Sunday, February 15, 2009
The T-34 Russian Tank
We stopped this weekend to see the WWII Memorial in Perm.
Parked out front the famous T-34 Russian Tank. I thought that the T-34's were built in Perm during WWII but from my research they were never produced here. This is an early version without the 'hexagonal' turret.
Excellent view of the five large "Road Wheels". The tracks can be removed for high speed travel on roads, a design now being adapted by modern agricultural tractors.
From my research on the history of the T-34:Christie’s Tank still retained large road wheels so that the tracks could be removed for road travel, allowing for greater speed and range. What made this prototype revolutionary was its new "helicoil" suspension system, whereby each wheel had its own spring loaded assembly. This reduced space in the interior of the tank, but (combined with a very light overall weight) allowed for unprecedented high-speed cross-country mobility, albeit at the cost of extremely thin armor. Another interesting feature of the Christie designs was sloped armor in front, which could better deflect projectiles fired against it. The sloped armor helped to compensate for its thinness. The Army purchased several of Christie's tank prototypes for testing purposes.
On April 28, 1930 Christie's company, the U.S. Wheel Track Layer Corporation, agreed to sell two M1931 Christie-designed tanks at a total cost of $60,000 dollars, with the tanks to be delivered not later than four months from date of signing, together with spare parts. Rights were also transferred for the production, sale and use of tanks inside the borders of the U.S.S.R. for a period of ten years. The two Christie tanks, falsely documented as agricultural farm tractors, were sold without prior approval of the U.S. Army or Department of State, and were shipped without turrets to the Soviet Union. Christie even concluded an oral agreement to provide personal technical support services to the U.S.S.R. The Soviets later improved upon the basic Christie tank design, adopting its sloping front armor for its BT Tank Series of infantry tanks. The BT itself was further refined into the famous Soviet T-34 Tank of World War II, retaining the sloping front armor design, now adopted for side armor as well.
On April 28, 1930 Christie's company, the U.S. Wheel Track Layer Corporation, agreed to sell two M1931 Christie-designed tanks at a total cost of $60,000 dollars, with the tanks to be delivered not later than four months from date of signing, together with spare parts. Rights were also transferred for the production, sale and use of tanks inside the borders of the U.S.S.R. for a period of ten years. The two Christie tanks, falsely documented as agricultural farm tractors, were sold without prior approval of the U.S. Army or Department of State, and were shipped without turrets to the Soviet Union. Christie even concluded an oral agreement to provide personal technical support services to the U.S.S.R. The Soviets later improved upon the basic Christie tank design, adopting its sloping front armor for its BT Tank Series of infantry tanks. The BT itself was further refined into the famous Soviet T-34 Tank of World War II, retaining the sloping front armor design, now adopted for side armor as well.
# posted by Fred @ 12:43 AM 
