MISSION STATEMENT

This website is to serve as a catalog of historical information for various tanks, across various stages of development, created for use by the United States from Pre-WWII through to the 1970s. However, the primary purpose for this website is to illustrate a proposal for what an "endgame" could look like for the US tech tree in the game, World Of Tanks, and to show that there's still plenty of life left to breathed into this game.

My aim is to see as many tanks in the game about tanks as possible, and I hope to show that in a way that respects both the historicity of the tanks shown and the balance of the game overall. As such, I will not be going into great detail on individual statistics. Rather, I will only be showing the possible modules for each tank, changes that could be made to make it more historically authentic, a historical overview, and how the tank's playstyle may be represented in-game. I will also attempt to future-proof this by including alternate hulls, half-tracks, and wheeled vehicles.

This is certainly not perfect and everything is subject to change. This is still a work in progress, and updates are frequent if not daily. This is a fan project and a labor of love. Do enjoy.

Friday, August 25, 2017

M8A1


On 30 January 1943, a modified version of the M8 howitzer motor carriage was demonstrated at Aberdeen to determine the feasibility of mounting the 75 mm Gun M3 on the M3 light tank chassis. In order to mount the M3 gun in the M8 turret, the front opening was enlarged. The roof shelf at the end and the machine gun mount were removed. The new tank performed well during trials at Camp Hood and was considered to be a suitable interim tank destroyer until the M18 Hellcat became available. However, it was determined that production quantities of the M8A1 wouldn't be available prior to the availability of the M18, so the program was cancelled.

This tank is very much the same thing as the old M8A1 (Tier IV), just bumped up a tier. While the top modules remain, the other options (while still unhistorical) better reflect to quickness of the actual tank. In return for being essentially the same thing, the M8A1 would see dramatic improvements with its mobility, gun handling, and gun characteristics. This includes increasing the elevation angles to +40 and -20.

Guns: 75 mm Gun M3; 75 mm Gun M5; 3-Inch Gun M5; 3-Inch Gun M7

Engines: Twin Cadillac, Series 42 (295 hp); Continental R-975-C1 (350 hp)

Turrets (Turret Armor (mm)): M8A1 (38/25/25);

Suspensions/Alternate Hulls, Total Weight (metric tons): M8A1 VVSS (15.69); M8A1 Improved (??)

Hull Armor (mm): 29/29/25

Top Speed: 58 km/h

Crew: 4 (Driver; Gunner; Loader; Commander/Radio)

Parent: T50 GMC
Children: M8 Scott

Sources:
Hunnicutt, R. P. Stuart. 1992. 
Posted by at
Labels: , ,

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)