I found this pic while doing a search on Bowen-McGlouflan-York. BMY. They did a bunch of Sherman upgrades after WW 2. This looks like a late production M4A1(76)W,with the E9 type bogies.
A tank filled with holes.
For that is what shall become.
Boom we go.
Goodbye.
That's exactly what this is: An M4A1E4, which was a reworked tank fitted with the E9 spacer kit to allow duckbills inside & out, as well as an M1A1/A1C/A2 76mm gun in the original small 75mm turret. Cramped, but it worked. The turret also got a loader's hatch fitted and typically a vision cupola. A number of these tank were exported to Pakistan, among other places. They fought in this configuration in the 1965 Indo-Pakistani War. Here a a few more images of Pakistani M4A1E4 tanks from that period:
Not all such remanufactured tanks got the E9 spaced-VVSS modification, and other types of tank such as the M4A3 went through this upgrade. The early Ford-built M4A3 at Camp Withycombe here in Oregon was partially rebuilt in this fashion in 1952. It got a vision cupola and torsion bars for the engine deck doors, but not the 76mm gun or the E9 suspension. the M4A3s used by Oddball & company in Kelly's Heroes were 75mm wet-stowage tanks upgraded with 76mm guns and exported to Yugoslavia; these didn't get the E9 upgrade either.
"You could probably use some armor. A Sherman can give you a very nice...edge!"
Zod, look closely at the orientation of the open driver's hatch. You see it edge-on, from the front, and the periscope can be seen as well though the contrast with the worker's arm isn't great in this low-quality image. If it were a wet-stowage M4A1, that hatch would be both larger and seen at an angle, since that's how it was oriented on the hull top and how it articulated. The earlier narrow hatches were mounted in a directly fore-and-aft orientation, and opened straight out to the sides. Judging by the angle the hatch is sitting at, this is a mid-production or rebuilt hull with the counterbalance springs and the hold-down latch installed. Really early ones would open flat onto the top of the hull, with nothing to hold them in the open position. A wet-stowage hull might well have VVSS, but it would also have the T23 turret and this image doesn't look like that to me. A pity that this image is so small and such low resolution. There's more information there, if a higher-resolution version can be found.
Last Edit: Nov 30, 2013 14:06:40 GMT -5 by beekster: Two silly spelling mistakes corrected. - Back to Top
"You could probably use some armor. A Sherman can give you a very nice...edge!"
A Pakistani E4 is on my "someday" list as well; I've stockpiled a Tasca Mid-Production M4A1 and have the limited-run Formations E9 kit to go with it. Whenever I decide to start in on it, I'll still have to order a set of Panda tracks and two sets of duckbills. Assembling those will consume a couple of weeks...
"You could probably use some armor. A Sherman can give you a very nice...edge!"