Normally I’d do a WWII poster today, but since we were at the tank show I decided to do something a bit different today.
At breakfast yesterday we had a great discussion on America’s ability to step up and do what needed to be done.
Singer made 1911s, Saginaw made M-1s, and Cadillac made tanks!
This is part of a magazine spread from early 1943.
As Prof Hale said, it wasn’t about wanting to do the work, it was NEEDING to do it. Need a furnace? Here, go look at these guys. Got it? Okay, build one and we’ll send somebody over with the build to specs. First articles are due in 30 days.
AND THEY DID IT!
Nothing about we need to get approval, we don’t have the people, yada, yada. They just DID it…
And they didn’t change designators every time they made a change either…
Original M-4 Sherman tank… Cast armor
Later M-4 Sherman tank… Welded
Next week I’ll get back on ‘track’ so to speak…
Well, I just spent about 20 minutes going over the M-4 entry at The Wiki. A rather amazing weapon, the Sherman.
tanks for the memories.
I remain in awe of the courage needed to man those Shermans with gasoline as fuel.
A better time, when Americans could & would step up and do what was necessary, without Big Brother stomping on everyone in sight.
There I go getting political again.
I never thought I’d be saying this about tanks – but things were designed so beautifully back then.
Buck- That it was!
LL- You’re welcome!
WSF- Amen to that!
Rev- That is OH SO TRUE Rev…
Mrs.C- Beautiful and deadly…
Ha! You Amerikans mit your do-it-yourseldf attitude! Vee yust roll ze Panzer onto ze rail-car und ship it back to BMW in Munchen for a walve-ayustment! 🙂
After seeing the way the Germans did things with all different rollers and bogies (Littlefield collection), left right and center… Actually it makes the US administrative burden look merely petty compared to the weight of a designed-in burden!
I’m rather looking forward to this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fury_(2014_film)
NC- VERY true!
Ed- That might be worth watching! 🙂
Tanks for the pictures and the story
Well Seasoned Fool,
I think everyone except dah Russkies used gasoline for their tanks during WW2. Some of the early Sherman’s used radial airplane engines which was why the hull was so high. The engines were set at an angle to the driveshaft.
The Germans loved the Sherman. The armor was so thin that every gun they used sliced through them like butter. We won because we had enough tanks to flank German tanks while keeping them engaged AND because the crews, knowing how easy it would be to burn in a Sherman, kept on fighting in them. Truly a great generation.