More Chieftain's Hatchiness

[Manic Moran]

I figure this may be of interest to folks here.

[bojan]

Nick has narrative style of  one of my university professors, and that is a pretty good thing.

[Manic Moran]

Two hours.

 

 

[Colin]

Nick, carefully dancing around potentiel career ending events with your bosses. Your a braver man than I!!

[Markus Becker]

It helps to have multiple career options. 

[bojan]

How T-72M1 works:

 

[Ssnake]

I suspect the reason for the gunner being in control of the smoke grenade launcher is a different doctrine. Starting with the smoke grenades being projected out some 300m, the smoke "screen" isn't supposed to be used defensively, but to help suppressing infantry defensers as you close with their position and get into traditional RPG range.

[Stefan Kotsch]

Really, nobody in the East German army really bothered with smoke grenades. They didn't play a role in the training. I've never fired one either. On the other hand, we liked working with the diesel smoke  system. But that was my own initiative. There was no official instruction or request for training.

I once fired a salvo smoke grenades from the Leopard1 during a two-sided troop exercise. We unexpectedly came across Leopard2 and had to dodge. There was then a huge uprising because of environmental protection. 🙃

Edited October 16, 2022 by Stefan Kotsch

[wendist]

1 hour ago, Stefan Kotsch said:

Really, nobody in the East German army really bothered with smoke grenades. They didn't play a role in the training. I've never fired one either. On the other hand, we liked working with the diesel smoke  system. But that was my own initiative. There was no official instruction or request for training.

I once fired a salvo smoke grenades from the Leopard1 during a two-sided troop exercise. We unexpectedly came across Leopard2 and had to dodge. There was then a huge uprising because of environmental protection. 🙃

I would just like to express my gratitude to Stefan (and everybody else who does it) for posting this kind of posts that gives us those little tidbits of "tank life" that you rarely find elsewhere. One of Tank-Net's real strengths in my opinion.

[DKTanker]

2 hours ago, Stefan Kotsch said:

I once fired a salvo smoke grenades from the Leopard1 during a two-sided troop exercise. We unexpectedly came across Leopard2 and had to dodge. There was then a huge uprising because of environmental protection. 🙃

That would never happen with US tankers.  First, we could only load our launchers for actual combat or on a firing range.  When on a firing range only at specific points that were bare or nearly bare of vegetation.  Can't be burning down the fields and forests.

[Ssnake]

As a photographer I once happened to stand pretty much exactly under where the smoke grenades exploded (a bit of an oopsie-daisy moment) but nothing serious came from it. German training areas used to be moist enough that no bigger fires would occur. That seems to have changed over the last decades as our summers have become hotter and drier.

[DKTanker]

2 hours ago, Ssnake said:

As a photographer I once happened to stand pretty much exactly under where the smoke grenades exploded (a bit of an oopsie-daisy moment) but nothing serious came from it. German training areas used to be moist enough that no bigger fires would occur. That seems to have changed over the last decades as our summers have become hotter and drier.

In the 1980s Graf would get dry enough at times that we had to pull tracers from our ammo belts.  Even then we helped put out fires down range.  It was also at Graf when I was referring to discharging smoke grenades.

[shep854]

Manic, the beach bum...

 

[Dark_Falcon]

 

[Mikel2]

Oh boy!  I've been wanting to see this one up close since I caught a glimpse of the outside at APG in the 90s.

Which raises the question -  Did the roadwheels have brakes for when driving without tracks?

 

Edited November 26, 2022 by Mikel2

[Manic Moran]

The brakes are the same, and the effect would be transferred through the chain to the last roadwheels.

[Mikel2]

2 minutes ago, Manic Moran said:

The brakes are the same, and the effect would be transferred through the chain to the last roadwheels.

 

That's what I thought, but for a vehicle capable of 60MPH, that seems really, really sketchy.  Even parking on a somewhat steep hill must be problematic.

[RETAC21]

Best of David Fletcher MBE as he hangs up the microphone:

 

[shep854]

Manic on the Magach--with the classic background music!

 

Edited December 24, 2022 by shep854

[DogDodger]

The external interphone control box looks similar to the C-2296/VRC, and the signal light indeed is for the driver to try to gain the attention of accompanying infantry. Coincidentally, today I was reading a 1988 thesis  by US Army MAJ Matthew L. Smith on common tank warfare lessons from WW1, WW2, and the '67 and '73 Arab-Israeli conflicts, and he had this statistic:

 

The source for this was:

I'd like to see if there are more details in the original document. CARL seems to have this in physical form, but I haven't found a digital copy yet. Does anyone happen to have a pdf of this memorandum by chance?

[bojan]

Something is really weird for M48/60s, I doubt 81% KOd tanks were TWO unless there was something really, really wrong with M48/60 design.

[Markus Becker]

7 hours ago, bojan said:

Something is really weird for M48/60s, I doubt 81% KOd tanks were TWO unless there was something really, really wrong with M48/60 design.

TWO? 

[Mistral]

Total write offs?

[DB]

I would suspect something missing in the supply chain to get them going. Engine parts, transmission, something like that.

[RETAC21]

9 hours ago, bojan said:

Something is really weird for M48/60s, I doubt 81% KOd tanks were TWO unless there was something really, really wrong with M48/60 design.

hydraulics and fire