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Posted on 08/02/2004 11:23:22 PM PDT by SAMWolf
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 are acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated.
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| Our Mission: The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans. In the FReeper Foxhole, Veterans or their family members should feel free to address their specific circumstances or whatever issues concern them in an atmosphere of peace, understanding, brotherhood and support. The FReeper Foxhole hopes to share with it's readers an open forum where we can learn about and discuss military history, military news and other topics of concern or interest to our readers be they Veteran's, Current Duty or anyone interested in what we have to offer. If the Foxhole makes someone appreciate, even a little, what others have sacrificed for us, then it has accomplished one of it's missions. We hope the Foxhole in some small way helps us to remember and honor those who came before us.
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 The M41 is historically significant because it was the first example of new American tank design theory after lessons learned from World War II. It was truly "modern" in concept. The M41 was the first American tank designed around its powerplant - and not its main gun - as recognition of how important the powerplant really is for an AFV. Previous vehicles were set by drawing up its general dimensions - and then efforts were made to find an engine to fit inside of the new vehicle and meet the power requirements of the tank. This practice often created underpowered AFV's, or AFV's with less armor plating than conceived for its intended mission.  The M41 was the first American tank to be equipped with a bore evacuator to clear the gun tube of fumes after firing. It was intended to be fitted with an autoloader (would have been another first) in effort to reduce the number of crew in the Turret to two men and increase the rate of fire, however, lack of funding curtailed development of the autoloader. It would be dropped from the production design. The integrated fire control system that better coordinated accurate laying of the gun survived into production, however. The Gun was fully stabilized and quite accurate for the time.  The M41 Tank was originally dubbed "Little BullDog", but was renamed early on in honor of US Lieutenant General Walton H. Walker after his death during the Korean War. Also, early on in the M41's history (November 1950), the US Army changed the designation system it used for tanks from weight to the caliber of the vehicle's main gun. Under the old system, the M41 (at 26 tons) would have been designated a "light" tank, and would be called so in most references. The M41 Walker BullDog was actually a swift reconnaissance vehicle, agile and fast enough to venture behind enemy lines. It carried extensive radio equipment (evidenced by its large Turret Bustle) to allow it to communicate its findings back to base. And, it carried a formidable 76mm Gun giving it the capability of taking on all but the largest of enemy force vehicles to fight its way back out.  The lineage of the Walker BullDog is as interesting as learning about the different marks of German WW II Panzers. Differences between M41, M41A1, M41A2, and M41A3 in US service are mostly internal improvements - and not readily identifiable by external features. All of them served side-by-side - even in the same unit, during their service life. I'll list these differences here, and the use them in modeling the four variants as I go. The thinking employed in development and fielding of the M41 would pave the way to the successful deployment of future American AFV's. The early M41 had round, cast steel, Muzzle Brakes. These were replaced later on by T-shaped Muzzle Brakes. The Bore Evacuator is located just behind the Muzzle Brake. These early-production vehicles' Turrets are characterized by high weld marks on their sides - marking the demarcation between rolled steel and cast steel components. The bottom edge of the rolled steel side plates ran straight back to the bottom edge of the Turret Bustle. A Stowage Bin was attached to the rear of the Turret Bustle, extending its length even more, and creating a large overhang above the Engine Deck. Early M41 Turrets came equipped with a coaxial mounted .50cal Machine Gun. These were replaced during the production run by a .30cal Machine Gun because the smaller weapon allowed more ammunition stowage.  On the roof of the Turret externally, the Commander's .50cal AA Machine Gun was mounted on a pintle located between the Gunner's Hatch and the Commander's Hatch. The Gunner's Hatch also was cast with a "gutter" - a raised lip around it that helped keep water from splashing down into the Turret if opened in the rain. Spare Track Links were commonly mounted on the Turret sides. Internally, the M41 Turret contained a Pulse Relay and Gun Control System that allowed power traverse for the Gunner with override for the Tank Commander. The Gunner has a manual hydraulic elevation control for the 76mm Gun, but the Commander had none.  M41 IN SOUTH VIETNAMESE TRAINING OPERATION The M41 came equipped with an Auxiliary Generator (AUX GEN) powered by a small engine located in the right upper side of the Engine Bay - to provide power for Turret operation. M41 Walker BullDog Vehicles 1 through 1367 did not come equipped with a Muffler / Exhaust for the AUX GEN. The next 922 M41's came with the Muffler / Exhaust for the AUX GEN mounted on the right Engine Muffler Cover. Later vehicles after this batch came with the AUX GEN Muffler mounted at the front right side of the tank - co-located with the Pioneer Tool Rack. AUX GEN Muffler locations don't denote differences in variants. Neither do the Fenders or Idler Wheel / Drive Sprocket combinations, as much as they indicate production period. The early M41 Walker BullDogs came equipped with both square-ended Fenders and Track Skirts. Later production vehicles deleted the Track Skirts, and the Fenders were replaced with angled (clipped) Fenders. The Pioneer Tool Rack was commonly mounted on the front, center, of the Glacis Plate.  The M41 came equipped with a 6-cylinder, supercharged, Continental AOS-895-3 Engine with a remarkably short range of 100 miles - despite 140 gallons of fuel carried internally. This was one of the last gasoline-powered engines to go into an American tank for this reason - despite the fact that the gas-powered M41 could get up over 45mph on roads. The Engine equipping the Walker BullDog was extremely loud, and the Mufflers got so hot that they glowed at night. Early M41's came equipped with a non-rubber rimmed Idler Wheel, which was slotted (10 holes), like that employed on the M18 HellCat. Later production vehicles came with a rubber tired Idler Wheel identical to the other Road Wheels - either style could be fitted. The M41's 12-tooth Drive Sprocket had four lightening holes. Later production vehicle Drive Sprockets did not have lightening holes.  The Cadillac M41 Walker BullDog entered service in 1951, with 1792 vehicles built during the production run. Some sources cite the M41 as seeing limited deployment to Korea and as having success against the Soviet T-34/85 Medium Tank.
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The M41 "Walker Bulldog" Tank was a light tank designed to be air-transportable and to provide mobile firepower in combat. The M41 was developed from the T37 series of light tank designs from World War II. Design began in 1949 with the intent of creating a replacement for the M24 Chaffee. The M41 is named for Gen. W.W. Walker who was killed in a jeep accident in Korea.  A "German" tank (M41 Bulldog) descends on stalled American truck, from the "Combat!" episode "The Duel." Photo by Earl Parker. While the M41 was highly manueverable, reasonably potent, simple to operate, and effective in combat, it also used fuel at an alarming rate and was extremely noisy. Its main gun was fully stabilised and very accurate for the time. Produced in the 1950´s by Cadillac´s Cleveland Tank Plant with first production models completed in 1951. By 1953 the M41 Bulldog had totally replaced the M24 Chaffee. The US did not use the M41 in combat in Vietnam but did provide a number of them to the South Vietnamese during 1965 as part of a massive re-equipment program. The M41 was highly effective against North Vietnamese T-54/55 tanks in the Vietnam war with its 76mm gun. |
8th Army Bump for Treadhead Tuesday in the Freeper Foxhole!!!
Now if I can just get the empty beer cans out of here
Regards
alfa6 ;>}
We didn't do it. We're innocent. ;-)
Now if I can just get the empty beer cans out of here
Bring them to Oregon, 5 cents refund per can. :-)
That looks so comfy. Good Night, Snippy.
zzzzzzzzzz. I'm on my way.
Good morning, snippy and everyone at the Freeper Foxhole.
Read: Hebrews 12:7-11
No chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful. —Hebrews 12:11
Bible In One Year: Psalms 63-65; Romans 6
The gorse bush is a shrub that was imported from Europe and now grows wild in the Pacific Northwest. It has dense, dark green shoots, and in springtime it provides a dazzling display of fragrant, vibrant yellow flowers. But it's best known by hikers and fishermen for its vicious spines.
Remarkably, the flowers grow right out of the thorns.
Missionary and artist Lilias Trotter wrote, "The whole year round the thorn has been hardening and sharpening. Spring comes—the thorn does not drop off, it does not soften. There it is as uncompromising as ever, but half-way up appear two brown fuzzy balls, mere specks at first, that break at last—straight out of last year's thorn—into a blaze of golden glory."
So it is with the suffering that accompanies God's chastening. Just when our situation seems hopeless and hardest to bear, tiny signs of life appear that will soon burst into bloom. Take the toughest issue, the most difficult place. There, God in His grace can cause His beauty to be seen in you.
No chastening seems pleasant at the time, "Yet when it is all over we can see that it has quietly produced the fruit of real goodness in the characters of those who have accepted it in the right spirit" (Hebrews 12:11 Phillips). —David Roper
*chuckle*
"My tank is a Cadillac!"
free dixie,sw
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Graf, 1954 - 55.
This is the driver's position of the M41 as seen from the turret. The hand throttle is visible just above the left-hand instrument cluster, and the early-style steering crossbar is in the middle of the picture. The handles for the crossbar are black and descend vertically from the ends of the crossbar's horizontal member. The black handle behind the crossbar is the primer pump. The accelerator pedal is just visible to the right of the primer pump handle. The white handles hanging down from the top of the picture are the mounting clamp levers for the driver's M17 periscopes.
An overall view of activity in the Mission Operations Control Room in the Mission Control Center at the conclusion of the Apollo 15 lunar landing mission. The television monitor in the right background shows the welcome ceremonies aboard the prime recovery ship, U.S.S. Okinawa, in the mid-Pacific Ocean.
There were over 3700 M41 Light Tanks eventually constructed and as the tank matured in use with the troops, changes were made to improve the vehicle. This is the general arrangement of the driver's area in the left bow of the M41 and this equipment remained relatively unchanged until late in production. The main problem up here revolved around the unique T bar steering crossbar; it was too weak and would occasionally break near the right grip when yanked hard by rough handed drivers. As you can see, the control bar rotates from mounts at the top and bottom, and the attachment for the control rod that eventually leads back to the steering mechanism at the stern is all the way over at the far left of the bar, attached to the hull wall. By pushing on the right side of the steering bar the driver turned the tank left and pushing on the other side of the bar turned the tank the opposite direction. But, because the torque on the bar was greatest furthest from the control connection at the far left, the right side of the bar could deform or break near the horn button. The problem was recognized and partially fixed by strengthening the bar from vehicle 603, and by vehicle 2453 there was a new stronger steering bar in use that we will see in a few minutes.
A simple pull knob hand throttle is visible under the control bar's connection at the far left, and both brake and accelerator pedals can be seen directly under the steering mechanism. The seat is adjustable forward/back as well as up/down using the control levers just to the left of the seat bottom (the back has been removed). The accelerator pedal is large so the driver can still use it when he is elevated in his seat while driving head out. A tachometer and speedometer are located in their own small panel under the hand throttle and retaining brackets for the driver's periscopes are at the top of the image. The driver's view outside the tank when buttoned up is excellent, using three M17 periscopes that are angled slightly left, directly forward, and slightly to the right, and a fourth periscope at the far left that was angled back to the left rear.
Initial vehicles had a plan pivoting driver's hatch and movement of the inside hatch control handle would first raise the hatch an inch or so and then pivot it over to the right. When infrared driving equipment was added to the M41, a mount in the hatch was included for an infrared M19 night viewing periscope to be used with additional infrared driving lights added to the bow. The M19 had to be removed before the hatch could be opened. The operating handle for the hatch is seen at the upper right in the drawing, the gearshift gate is at the bottom right, and the main instrument panel is to the far right. Regardless of the hatch type, drivers lived in mortal fear when driving with their heads out because if the turret rotated while they were exposed they could have their necks broken by the bottom of the mantlet. The predominate paint used inside the M41 is typical US gloss white and most of the darker areas seen in these images are black, including the seat padding, instrument dials and the gear shift gate instructions at the right.
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