US WWII Tank Crew Reference Pics

Here are comparison photos of the standard and late war tanker set ups.

The second photo (see edit note) shows the M1938 tank helmet with the HS-18 and T-30 through the SW-141 connected to the tank interphone control box.  The knob on the control box sets the individual volume.  The toggle on the box switches between the radio and the interphone.  Also shown is the standard M6 periscope used on all of the Sherman tank's crew stations.

The first photo shows how the HS-30 headset could be used under the standard M1 helmet.  It could also be installed into the M1938 tank helmet.  (Note the shell of the M1 helmet could also be worn without the liner over the M1938 tank helmet with either headset for ballistic protection.)  The HS-30 had a narrow spring-band head piece and could be used alone without any kind of helmet or hat.<br><br>The HS-30 headset can most easily be identified in photos by the two cords leading one from each earphone (as opposed to the HS-18 with has only one cord).  The HS-30's transformer is also a key indicator if it can bee seen.  The HS-30 earphones were an early "ear bud" type that fitted into the ear opening.  The two cords join at at transformer box that allowed for the difference in resistance between the earlier HS-18 (R-14 receivers) and the later HS-30 receivers.  This black plastic transformer also has a spring-loaded shirt clip on its rear.

The T-45 lip microphone is made of an OD rubberized face piece with cords that loop around the user's ears and the black plastic microphone.  Note the cord is small and green rubber covered and leads down from the user's right side.

Here the headset and microphone are connected to the T-51 chest group.  This performs the same push-to-talk function as the SW-141, but rather than hanging from the users neck, it has a pair of webbed suspenders that go over the user's shoulders with a strap around his waist.  The T-51 chest group eliminated one of the two cord leads necessary with the SW-141 and used, instead, a single coiled lead with two plugs on the end for the interphone control box.

Although I haven't found any photos of the T-51 chest group in use during WWII, it was developed before the end of the war, so it's use was at least theoretically possible.

However, photos of the HS-30 and T-45 with either the M1 or M1938 helmets are more common than you might think, but they can be hard to identify without understanding how the cords and leads differ between them and the earlier HS-18 and T-30 set-ups look.

 

Hmmm...  Quite frustrating.  It seems the more I post the more images I lose.  A couple more trys, then...

Hey Mike!!

Thanks this is just the type of Kool stuff The Sherman Shop is here to promote! Excellent reference material on a topic that is not accessible to everyone.  
Welcome to the Shop and can't wait to see future contributions!! 

Hi Eric and John,

Nice place ya got here, guys!

@ Eric: While I'm here, thanks for traveling down to Sumter, SC last month and helping us out with the AMPS show.  We really appreciated you guys supporting us like that.

@ John: Thanks for the props about the thread.  Hopefully someone else will add some good reference photos to it by and by.

In regards to the trouble with the photos.  No problems with the Photobucket url's for the images or pasting the url's into post.  What happened, though, was in the first post of the thread I had six photos originally inserted.  All six seemed to post OK.  The second post was similar, again with six images inserted which again seemed to post OK.

However, as I added the third post with the early and late displays, the images in the first two posts started to disappear.  In the fourth post I tried to add back all of the missing images, but only one image would actually post although in the "create post" screen I could put them all in the draft post.  So for the last two posts, I just inserted a single image in each (as the path of least resistance, so to speak).

I kind of assumed that I ran into some sort of limit on the number of images (by total file size?) for single posts of thread or session.  This is possibly spelled out somewhere in the site instructions which in the modeler's tradition I failed to read, as in: When all else fails, read the instructions."  

Anyways, that describes what was happening.  Not sure if it was an actual problem with the site or - most likely -an "operator head space and timing" malfunction. 

I'll start another thread a bit later with a few pics of Commonwealth tanker's headsets and intercom equipment (as used with the No. 19 radio set in the Sherman and Ram).

Cheers!

Hmmm... Once again, only one photo of the two inserted actually posted when the "create post" button was selected.  So, here's the missing image of the RC-61 interphone BC-370 and BC-366 boxes and armored conduit.

Great pics, thanks for sharing

Great! Love the displays Mike! Thanks for sharing that.

WOW, what a great collection! Thanks for posting the pics.