M3 armored car
The scout car M3A1 ( English Armored Reconnaissance Vehicle ARV) was a command and reconnaissance wheeled vehicle of the armed forces of the United States before and during the Second World War .
history
In 1936 the basic model M2A1 was equipped with radio equipment and, with a few other small changes, was adopted as the M3 scout car . It was not until 1938 that the 13th Cavalry Regiment of the 7th Mech. Cavalry Brigade was the first unit to be equipped with the vehicle. The improved M3A1 then introduced in 1939 became the standard scout vehicle of the US reconnaissance units. After the Ordnance Corps demanded that all vehicles be equipped with diesel engines in 1939 , 100 of these vehicles were ordered with the designation M3A2. For unknown reasons, however, the construction lot was withdrawn and the existing vehicles were taken out of service. Nothing is known about the further process with regard to the diesel engine. Attempts to improve were made, in particular concerning the fighting area that was open at the top; there was also a plan to install a 37mm cannon . Ultimately, however, it stayed with the M3A1 version .
It was a mass product of which no fewer than 20,918 were manufactured and also supplied to Great Britain and the USSR on the basis of the Loan and Lease Act . The British used the vehicle less for reconnaissance than for the transport of crews and wounded and as a command vehicle. The M3A1 was one of the last armored vehicles in the US Army and was replaced by tracked vehicles like the M41 Walker Bulldog . From 1938 (with an extended chassis), the M3 half-track vehicle was developed from the M3A1 ARV .
description
It was a weakly armored 4 × 4 wheeled vehicle with an open top combat and driver's compartment, on the upper edge of which was a circular rail for a machine gun . The type M3A1 was the first vehicle to have a nose roller on the bumper, which made it easier to cross trenches. Furthermore, the tub has been lengthened in this model and the seating for the crew and the storage space have been improved. The driver's compartment, which is normally open to the front and the sides, could be protected against rifle fire and fragmentation by folding screens with viewing slits.
| M3A1 | |
|---|---|
| Technical specifications | |
| Introduction: | 1938 |
| Crew: | up to 8 men |
| Armament | 1 × Browning M2 12.7 mm machine gun or 1 × M1919M4 machine gun |
| Dimensions | |
| Length: | 5.62 m |
| Width: | 2.03 m |
| height | 2.11 m |
| Combat weight: | 5624 kg |
| Power to weight ratio: | 15.7 hp / t |
| Drive and chassis data | |
| Engine: | water-cooled four-cylinder in-line petrol engine Hercules JXD |
| Engine power: | 64 kW (87 PS) at 2400 rpm |
| Top speed: | 88 km / h |
| Driving range road: | 400 km |
| Climbing ability: | 0.35 m |
| Gradeability: | 30% |
| Wading ability: | 0.71 m |
| Ground pressure : | about 4.22 kg / cm² |
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