1944.

According to Radley-Walters the trick was to have the tracks only lightly welded so that they had some give. This increased the lightly hood that the shot would not bite into the armour, but would be deflected instead.

Canadians crews were not worried about the life of their drive train, or whether they could drive 500 miles or 800 hours. They just wanted to get through the next battle.

The tracks on the Firefly look like they are from a Panzer IV. IÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ve seen other photos where the crews were using Tracks from Panthers, Tigers and Churchills.

Dontos

- JimWeb

- Dontos

Notice that the turret on the 'Firefly' has german track mounted to it. Unusable on any allied vehicle.

d*mn thats it - I kept looking at that image thinking something is strange about it and couldn't quite put my finger on it... I mistakenly assumed the track was chuchill stuff.

I ID'ed it only because I had to do some track repair to 'our' Marder II a few years ago, and those d*mn pins & links were a real pain to replace.

Don

Maple_Leaf_Eh · ***Power User*** Offline Joined: Jan 24, 2006 Posts: 517

In the wouldn't that be cool department, suppose those Shermans were Rad's in the 27th Armoured Regiment (Sherbrooke Fusiliers) and suppose one of them was Bomb ....

www.convoymagazine.com...1oLjpg.jpg

JeffStringer · ***Power User*** Offline Joined: Jan 24, 2006 Posts: 637

One also could argue just how effective tracks as extra armor really was for some thought of them as a shot trap and also the tracks themselves were made of a more brittle material than the armor it was reinforcing.

bsmart

What I found interesting is a Firefly and a 105mm Sherman in the same unit. I didn't think many 105mm Shermans were provided to Commonwealth units.

J.McGillivray · ***Power User*** Offline Joined: Jan 24, 2006 Posts: 149

British and Canadian Armoured Regiments started to receive 105mm M4 Shermans in late 1944. There were four in each Regiment. They could have one attached to each Sqn HQ and one in the Regt. HQ, or all four could be group together as a fire support troop.

clausb · ***Power User*** Offline Joined: Jan 25, 2006 Posts: 146

- Dontos

Notice that the turret on the 'Firefly' has german track mounted to it. Unusable on any allied vehicle

Wonder whether it could be CDP (Canadian Dry Pin) tracks rather than German?

Claus B

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