M47 (battle tank)

M47
M47 at Fort Meade (2006)
General properties
crew	5 (commander, driver, radio operator, gunner, loader)
length	6.36 m, with cannon at 12 o'clock 8.51 m
width	3.51 m
height	3.35 m
Dimensions	46.1 t
Armor and armament
Armor	Front 115 mm
Main armament	rifled cannon 90 mm M36
Secondary armament	1 × MG 12.7 mm Browning M2 , 2 × MG 7.62 mm M1919A4E1
agility
drive	Continental AV-1790-5B, 12-cylinder 4-stroke petrol engine with magneto ignition, displacement 29.4 l 810 hp
suspension	Torsion bar
Top speed	48 km / h
Power / weight	17.5 hp / t
Range	130 km

Four side drawing of the M47

The M47 Patton was a battle tank of the time of the Cold War from American production. The official name of the Army Department was: "M47 Medium Tank - 90 mm Gun". The vehicle was named after General George S. Patton , the commander of the 3rd US Army during World War II .

In the US Army , the M47, which were only used in small numbers, were replaced by the M48 and M48A1. The Bundeswehr introduced the M48A2C as the successor model, and the Austrian Armed Forces converted to the M60 battle tank a few years later . At the beginning of the Bosnian War in 1992 the M47 was still used sporadically by the Bosnian-Herzegovinian armed forces , today the tank is no longer used.

description

After the US Army abandoned the tank classification into light, medium and heavy tanks, this tank was classified in the "Tank, Gun, 90 mm" category.

The original version of the vehicle had a crew of five. The driver sat in the bow on the left, the radio operator, who also acted as a machine gunner, was on his right. The commander and gunner had their place in the turret on the right, the loader on the left. There was no NBC protection system.

The hull consisted of armor plates and cast parts that were welded together. The fighting compartment was separated from the engine compartment by a bulkhead. The commander's cupola on the elliptical tower was equipped with five corner mirrors and a forward-facing periscope. In the right rear part of the tower there was a protected opening for an electric fan. The commander's and loader's seats were furnished with small folding seats ; the gunner and the two soldiers in the bow had seats with fixed, padded backrests. A fire extinguishing system was installed between and behind the two seats in the bow, which consisted of three bottles of five kilograms of carbonic acid each and which could only be activated for the engine compartment. The fire extinguishing system could be triggered manually inside and outside the tank. The external trigger mechanism was located behind the hatch of the radio operator / machine gunner and was protected by a metal hood. A bilge pump was located on the floor of the fighting compartment and on the floor of the engine room . The vehicle was equipped with a radio intercom system, including an outboard intercom, which consisted of a telephone receiver with a 3.3 meter long cable. The outboard intercom was located in a lockable metal box on the rear right chain cover.

The cannon was referred to as semi-automatic, as the drop wedge lock closed automatically after the cartridge ammunition was inserted. After the shot, the breech opened again automatically and the case was ejected. The pipe was placed in a hydraulically operated pipe cradle; this allowed a pipe return of up to 38 cm. The commander and the gunner used the same telescopic sight, whereby the commander was able to override the gunner. A 360 ° rotation of the tower took ten seconds.

In the tower cage there were eleven ready-to-use ammunition cartridges; the rest were in the fighting room. The cartridges were the same as for the earlier 90mm M3A1 cannon. The weight of the cartridges varied depending on the type and ranged from six kilograms to 13.5 kilograms

The muzzle brake was delivered in three different versions:

• as an attached sleeve
• as a traverse tube cut at the front
• as a closed truss tube

Muzzle brake as an attached case

Muzzle brake as a traverse tube cut at the front

Muzzle brake as a closed traverse tube

The unit price in the first lot was $ 129,000.

history

The M26 Pershing main battle tank, which had been in the US Army since the end of World War II, and its modification M46 had reached the limit of their capabilities at the beginning of the Korean War . However, the US Army's new long-term standard tank was still in advanced development, which is why a quick interim solution was required. The turret of the new tank with the designation T42 was already ready for construction, but not the chassis. So the decision was made to modify the hull of the M46 and equip it with the T42 turret. 1951 began manufacturing at the Detroit Tank Arsenal and the American Locomotive Company .

Since the vehicle was only seen as an interim solution from the start, little emphasis was placed on further development and modifications. With the start of production of the M47, the order for the successor M48 tank was received. Almost all of the existing M47s had been given over to friendly states after their brief service with the US armed forces.

Combat missions

In the 1967 Six Day War , the tank was used by the Jordanian armed forces in the West Bank against Israel. The Jordanians lost many of their M47 tanks to the Israeli Air Force .

Turkish M47s were involved in the invasion of Cyprus in August 1974. During the fighting, the Cypriot National Guard managed to capture an intact tank of the type (hull number 092273). Various sources mentioned the vehicle as ready for use in 1993.

The M47M version was used by Pakistan in the war against India and Iran in the war against Iraq .

Croatia had about 20 of these tanks in the war against Serbia in 1991. The inferiority to the Serbian T-55s was so obvious, however, that the vehicles were withdrawn as quickly as possible. The remaining 16 tanks have now been taken out of service and are used as hard targets on firing ranges.

Use in the media

In war films like “The Last Battle” (about the Battle of the Bulge ) and “ Patton - Rebel in Uniform ” M47 portrayed German tanks. Likewise in the second part of “ Steiner - The Iron Cross ” American M4 Sherman , after original vehicles were no longer used for this purpose were available.

variants

M47M

At the end of the 1960s, the user states were offered a combat value upgrade for the M47 as the M47M version. This vehicle was equipped with the diesel engine and fire control system of the M60A1 main battle tank . The engine was a turbocharged Continental AVDS-1790-2A. The exhaust system was moved from the chain cover, on each of which there was a muffler, to the rear wall of the engine ("radiator grille"), similar to the system used on the M48A1 and the M60. The CD-850-6A served as the gearbox. The radio operator and machine gunner in the front right in the bow were omitted; the space that became free was filled with a rack for 22 cartridges of 90 mm ammunition. The separate chain idler between the last running wheel and the drive wheel was also omitted; the chain was now tensioned by the pulley. In order to create more space for the oil pan of the new engine, the rear wheels moved 9.7 cm to the rear.

Bowen-McLaughlin-York Inc. converted 574 vehicles. A factory was built specifically for this in Iran. These improved vehicles were used in Iran and Pakistan. In the Yad la-Shiryon Museum in Latrun (Israel) there is a vehicle with the characteristic exhaust outlet from the M47M or M47E2 series. Based on the pictures made available at Commons, however, it should be clear that it is the variant with the 105 mm cannon and thus a vehicle that has been upgraded in Spain or Italy.

M47E2 with a 105 mm cannon

M47E2 in Israel, without storage box on the tower. Exhaust grill of the Kpz M48

Rear view of the original version with a storage box at the rear of the tower

M102

Vehicle intended as a pioneer tank. One version was only equipped with a dozer blade (Type M6 - Earth Moving Tank Mounting Bulldozer ). Another version also had a crane arm on the bow and another on the engine cover. The cannon here had been exchanged for a 105 mm howitzer. It is not known whether and when this device was ever used.

T66

Prototype of a flamethrower tank. Series production did not take place.

Conversions in other countries

Several states that were equipped with this vehicle by the USA carried out improvements and modifications over the years. Austria, France, Italy and Spain changed the fire control system and replaced the infrared driving device with a low-light image intensifier. After delivery to Italy, the Browning M2 machine gun was replaced by an MG42 / 59 machine gun.

Oto Melara in Italy acquired a number of these vehicles from the Italian army in the 1970s and completely rebuilt them on their own account. It was equipped with a diesel engine and the 105 mm L7 cannon of the Leopard 1 tank. The number and whereabouts of these vehicles is currently unknown. The 90 mm M36 cannon with smoke evacuator and simple flash hider was replaced by the 90 mm M41 cannon of the M48 tank on various occasions.

• M47E1: Spanish combat value upgrade with engine type AVDS 1790 diesel
• M47E2: Spanish M47E1 with a 105mm L7 cannon
• M47ER3: between 1993 and 1996 in Spain converted to armored recovery vehicle (22 pieces)
• M47 Iguana: In 2009 at least one M47 vehicle in the Spanish Army was equipped with the Iguana armored personnel carrier. (The hull of the M60 is now used as the carrier vehicle .) [1]
• In the Bundeswehr, attempts were made to increase the combat value of the tanks while they were still in use. For this purpose, an experimental vehicle was equipped with an 8-cylinder multi-fuel Daimler Benz MB837a engine with 600 hp. However, due to the imminent conversion to the M48 battle tank , this project was abandoned again.
• The Japanese army also received a number of the M47; However, due to the dimensions not being adapted to the Japanese body size, it was not adopted. The Mitsubishi company then constructed several versions based on the M47, the last of which - the STA-4 - was introduced into the armed forces as the Type 61. The M47 cannon was used as the main weapon.

Technical specifications

designation	M47
Type:	Main battle tank
Crew:	5
Engine:	Continental AV-1790-5B, -7, -7B, or -7C air-cooled twelve-cylinder four-stroke petrol engine (90 ° V-engine )
Transmission:	General Motors CD-850-4, 2 forward gears, 1 reverse gear
Landing gear:	torsion bar sprung support roller drive
Ground clearance:	390 mm
Wading ability :	1200 mm
Trench crossing ability:	2590 mm
Climbing ability:	910 mm
Gradeability :	60%
Bank slope:	40%
Combat weight:	46,100 kg
Maximum speed road:	48 km / h
Fuel quantity:	878 liters
Driving range:	150 km of roads, 100 km of terrain
Armament:	90-mm cannon M36; 1 × 12.7 mm M2-HB machine gun ; 1 × 7.62mm M1919 machine gun; 1 × 7.62 mm M1919 machine gun as a bow machine gun
Ammunition:	49 cartridges for the BK, 400 cartridges for the M2, 4125 cartridges for the Bug MG

landing gear

• Chain width: 580 mm
• Floor contact of the chain on the left: 3.78 meters
• Floor contact of the chain on the right: 3.876 meters
• Chain links: Cast, rubber padded links with V-shaped profile, type T84E1
• Control: Mechanically via steering lever
• Brake: multiple discs
• Chain: Connector chain type T80E6 with 86 chain links
• Suspension: Torsion bar suspension with truncated conical springs in the end stop and two shock absorbers on each side. Six double track rollers and three double support rollers.
• Drive wheel: 13 teeth, rear-wheel drive
• Turning circle: turning on a chain
• Infrared driving viewer M19

M47 of the Bundeswehr 1956

M47 of the Bundeswehr in the Military History Museum in Dresden

ammunition

• HEAT ( High Explosive Anti Tank ): shaped charge projectile
• HEP (High Explosive Plastic): Squeeze head grenade
• Canister
• WP (white phosphorus ): incendiary bullet
• HE (high explosive): High explosive projectile also with delay detonator

Armor

• Tub front 115 mm, angle of incidence 60 °
• Front tub side 76 mm
• Rear tub side 51 mm
• Rear tub 20 mm, angle of attack 62 °
• Bottom 25 mm
• Tower front 100 mm, angle of attack 40 °
• Tower sides 64 mm, angle of incidence 30 °
• Tower at the rear 30 mm, angle of attack 3 °
• Tower roof 25 mm

Use in armed forces

The M47 was in use in the following states:

•  Jordan
•  Somalia
•  Austria
•  Belgium
•  Chile
•  Croatia - Over 20 vehicles were still in use during the civil war.
•  France
•  Greece
•  Iraq
•  Iran - According to the website of the Iranian Army, there were still 168 M47 and M48 vehicles in 2013. Nothing was said about their readiness for action.
•  Italy
•  Japan
•  Netherlands
•  Pakistan
•  Philippines
•  Portugal
•  Saudi Arabia
•  Spain
•  United States
•  BR Germany
•  Turkey
•  Yugoslavia - 319 units were delivered in the 1950s
•  South Korea

Remarks

1. ↑ Department of the Army - Technical Manual TM 9-2350-200-12 "Operation and organizational maintenance, 90 MM Gun, Full Tracked Combat Tank M47" and Field Manual FM 17-78 "M47 Medium Tank - 90 mm Gun" April 1955
2. ↑ Most of these vehicles went to the US allies
3. ↑ Website of the Iranian Army ( Memento from May 19, 2013 in the Internet Archive )

Web links

Commons : M47 tanks  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• GlobalSecurity.org: M47 Patton
• pattonhq.com (en)
• M47 Patton Pictures of a decommissioned M47 Patton