Tank Chats #104 | T-54 & T-55 | The Tank Museum

Sometimes I forget that YouTube is a free platform when I watch content like this of such high quality.

What a legend, literally losing his voice by the end of it trying to teach us just a little of his knowledge. You can really tell he was trying to get out as much as he could about a subject he's clearly so passionate about. Thanks David, it's always a pleasure to listen to your expertise!

I could listen to this for hours. Better than literally anything on TV

So happy that these Tank Chats are back, and what a pair of tanks to kick it off with :D

I absolutely adore tanks upgraded well beyond any reasonable service life. T-55AM and later especially. Big chunks of applique and ERA armor, missiles from the gun, big sideskirts, it hardly looks like the same platform but might've come off the line in 1950. Fun fact: T-55s in service with Soviet Marines had the world's first active protection system!

The coolest version is still the one with two mounted MiG 21 engines used for blowing out oil well fires. The original was mounted on a T34 chassis and used in the Gulf war very effectively. Now we have one on a T54/55 chassis, still one of a kind called Big Wind. Made in Hungary.

I had to serve on a T 55 and what he says fully agrees with what I know: the Soviet tanks were meant to be used in WWIII, not in the way they were used in the Israely-Arab conflicts. I remember how we, the tankmen, used to wonder what the point of a tank was given how many anti-tank weapons were out there, how vulnerable a tank was at the time. This, however, is the situation in a conventional war. In a nuclear one things are radically different: all those NATO soldiers with anti-tank granade launchers are easily killed by blast waves and radiation while a tank, even an old one, all of a sudden makes sense with its thick, heavy steal armour. It may not save you from a shape-charge, but it provides a reasonably good protection against gamma rays, heat, and blasts. Even the crude, outdated Soviet electronics becomes an advantage as it is not so easily fried by the electromagnetic impulse. The better your electronics is, the worse it performs in a nuclear war.

The sheer size of some of those "Snorkels" for deep wading.....Driver says "NO, NO, NO." Brave men that used that item and lived.

Oh how I’ve missed these. Just need the great David Fletcher back too and all will be right with the world.

One of the best Tank Chats to date. So much to take in but the most important statistic is the sheer number of them.

This is excellent. It's not just tanks, it's history, politics, engineering and economics. And tanks.

I always enjoy Mr. Willey’s Tank Chats, not only do we get a talk of the tank itself; but the very important historical and doctrinal aspects of the tanks development & history that affected how the tank was conceived, and how it affected its use for both the creator & its subsequent users! It’s so nice to have the series back, looking forward for more chats!

The T54/55 series tank is basically the Kalashnikov of tanks. Simple but effective and most importantly, able to be mass produced. Not the most technically sophisticated tank in the world but in the numbers it was produced, it didn’t need to be.

The tank behind that T-54 is the T-55 Enigma, It was an Iraqi upgrade to the T-55. With a crude form of composite armor blocks fitted to the turret which is very interesting - Its a shame it has now been put at the back and the public is not allowed down there which is a shame because you used to be able to see it and many other tanks of historical significance before they put them into the storage hangar :(

The coolest addition made to the T-55 for me was Drozd active protection system. Where if it detected an incoming anti tank missiles, it would fire a fragmentation projectile that would burst around 7m from the tank destroying the incoming anti tank round.

David Willey's presentation is excellent; lucid, focussed and very well explained. His tank chats just keep getting better and better. Bravo!

There is a bit of what I would call "High budget arrogance" going on when we in the West look down on countries that still operate the old soviet equipment: If I am a warlord in the Congo and my opposition only has AKs, a T-54 is a perfectly fine weaponsystem and just as effective in its role as a modern western vehicle. If I am the Iraq in 1990s my fleet of T-72s and Type-69s will wipe the floor with any other army in the region... We call those tanks obsolete, but in some regions of the world they simply aren't. They are perfectly effective against every neighboring country Another aspect is that most armed conflicts are lower intensity fighting and an easily maintained, cheap and reliable old warhorse probably is the best solution for some of the parties involved: It does the job and can be operated by my forces over an extended period of time. We have often seen more refined equipment being exported to less developed or poorer Allies, just to see the stuff breaking and rotting. Sticking with the T-55 or T-72 makes sense for a lot of armies even if they can technically afford something more refined and modern (Used Leopards or something): After all a working, obsolete tank is better than a modern one that is broken.

The T-54/55 tanks (and their variants) are my favourite in all history. They behold such an extremely rich history as explained in this video, they fought in tonnes of conflicts across the globe. A beauty to look at.

Oh yes 30 minutes! Please more Soviet tank chats: IS-2, BT-5/7, ISU-122/152

The photo at 21:40, illustrating rear fuel drums on the tank, actually shows the tank without the drums and with dispensable naval smoke generators (basically a metal can with some flammable smoke producing material).