[DemforBush]

The gun on the Sheridan is a low-velocity 152mm gun capable of also firing the Shillelagh anti-tank missile. The unique (and often troublesome) weapon was also found on the MBT-70 prototype, and the A2 "Starship" model of the M60 Patton tank.

[DemforBush]

BTW, in case anyone is interested in the MBT-70 or the A2 M60, here’s a couple brief clips of them:

MBT 70: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YE7CUO0yuMo

A2 Starship: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SblRf3Vgd0

[wally_bert]

Thank you. I’ve always had a sort of soft spot for Sheridan even though it never lived up to what it was supposed to do.

The idea was there but the technology wasn’t.

Up in Charlotte, NC at the old Aviation Museum, there was this one on display. I don’t know offhand what became of it when they moved into their modern and nice facility.

http://tysonneil.smugmug.com/Military/M551-Sheridan-Tank/

[BenLurkin]

Interesting — the loader certainly had a lot to keep track of!

[blueunicorn6]

Thank you. They had aluminum armor. You weren’t supposed to call them a tank. They sent all of them to The National Training Center to be opposing force vehicles. They could parachute them, but it beat the heck out of them. The old fatigues brought back some memories.

[blueunicorn6]

One of my bosses was at an SF Camp in Vietnam. He said that the local VC had captured one of these and were using it to shell the camp. Every time the VC would fire off a round, the camp reaction force would go out looking for the gun. They finally took out some long probes and found the firing position. They dug it up, and it was a Sheridan. He said the VC were putting marks inside the turret to show azimuth and elevation when they fired. He said they would have eventually hit the camp. They buried a Sheridan. Amazing.