Inside the Chieftain's Hatch: M47 Patton II Part 2

Poor bow gunner, had nothing to do and than he was suddenly kicked out for more things that go boom.

I'm off to Detroit to get mine now, thanks chieftain!

"An interesting thing about the M1 is that it doesn't have a belly hatch" I've had people try to tell me that the tank in the opening of "The Walking Dead" is supposed to be an M1 Abrams not a Chieftain, my counterpoint has always been "If it was supposed to be an M1 then Rick would have died under it because M1's don't have escape hatches, ergo it must be supposed to be something else"

A bit of speculation by this Artilleryman about the breach lever being on the gunner's side. It could be intentional in order for the gunner to have full control of the gun. Or it could be because of the guns lineage to howitzers of the time which operated from the right side of the gun, while the trigger was on the left. The breech block also looks very similar to the breech on the M102 howitzer I used to work with.

Looking at the placement of the turret rain channels makes me think they were necessary due to the variable vertical curvature of the casting causing heavy rain sheeting down and launching off the acute curve and making an airborne stream landing on the drivers periscope. The channels would not carry away all the runoff but would kill the sheet launching.

2:08 i remember a story of Sherman picking up the wounded in the pacific by driving over them and pulling them in thru the belly hatch

A friend told me the biggest problem with the lack of an escape hatch in the belly, was he had to get out of the tank to take a piss

This is a tank that actually I was inside. Many years ago we in the school visited a open day in Spanish army. The space in both the M47 and M48 seemed me roomy. Likely because I was young and slim.

Absolutely terrific videos. A professional job with the best production values anywhere on YouTube. Chieftain--in your opinion, among the major post-WW2 tank producers which country has the best human engineering? By that I mean things like equipment placement and ease of use, maintainability, crew safety and comfort (interior space!)--all those things that allow crew and vehicle to become an effective, sustainable combat system. Which country do you think does the best job?

23:43 the use of hex socket bolts in the bow gun caught my eye. They are probably put in during restoration and not what it originally had?

1:44 - I am not sure why. But I really like this panel. It looks so unique and beefy.

Do you think you can get a look at some of the upgraded M47s? The 105mm must have been "interesting" for the loader, and ISTR there were at least two different diesel conversions...

I would really like to see this tank being driven and the other controls working

So the M4 Shermans had the turret ring ready ammo removed as one of the first safety improvements. Interesting to see rounds there again in the M47.

I always get a twitch starting when I hear him call the 50 or 30 cals as caliber 50 or caliber 30 etc. I am an old artilleryman from the early 80s so it's possible some terms may have changed since then. About pivot steering I drove an M577 command post carrier, it used an old M113 style system with the two lateral handles. Push both forward to go forward, both back to go backwards. Pull on the right one only for a right turn. To pivot steer you locked one place and pulled the other handle thus the track could basically spin in place. I saw this done by an M60 tank in Germany on the Autobahn in the fog. It was a three lane stretch of road. The tank was part of a platoon(5 tanks) that got separated from the others when the first three took an off ramp. When the last two figured out what happened instead of looking for the next off ramp they pivot steered in place this at one point blocking all three Lanes and in the fog behind them we heard a horrid screech and crash as about twenty or so cars were turned into scrap. I was driving the battery commanders jeep that day and we just pulled off to the shoulder luckily none of our battery was involved. It cost us half a day while the polizei sorted out the mess and cleared the road so all the rest of us could get by. That occured during one eventful Reforger where a couple of gamma goats flipped over a other with it's antenna still up frying everyone in the cab. We managed to crush a few little European cars and damage parts of historic towns, as well as tear up a couple of farmers fields when we set up to fire (pretend). There were these public relations kind of officers who would drive around writing numbers on a slip of paper that either made some old guy happy or insulted his family that had been farming that land since before before Fredrick the Great. As a side note my unit was training in Grafenwohr when the german singer Nena came to make the video for 99 red balloons. We had no idea who they were but they borrowed some of our powder bags to simulate explosions. Whenever I see that video I go back in time. I used to love to pivot steer in the motor pool it would leave these circles reminded me of the handbrake turns top gear would do years ago. Enjoy the videos always

I dread the thought of having to go through the escape hatch, unless you are dwarf sized. My god, the mans shoes are almost big enough to cover it.

Nice jab at Patton (not a bad film to be fair) and Battle of the Bulge (bleh) towards the end there.

Two tanks you have to try and get permission to feature: the T28 Gun Motor Carriage (or T95, as we WoT players know it) that's currently presiding on a large stone platform at Fort Benning, and the T29. According to Wikipedia. two T29s are at Fort Benning "in preparation for an armor exhibit," which to me, means they're probably not there anymore, but it also states that one is in Warren, Michigan.

on the m1 pivot steer is controlled with brake. neutral steer is controlled by throtle

Seemed to be having some trouble with flies buzzing you on that one. Another great video, either way ;-)