How to drive a tank

[Rod]

Don't tanks have keys?

 

 

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/6087830.stm

 

 

How to drive a tank

By Peter Caddick-Adams

Military historian

 

 

 

Protesters in Budapest this week seized a World War II-era tank that had been part of an open-air display and drove it 100m down the road. Is it just a matter of switch on and go?

A tank clattered across the cobbles of Budapest this week in a bizarre throwback to the 1956 Hungarian Uprising. Anti-government protesters hijacked a Soviet-era tank - removed from a museum display - and drove it around before being arrested.

 

It made me wonder how easy these metal monsters are to drive. You can't just walk up to one, turn an ignition key, and off you go - or can you?

 

Several surplus tanks now lurk in fields dotted around the Home Counties where those in search of a day's corporate bonding can give them a whirl. Most are ex-British Army Chieftains, but some are T-34s, the type "borrowed" from the exhibition in Budapest.

 

Top gear

 

Whereas most tanks have a separate crew hatch for the driver, the T-34 requires me to climb over the wheels and tracks and haul myself up onto the turret top to access the driver's controls. These tanks are quite tall and the 2.7m tests my muscles - most crewmen were 18-year old agile striplings.

 

 

It's very loud and I catch pungent lungfuls of its generous exhaust fumes

 

 

Slithering inside the turret, I'm thankful of the crewman's padded helmet, as there are lots of sharp switches, radio sets, ammunition racks and the gun on which to injure myself. Once in the driver's seat, I'm cramped, uncomfortable and this part of the tank reeks of oil. Fortunately, I can see my route ahead through the little driver's hatch (in combat I would be locked in, relying on a periscope - no place for a claustrophobe).

As everything is manually operated, the clutch pedal is surprisingly light. I press the start button and feel the foot pedal vibrate as the 500 horsepower engine kick in. I lean forward uncomfortably with my right hand to reach the gear stick (five forward, one reverse) and rev the engine almost to screaming pitch before selecting the gears, then the 32 tons of metal monster lurches forward. I hit my head.

 

There are two steering sticks, a right and a left, to which the T-34 responds sluggishly. A sharp pull back on the left one and the right brake engages, slewing the beast to the left. It's surprisingly manoeuvrable, but very loud and I catch pungent lungfuls of its generous exhaust fumes as I pirouette the monster about.

 

Gas guzzler

 

Navigation is a problem - I can't see behind or to the sides, that's why there's a commander in the turret telling me where to go over his intercom.

 

 

So, besides the 85mm gun and armour plating, it's more like my car than I expected, but would a real hazard to manoeuvre in traffic.

But I don't know how so many young soldiers managed to cope in such an environment. Being cheap and mass-produced, T-34s were decidedly chilly in winter and stiflingly hot in summer; if the main gun was fired, the tank would lurch with the recoil, then the inside filled up with fumes as the gun breach was opened on reloading.

 

Anyone could drive a basic tank, especially the T-34, though tank novices may find it stalls easily. No surprise then that tanks have often been hijacked by civilians in uprisings, whether Paris in 1944, Budapest in 1956 or Prague in 1968.

 

But in 2006, shouting "fill her up" to the service station attendant would lighten your pocket instantly: a T-34 takes 545 litres of diesel and uses two litres for every kilometre.

 

Story from BBC NEWS:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_n...ine/6087830.stm

 

Published: 2006/10/26 12:22:31 GMT

 

© BBC MMVI

[Catalan]

http://63.99.108.76/forums/index.php?showtopic=18352

[wallaby bob]

Don't tanks have keys?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.

 

 

 

 

 

But in 2006, shouting "fill her up" to the service station attendant would lighten every kilometre.

 

Story from BBC NEWS:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_n...ine/6087830.stm

 

Published: 2006/10/26 12:22:31 GMT

 

© BBC MMVI

384602[/snapback]

ROD. Last report I heard read they actually failed even that simple, if expensive, task and ran out of fuel within a very short time.

As to the simplicity of driving a tank based on my total experitnce of driving 1 (one) Matilda Mk2 on only one occasion. It was damned easy except for over= confidence in downshifting with the Wilson pre=selector gearbox. Just in case any of you learned men are unfamiliar with such advanced equipment, it was almost contemporary to the T34 or perhaps preceded it by a very few years, the operation of the pneumatic gear shifter(clutch) and unfamiliarity with the straight line gear quadrant MAY result in shifting through more than one gear at a time leading to a Sudden deceleration and invoking not very good natured comments from the freeloaders riding on the turret and thereabouts . WB

[Guest JamesG123]

What a dumbass... I've never seen such a written admission of ignorance before. Military Historian?

 

Russian tanks are pretty straight forward to drive, and the controls have remained pretty consistant from the T-34 on up to today. Anyone there with Hungarian Army armor experiance wouldn't have much trouble driving it around. I'm more suprised that they would be able to fine a proper battery(s) and fuel and get them into their proper locations.

Edited October 27, 2006 by JamesG123

[Stevely]

They could take driving lessons from that fella in California who stole the M60 from a National Guard armory a few years back.

[Homerr]

They could take driving lessons from that fella in California who stole the M60 from a National Guard armory a few years back.

384696[/snapback]

 

Except I think he got a bullet in the brain for his escapade.

[DKTanker]

Except I think he got a bullet in the brain for his escapade.

384699[/snapback]

I don't think, in his case, that was the most vital spot. First he didn't make sure the night viewer hatch couldn't be opened (all seasoned M48/60 tankers know a sharp rap on them will pop them open), and the fool ran up on the median barrier getting his tank high centered.

 

The least he could have done is saved the taxpayers the cost of bullets by backing the tank off a bridge into the river below sans Heidelberg 1981.

[120mm]

Why would a T34 need a battery? Is it not a diesel? If so, it could easily be compression started, especially if you had several hundred "friends" to help push.

 

Just switch on and go. I've seen tanks accidentally compression started before.

[Jartsev]

Why would a T34 need a battery?  Is it not a diesel?  If so, it could easily be compression started, especially if you had several hundred "friends" to help push.

 

Just switch on and go.  I've seen tanks accidentally compression started before.

384749[/snapback]

 

Actually you need only a fully charged SCUBA tank and, may be, a steel crowbar

[Rickard N]

That I would like to see, a push start of a tank

 

Does the T34 have electric start or compressed air btw?

 

/R

Edited October 27, 2006 by Rickard N

[Jartsev]

That I would like to see, a push start of a tank 

 

 

You can try to rotate engine drive shaft by crowbar(with caution) instead of pushing the tank This trick worked with T-72 at least

 

Does the T34 have electric start or compressed air btw?

 

/R

384775[/snapback]

 

Both electic starter and compressed air...

[DKTanker]

That I would like to see, a push start of a tank 

 

Does the T34 have electric start or compressed air btw?

 

/R

384775[/snapback]

I've pull started, as in towing, a few M60s in my time. Do have to get them moving quite fast though, 20-30 Km/h, because of the automatic transmission.

[Danno]

They could take driving lessons from that fella in California who stole the M60 from a National Guard armory a few years back.

384696[/snapback]

 

The bottom story of this link is about another stolen tank incident that happened in Berlin during the mid-seventies.

 

http://www.berlin-brigade.de/honor/honor6.html

[Homerr]

T-34:

 

Looks pretty dangerous to be a bystander!

[Daniel Papp]

Why would a T34 need a battery?  Is it not a diesel?  If so, it could easily be compression started, especially if you had several hundred "friends" to help push.

 

Just switch on and go.  I've seen tanks accidentally compression started before.

384749[/snapback]

 

Rumors are that's just what happened (starting by compressed air).

[120mm]

Rumors are that's just what happened (starting by compressed air).

384929[/snapback]

 

 

Oops! Language problem, here. When I say "compression started" I mean "push-started". As in, the tank could have been started by only the compression produced by the pistons.

 

Twice I've seen tanks "accidentally" push-started. Once, while towing an M60 and once when an M4A2 was being moved off a monument.

 

Sorry if there was a misunderstanding.

[Exel]

Well I doubt that even with all that crowd they couldn't have push-started the T-34.

[Jim Martin]

Don't tanks have keys?

 

None of the tactical vehicles I've driven have required keys for ignition.

 

Would be a bad scene if you needed to get the tank started when the enemy shows up unexpectedly, and the guy with the keys is at sick-call.

[Exel]

None of the tactical vehicles I've driven have required keys for ignition.

 

Would be a bad scene if you needed to get the tank started when the enemy shows up unexpectedly, and the guy with the keys is at sick-call.

385348[/snapback]

 

Leopards have keys.

[Jim Martin]

Leopards have keys. 

385363[/snapback]

 

Bizarre....the number of things that could go wrong with that concept in the field or in actual combat boggle the mind. A weapon system or vehicle which is suddenly critically needed, can't be started for the lack of a little piece of metal which might have been lost, or the person who was carrying it is a casualty, or separated from the unit, whatever.

 

There are ways of securing tactical vehicles--when not in use, our LAV's had all the hatches latched from the inside; the only hatch with an external handle was the driver's hatch, and you can padlock that. Also, the mechs in our unit did some additional fiddling with the engines so that they wouldn't start, after there was a scare about terr. organizations/criminals stealing armored vehicles from armories and Reserve locations. When we went to the field however, anyone could get in a pig and start it; they were never left unattended, unless of course they were properly padlocked shut.

[Der_Opa]

Don't know how other nations does things, but the keys to our Leos are always in the ignition, as well as the keys for the LRF. I have never experienced anyone losing the keys.

 

If the tanks are parked outside of a restricted area, we simply padlock the loaders hatch, which is the only one that can be opened from the outside.

[Exel]

Don't know how other nations does things, but the keys to our Leos are always in the ignition, as well as the keys for the LRF. I have never experienced anyone losing the keys.

 

If the tanks are parked outside of a restricted area, we simply padlock the loaders hatch, which is the only one that can be opened from the outside.

385377[/snapback]

 

In regular service we always took the keys off when we weren't using the tanks or doing anything with them. Obviously in field exercises we let the keys stay put and I'm sure in actual combat there would be no point whatsoever to remove them. For apparent safety reasons the LRF key was only issued when we went out to shoot and was sometimes ordered to be removed from the switch as a "weapons safe" measure.

 

But in any case the tank can be started even without the key, it's just a little more bothersome.

[Christian Lupine]

I don't think, in his case, that was the most vital spot.  First he didn't make sure the night viewer hatch couldn't be opened (all seasoned M48/60 tankers know a sharp rap on them will pop them open), and the fool ran up on the median barrier getting his tank high centered.

 

The least he could have done is saved the taxpayers the cost of bullets by backing the tank off a bridge into the river below sans Heidelberg 1981.

384704[/snapback]

 

I lived in the area at the time. I wondered if he had locked the hatches and not gotten hung up on the median, would SDPD have called the Marines, Navy, or Air Force in the area?

[DKTanker]

Leopards have keys.

385363[/snapback]

Are the ignition keys the same from vehicle to vehicle? I ask because most commercial offroad vehicles (fork lifts, frontend loaders, bulldozers, etc)have common ignition keys from each manufacture. Example, all Catipillar equipment can be started with one and the same key.