M26 Pershing Tank "The Heavy Tank T26E3" 1945 US Army

[John Kettler]

Stumbled across this grog fest then-RESTRICTED War Department Training Film. By the time you're done, you'll know how to change track links, remove road wheels and change the air filters, not to mention drive the beast! Two parts. One surprise is that the assistant driver had a full set of controls! This could have real implications for CMFB if not already modeled. The Sherman didn't have such a setup. I've been in an originally 76 mm one and can confirm this personally. Another is ammo stowage: 10 exposed inside the turret proper and 60 in the hull. No word on Wet stowage for the latter. In any event, it appears the designers had a great deal of confidence in the impregnability of the armor!  But in case of issues there, both the driver and the assistant driver had escape hatches which fell away when opened. These were usable by everyone. 

Part 1

Part 2

 

Regards,

John Kettler

Edited June 1, 2016 by John Kettler

[John Kettler]

While we're on the subject, I thought I'd provide a blinding transition from blurry B/W to razor sharp color. Unfortunately, the whole intro sequence takes up almost a minute of run time, and the blaring rock is, to be kind, unhelpful. Also, having watched the official films, the host makes some rather glaring technical errors in discussing track tensioning. Since this was shot at the incredible Military Vehicle Foundation at Portola, and there are all sorts of goodies visible around and behind him, this may be forgivable! 

Inside  the Chieftain's Hatch: M26 Pershing Tank Part 1
 

 

Inside  the Chieftain's Hatch: M26 Pershing Tank Part 2

This one shows I left out something critical from my remarks regarding the official films above. The Pershing is fitted with a commander's override on the turret.

In this part, the host puts out information which flatly contradicts the official instructions and special caution. He says you can drive the tank at 30 mph. Only one problem. Doing so destroys the drive train! The Army mandated official sanctioned speed is 25 mph, and this is being ignored by a former tanker who claims to have read the Pershing manuals. There's some wonderful material in here, but it seems to me that if you're going to present yourself as a SME, the least you can do is get something like that right.

 

Regards,

John Kettler

[womble]

I don't think the duplicate controls will make much difference in CM as it stands. If the driver is killed, he is rapidly replaced by another crew member, even in the Sherman. Some have said "too rapidly", since theres' no delay for getting the dead body of the driver out of the way or the crawling about in cramped spaces and other arrangements necessary to do the swap (even ignoring the morale issues of getting your buddy out of their chair and then sitting in his gore). The existence of a spare set in an "advanced" model, developed in light of lessons learnt, does, perhaps, add weight to the argument that the current transition is too fast in the game. 

[Cobetco]

Great find. i will admit i had a bit of a chuckle when they brought out the slack adjustment wrench, looked like something out of a cartoon.

[MikeyD]

I recall reading somewhere that Pershing was a weird beast mechanically. In an effort to speed up development time they used belts and pulleys in place of machined gears on a lot of items that should have had machined gears. Keeping the myriad belts sufficiently tightened was a real headache. Basically M46 Patton was M26 Pershing but with the mechanicals properly machined the way the had ought to have been in the first place.

[John Kettler]

MikeyD,

Wasn't aware of that, so thanks! If you'd like to read the only first person account of so far encountered of actually fighting the tank, then read the all but unbelievable Another River, Another Town, by John P. Irwin. The had a whole two weeks of gunnery training, was sent to a repple depple in Germany, only to wind up at the tip of the spearhead as gunner in a 76 mm Sherman for a 3rd AD offensive! He ultimately wound up in a Pershing, and it might've been a Super Pershing. Memory's hazy on that score. 

Regards,

John Kettler

 

[Badger73]

On 6/1/2016 at 0:22 PM, Cobetco said:

Great find. i will admit i had a bit of a chuckle when they brought out the slack adjustment wrench, looked like something out of a cartoon.

Yea, we wished!  Lugging those around was no easy matter.

Great find, John.  Thank you.  I can forgive the Chieftain his comment.  He actually said third position can take you to 30 mph but as you say that is faster than the recommended sustained max speed stated in the FB training film.  As a SME he got the rest of the technical and mechanical information correct.  I was surprised that not much was said in either series about Magneto switch starters.   I recall those as very temperamental but I was likely spoiled by the more advanced electrical starter switches developed later.

Again, nice find, John.  The T-26 had a lot of design engineering improvements from its WW2 predecessors.  Though memories of breaking track brought a small tear to my eyes . . .   

[MOS:96B2P]

Sorry, wrong thread.  

Edited June 4, 2016 by MOS:96B2P
Wrong thread.