M10 Tank Destroyer Interior- turret and drivers compartment

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SamuraiGreen02
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M10 Tank Destroyer Interior- turret and drivers compartment

Post by SamuraiGreen02 »

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M10/Achilles by David Doyle.

A visual history of the U.S. Army's WWII Tank Destroyer


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In a view of the left rear of a M10 turret, a 3-inch round is in the bottom of these cradle-type ready racks. To the right are two boxes for hand grenades, below which is the gunner's folded up seat. Bolted to the turret ring are two turret locks, which were disengaged before putting the gun into firing order.
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Top left: From front to rear on the right side turret interior wall are mounted a box for spare periscope and a mounting bracket for the panoramic artillery sight for the commander. Top right: The turret of the M10 was only equipped with a manual traverse, which was quite slow. The traversing wheel and gear assembly was mounted on the turret ring at the left front in the gunner's area. Above left: Immediately forward of the gunner's position is the drivers seat and controls. The M10 was based on the chassis and running gear of the Diesel powered M4A2 Sherman and shared common controls and instruments. Above Right: From the left to right the drivers controls include the clutch pedal, left and right brake control handles used to steer the tank, accelerator pedal, and gear shift lever. The two handles above are lockouts for the two clutches.
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Top left: The instrument panel was equipped with controls and gauges to monitor the two engines separately. The rectangular framework on the hull sidewall was for mounting the maintenance lubrication chart for the vehicle. Top right: The tachometers are located at the top with amperage and voltage between them. Below are the fuel gauges, two engine coolant temperature gauges, two oil pressure gauges, transmission temperature gauge and a speedometer. Above left: Centrally located between the driver and co driver is the transmission. It was a five speed synchronized unit with a lockout button on the shifter for selecting first gear and reverse. The rack above is for spare periscope heads. Above Right: The driver and co driver seats were designed to be used at two different levels; lowered for operating with the hatches closed and raised to operate with heads out of the open hatches.
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Top left: The right front sponson area houses the vehicle's radio. The area was large enough to accommodate the SCR-528, as seen here. Many vehicles were converted to the larger unit with a transmitter and two receivers. Top right: Behind the co drivers seat in the hull floor plate there is located a crew escape hatch. Pulling back on the central handle releases the 3 catches that hold the heavy plate, allowing it to drop to the ground below the vehicle. Above left: Ammunition was stowed in the sponsons in four simple racks. The rounds were stacked in the racks inside their fiberboard packing tubes and held in place by web straps. These racks held forty eight rounds. Above right: The box like projections on each side of the rear fighting compartment cover the generators for each of the Diesel engines that project through the firewall. The electrical system was 24 volts with a pair of 12 volt batteries in series.
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This close up photo of an M10 of the 803rd Tank Destroyer Battalion at Bodmin, Comwall, England on 7 April 1944, shows the fourth and final design of the counterweight, the "duckbill". Introduced in June 1943, it had a flat top, a scooped underside, and built in pockets for stowing gear. Along with the duckbill counterweight came a new, enlarged turret, on which the two upper plates at the rear of the turret were nearly vertical, making for more room to the rear. Note the .50 caliber machine gun with a canvas spent brass collection bag on the right side, and the three ready rounds of a 3 inch ammunition in the rear of the turret. To the front of the canvas breech cover for the 3 inch gun is the interior travel lock, to the right side of which is a panoramic sight, for use in indirect fire. For direct fire, the gunner used a telescopic sight.
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Top left: At the rear of the main gun is the massive cast breech, missing the sliding breech block here. Forward of the breech are the recoil cylinders. The link from the gun to the roof is part of the elevating mechanism. Top right The gunner in the M10 was placed on the left side of the gun, opposite of that in the M4. He was provided a monocular direct sight telescope M70G, which is missing its padded brow piece here. Above left: The mannequin occupies the gunner's position, with his traversing hand wheel to the front, folding seat behind, flanked by two turret locks. A second lock was added in production due to the locks breaking during travel. Above right:: To the right of the gun are the seats for the commander at front and the loader to the rear. The seats were generally folded up during combat. The large tubular recoil guard folded down when needed.
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Son of a gun-ner
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Re: M10 Tank Destroyer Interior- turret and drivers compartm

Post by Son of a gun-ner »

Oh wow.
Thank you very much :thumbup:
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